Calendar of Events from Spring/Summer 2009

Darwin Day @ HMNS
Grand Entry Hall of the Houston Museum of Natural Science,
One Hermann Circle Drive, Houston, Texas
Saturday, February 7, 2009, 11:00 am - 3:00 pm
FREE

Special fun activities for children and families at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Celebrate Charles Darwin's scientific legacy with HMNS as we search for clues that Darwin might have found on the infamous Galapagos Islands. Meet anthropologists and learn about the evolution of the human body, see insect adaptations, and meet some animals whose biology hasn’t changed in hundreds of years!

This event is co-sponsored by the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences and Darwin2009 Houston.

"Politics of Teaching Evolution in Texas"
McMurtry Auditorium, Duncan Hall Rice University,
6100 Main, Houston, Texas
Wednesday, February 11, 2009, 7:00 p.m.
FREE

Panel discussion with William R. Brinkley, BRASS Chair & Dean, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, Kathy Miller, President, Texas Freedom Network and Richard A. Perzan, Teacher (High School Biology), Academy of Science and Technology, Conroe Independent School District. For more information go to Scientia Institute's website or see Scientia PDF.

This event is sponsored by Scientia Institute, Rice University.

Darwin/Lincoln Birthday Celebration
Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library,
1133 John Freeman Blvd., Houston, Texas
Thursday, February 12, 2009, 8:30 am - 5:00 pm
FREE

Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin -- Two of the most influential figures of the 19th century were born on the same day in the same year : February 12, 1809. To mark the bicentennial of their births, The Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library will celebrate with a birthday party from 8:30 am to 5:00pm on February 12, 2009. Birthday Cakes – one for Darwin and one for Lincoln – will be served between 2:00-4:00 pm. Birthday party favors and prizes will be available that afternoon along with a special exhibit on the field of genetics in the early twentieth century.

This event is sponsored by Elsevier andthe Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library.

ABCs of DNA: Unraveling the Mystery of Genetics Information for Consumers. Do you ever wonder what the odds are that you’ll get the conditions your grandparents had? This class explores basic concepts such as genes and chromosomes and offers an overview of genetic disorders, genetic testing, genetic counseling, and the Human Genome Project. Ethical and legal issues associated with genetic disorders will be covered with regard to privacy, discrimination, and potential legislative impact on medicine and society. A variety of reliable health information resources will be demonstrated. This 4-hour hands-on class is intended for educators and the general public. THIS CLASS IS FULL. For information on future classes email contact@exch.library.tmc.edu.

This event is sponsored by the National Network of Libraries of Medicine South Central Region.

Birthday Cake and "A Flock of Dodos: The Evolution-Intelligent Design Circus"
University of St. Thomas, 3800 Montrose, Houston, Texas
Thursday, February 12, 2009, 12:30 pm, 3:35 pm. and 5:00 pm

Birthday Celebration: The Biology Department and the Biology Honor Society, Tri-Beta, at the University of St. Thomas will be celebrating with a Darwin Birthday Cake and refreshments from 12:30pm to 1:30pm on 12 February 2009 in front of Anderson Hall. From 5:00pm to 6:30pm on the same day we will be screening "A Flock of Dodos: The Evolution-Intelligent Design Circus" in Anderson Hall 103. Additionally, the Evolutionary Psychology class will be showing film clips from the PBS series entitled "Evolution: Learning and Teaching Evolution," in Strake 107 beginning at 3:35pm. The entire event is to commemorate and celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of the publication of “On the Origin of Species”. All are invited.

For more information, contact Prof. Don Frohlich, frohlich@stthom.edu. These events are sponsored by the Tri-Beta Honor Society and the Biology and Psychology Departments at the University of St. Thomas.

Cyrus Mody, Ph.D., Rice University
"On the Origin of Theses: Locating Darwin in Victorian Science"
Rice University, Houston, Texas
Tuesday, February 17, 2009, 6:30 pm
Fee if registering by February 3 and for HMNS members: $135.00 Fee if registering after February 3: $145

This lecture is part of the class "The Legacy of Darwin" -- A six-week course offered by the Glasscock School of Continuing Studies at Rice University Six Tuesdays, February 17-March 24, 2009, 6:30-8:00 p.m.

