Happy 200th birthday Chuck

Darwin's 200th birthday seems to have generated some interest. As well as the Darwin Day website, the BBC has an excellent resource to follow their BBC natural history series and even a huge Facebook group is in on the act. Even the Vatican is joining the 19th Century and getting in on the evolution loving.

This year is a Darwin double whammy as it also sees the 150th anniversary of On the Origin of Species, which had the most profound and fundamental impact, not just on