For details and registation see Glasscock School of Continuing Studies at Rice University.

In collaboration with the Houston Museum of Natural Science and Darwin 2009 Houston, the Susanne M. Glasscock School of Continuing Studies at Rice University is offering a six-week course incorporating four HMNS lectures and two additional lectures from Rice faculty. Experts from the worlds of theology and science will discuss how Darwin’s theories continue to influence the world and will explore the concepts of natural selection, intelligent design, evolutionary psychology, biological anthropology and the recent work in human genome sequencing to learn how a theologian and scientist born 200 years ago still lives on in today’s cutting-edge research.

"Kansas vs. Darwin": Film
309 Sewall Hall, Rice University, Houston, Texas
Thursday, February 19, 2009, 7:00 pm

The film recounts the challenges made to the Kansas public school science curriculum concerning the theory of evolution by natural selection, as well as the not-so-scientific politics that determine the science education of our nation’s children. Despite evolution’s long-time acceptance within the scientific community, controversy continues to thrive in the public sphere. In honor of Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday, we invite you support science and public education by learning about the struggles taking place today in American over our children’s right to learn.

To locate Sewall Hall and visitor parking, please visit: www.rice.edu/maps/maps.html For more information about the event, please contact: alex.gorischek@gmail.com For more information about the film, please visit: kansasvdarwin.com

Francisco J. Ayala, Ph.D., University of California, Irvine
“Darwin’s Gift to Science and Religion”
Houston Museum of Natural Science, One Hermann Circle Drive, Houston, Texas
Tuesday, February 24, 2009, 6:30 pm

Darwin is deservedly given credit for the theory of evolution. He accumulated evidence demonstrating that organisms evolve over eons of time and diversify as they adapt to environments that are enormously diverse. Most important, however, is that he discovered natural selection, the process that accounts for the evolution of organisms and for their adaptive features; that is, their “design.” The design of organisms is not intelligent, as it would be expected from an engineer, but imperfect and worse: defects, dysfunctions, oddities, waste, and cruelty pervade the living world.

Darwin’s theory of evolution accounts for the design and diversity of organisms as the result of the gradual accumulation of spontaneous mutations sorted out by natural selection. Darwin’s theory is a gift to religion, because the imperfections and cruelties of the living world need not be attributed to the Creator’s design, but to natural processes, just like earthquakes or volcanic eruptions. Francisco J. Ayala is noted biologist and philosopher at in Irvine at University of California’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

This lecture is co-sponsored by the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences, Friends of the Texas Medical Center Library, Darwin2009 Houston, Rice University’s Glasscock School of Continuing Studies with media sponsorship provided by KUHF 88.7FM.

David J. Lipman, M.D., National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
"The Flu Virus Believes in Evolution"
Houston Public Library, 500 McKinney Street, Houston, Texas
Thursday, February 26, 2009, 12:00 noon
FREE

Seasonal influenza claims 250,000 to 500,000 lives every year and causes 3-5 million cases of severe illness world-wide. The basis for these annual epidemics is an intense Darwinian struggle among co-circulating influenza viruses:
- Mutations in the viral genome lead to variants that present novel targets for the human immune system;
- A variant that can evade the immune system finds more susceptible hosts and thus quickly comes to dominate, driving all other co-circulating viruses to extinction.

We can learn much about the process of evolution "in real time" by studying seasonal influenza. At the same time, a better understanding of the evolution of influenza is critical for designing the most effective vaccines.

Dr. Lipman has been Director of NCBI since 1989. NCBI is the home of GenBank, the world's largest DNA sequence database, and PubMed, the major database of published medical information.

This lecture is co-sponsored by Darwin2009 Houston and the Microbiology and Molecular Genetics Department at the University of Texas Medical School.

Claudia Stevens
"Blue Lias, or the Fish Lizard's Whore"
University of Houston Main Campus,
Jose Quintero Lab Theatre (Entrance 16 off Cullen Blvd.)
Thursday, February 26, 2009, 7:30 pm

Claudia Stevens, who wrote and will perform “Blue Lias, or the Fish Lizard's Whore,” portrays 19th century English fossil collector Mary Anning. In the play, Anning is waiting to receive a small honor while she reviews her life and the indignity of her position within the all-male scientific community. Anning faced years of opposition from people who sought to discredit her on the grounds that her fossil findings were incompatible with their faith or because she was a woman.

Blue Lias is a sequence of layers of limestone and shale laid down between 195-200 million years ago and is prevalent in the area in which Anning collected. For more information about Mary Anning see Engines of Our Ingenuity No. 863.

The performance is supported by the University of Houston, Office of the Associate Vice President for University Relations, the College of Natural Science and Mathematics, the Department of Biology and Biochemistry, the School of Theatre and Dance, the Women’s Studies Program and the Friends of Women’s Studies, and the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts.

Houston Zoo Professional Development Workshop
Apes and Monkeys: Primates in Action
Houston Zoo, 6200 Golf Course Drive, Houston, Texas
Saturday, February 28, 2009, 9:00 am - 12:00 pm

This teacher workshop is part of the Spring, 2009 Houston Zoo Professional Development program, which runs, January 30 - May 16, 2009. While apes and monkeys are related, they have one major difference. Learn what that difference is and why primates are important to humans. Recommended for Teachers Grades K-12.

This workshop is sponsored by the Houston Zoo. For more information and to register go to http://www.houstonzoo.org/workshops/

George V. Coyne, S.J., Vatican Observatory
“The Dance of the Fertile Universe: Evolution or Intelligent Design?”
Houston Museum of Natural Science, One Hermann Circle Drive, Houston, Texas
Tuesday, March 3, 2009, 6:30 pm

Did we come about by chance or by necessity in the evolving universe? The first thing to be said is that the problem is not formulated correctly. It is not just a question of chance or necessity because, first of all, it is both. Furthermore, there is a third element here that is very important. It is what I call the "fertility" of the universe. This is the dance of the fertile universe, a ballet with three ballerinas: chance, necessity and fertility. What this means is that the universe is so fertile in offering the opportunity for the success of both chance and necessary processes that such a character of the universe must be included in the search for our origins in the universe. In this light I am going to try to present in broad strokes what I think is some of the best of our modern scientific understanding of the universe, and then ask the question at the end: Can we conclude that there is an Intelligent Design to the universe? Fr. George Coyne is director emeritus of the Vatican Observatory in Tucson, Arizona where he was director for over 25 years.

This lecture is co-sponsored by Houston Museum of Natural Science, Darwin2009 Houston, Rice University’s Glasscock School of Continuing Studies with media sponsorship provided by KUHF 88.7FM.

"A Continuing Exploration of the Fertility of the Universe"
Jones Hall, 3910 Yoakum on the University of St. Thomas campus, Houston, Texas
Thursday, March 5, 2009, 2:00 pm
FREE

A discussion of creation between The Rev. George Coyne and University of St. Thomas science faculty members will feature points from Fr. Coyne's lecture at the Houston Museum of Natural Science on Tuesday, March 3, 2009 at 6:30 pm.

Rev. George Coyne, S.J., former director of the Vatican Observatory will converse with University of St. Thomas faculty members: Dr. Don Frohlich, Professor, Biology; Sr. Damien Marie Savino, FSE, Assistant Professor, Environmental Science and Studies; and Dr. Jim Clarage, Assistant Professor, Physics. Dr. John Wilson, Center for Faith and Culture, will serve as moderator.

The event is sponsored by the University of St. Thomas’ Office of the Vice President of Academic Affairs; Center for Faith and Culture and St. Mary’s Seminary. For more information contact John Wilson, wilsonjf@stthom.edu

Kevin Schafer, National Geographic Photographer
“Visual Advocacy: Photography as a Tool for Conservation”
Houston Zoo, 6200 Golf Course Drive, Houston, Texas
Thursday, March 5, 2009, 6:30 pm

Part of the Call of the Wild Lecture Series, this is a lecture by Kevin Schafer, an award-winning natural history photographer, whose photographs appear in all the major science and nature publications in the U.S. Enjoy an evening of scrumptious hors d'oeuvres, breathtaking photographs and first-hand stories from conservationists on the frontlines in the battle to help save wildlife.

Tickets for this lecture are available online.

David A. Wheeler, Ph.D., Human Genome Sequencing Center at Baylor College of Medicine
“From Genes to Genomes--Evolution or Revolution in Medicine”
Houston Museum of Natural Science, One Hermann Circle Drive, Houston, Texas
Tuesday, March 10, 2009, 6:30 pm

Dr. Wheeler will briefly review the history of the gene from Gregor Mendel through the discovery of the structure of DNA. The thread will continue through the human genome sequencing project, to the completion of our reference genome. Then he will elaborate on how this reference is being used to discover genetic variation in human populations and the relation between this variation and disease, including cancer. The talk will conclude with a brief discussion of the prospects for using individual's genome sequence a routine part of medical diagnostic testing.

Dr. Wheeler is a Director of Bioinformatics and Genomics in the Human Genome Sequencing Center at Baylor College of Medicine. He received in Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics from the George Washington University in Washington D.C. and did postdoctoral research in the field of behavioral genetics at Brandeis University. Dr. Wheeler has been on the faculty of Baylor College of Medicine since 1990.

This lecture is co-sponsored by Houston Museum of Natural Science, Darwin2009 Houston, Rice University’s Glasscock School of Continuing Studies with media sponsorship provided by KUHF 88.7FM.

David Schneider, Ph.D. and Rick Wilson, Ph.D., Rice University
"Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior"
Rice University, Houston, Texas
Tuesday, March 17, 2009, 6:30 pmFee if registering by February 3 and for HMNS members: $135.00 Fee if registering after February 3: $145

This lecture is part of the class "The Legacy of Darwin" -- A six-week course offered by the Glasscock School of Continuing Studies at Rice University Six Tuesdays, February 17-March 24, 2009, 6:30-8:00 p.m.

For details and registation see Glasscock School of Continuing Studies at Rice University.

In collaboration with the Houston Museum of Natural Science and Darwin 2009 Houston, the Susanne M. Glasscock School of Continuing Studies at Rice University is offering a six-week course incorporating four HMNS lectures and two additional lectures from Rice faculty. Experts from the worlds of theology and science will discuss how Darwin’s theories continue to influence the world and will explore the concepts of natural selection, intelligent design, evolutionary psychology, biological anthropology and the recent work in human genome sequencing to learn how a theologian and scientist born 200 years ago still lives on in today’s cutting-edge research.

Jill Pruetz, Ph.D., National Geographic
“Redefining Chimpanzees: How Savanna Chimpanzees Inform Our Understanding of Human Evolution”
Houston Museum of Natural Science, One Hermann Circle Drive, Houston, Texas
Tuesday, March 24, 2009, 6:30 pm

The Fongoli chimpanzees in Senegal exhibit unique behaviors related to the extremely hot, dry and open habitat in which they live. From hunting with tools, using caves as shelters and using water sources to cool off in, the response of living apes to a savanna environment provides us with additional clues as to how our own ancestors may have responded to similar environmental pressures. The Fongoli chimps are the first community of savanna chimpanzees to be habituated to human presence. As a primatologist, Pruetz has studied non-human primate around the world. Dr. Pruetz is a professor of biological anthropology at Iowa State University. She is currently with the National Geographic’s Emerging Explorers program.

This lecture is co-sponsored by Houston Museum of Natural Science, The Leakey Foundation, Darwin2009 Houston, Rice University’s Glasscock School of Continuing Studies with media sponsorship provided by KUHF 88.7FM.

Paul Turner, Ph.D., Yale University
“The Evolutionary Ecology of Viruses”
University of Houston Main Campus, Houston, Texas, SEC 100
Thursday, April 2, 2009, 4:00-5:30 pm

Ecology concerns the study of biological interactions, and infectious viruses are necessarily interactive because they rely on cellular environments for producing viral progeny. Experimental evolution – laboratory study of evolution-in-action – is a powerful approach for investigating the evolution of virus/cell interactions and their importance in disease. Our recent studies examine how the prior ecological history of viruses impacts their future ability to evolve as emerging disease agents. Viruses that historically evolved on multiple host species were observed to more often emerge on novel hosts, indicating a link between current viral host-range and the likelihood of future disease emergence. Additional data presented will demonstrate why the adaptation of cell specificity can drive virus speciation, and will show how creation of unsuitable virus/cell interactions may be harnessed as a novel therapy to force viral extinction within an infected host.

Dr. Paul Turner received his Ph.D. in 1995 from the Center for Microbial Ecology, at Michigan State University. He did postdoctoral work at the National Institutes of Health, University of Valencia in Spain, and University of Maryland, College Park. Dr. Turner is currently Associate Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale University, and a faculty member in the Microbiology Program at Yale School of Medicine. Dr. Turner currently serves as an Associate Editor for the journal Evolution, and as the Chair of American Society for Microbiology’s Division R: Evolutionary and Genomic Microbiology.

Dr. Turner’s work involves basic research in evolutionary biology and the evolution of disease, often harnessing laboratory populations of microbes to study their evolution-in-action. He also conducts applied research on novel approaches to treat infectious diseases of humans and other organisms. Dr. Turner heads a research group with diverse interests; current members are using microbes to address questions relating to the evolution of genetic exchange (sex), host-parasite interactions, pathogen emergence, biogeography, the ecology and evolution of infectious disease, and development of novel antimicrobials. His research program is highly inter-disciplinary, employing techniques from microbiology, population genetics, genomics, molecular biology and mathematical modeling. His lab website is: http://www.yale.edu/turner/

This event is sponsored by the University of Houston Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.

John H. Wilson, Ph.D., Baylor College of Medicine
Michael Crichton's “Next”: A Book Review and Discussion
Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library, 1133 John Freeman Blvd., Houston, Texas
Friday, April 17, 2009, 12:00-1:00
FREE

Please join us at the Library for a discussion of the late Michael Crichton’s "Next", an exciting thriller that explores the ethical and political implications of genetic engineering. Leading the discussion will be John H. Wilson, Ph.D., Distinguished Service Professor, Departments of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and Molecular and Human Genetics, at Baylor College of Medicine. A world-renowned scientist, Dr. Wilson is also a thriller fan, and with his guidance and expert knowledge, participants will enjoy a fascinating discussion.

This event is sponsored by the Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library.

Houston Zoo Professional Development Workshop
Survival of the Fittest
Houston Zoo, 6200 Golf Course Drive, Houston, Texas
Saturday, April 18, 2009, 9:00 am - 12:00 pm

This teacher workshop is part of the Spring, 2009 Houston Zoo Professional Development program, which runs, January 30 - May 16, 2009. Learn how animals are able to use their unique adaptations to overcome predators, prey, and the elements. Recommended for Teachers Grades K-12.

This workshop is sponsored by the Houston Zoo. For more information and to register go to http://www.houstonzoo.org/workshops/

Dan Graur, Ph.D., University of Houston
“The Darwinian Genome: Telltale Signs of Evolution in Your Chromosomes”
University of Houston Main Campus, Houston, Texas
Wednesday, April 22, 2009, 11:30
FREE Contact Carolyn Meanley, 713.743.9781 for a reservation by April 10, 2009.

The DNA of every living organism is an accumulation of historical records not unlike an Egyptian palimpsest. Admittedly, the information contained in these records is in a disorderly multilayered state, scattered, and at times fragmentary. Some of it is hidden or camouflaged beyond recognition, and parts of it are lost without a trace. Charles Darwin’s words on the imperfections of the evolutionary record are as accurate and pertinent in the molecular era as they were in the last century: “A history of the world, imperfectly kept and written in a changing dialect. Of this history we possess the last volume alone. Of this volume, only here and there a short chapter has been preserved; and of each page only here and there a few lines.” In my presentation I shall look at a single set of records, the human genome. I shall try to unravel the historical events recorded in the DNA, fill in the missing gaps, put the information in order, and decipher its meaning.

Dr. Graur is John and Rebecca Moores Professor in the Department of Biology and Biochemistry at University of Houston.

This event is sponsored by the University of Houston Libraries.

Biology Academy: Advanced Topics in AP Biology
Rice University / Susanne M. Glasscock School of Continuing Studies
June 22-26, 2009

The 2009 Academy will have an emphasis on evolution in honor of the double Darwin anniversaries. The Academy is designed for experienced AP Biology teachers interested in delving deeply into evolution topics with distinguished faculty from Rice and other institutions.

This workshop is sponsored by Rice University / Susanne M. Glasscock School of Continuing Studies. For more information and to register go to http://www.teachers.rice.edu/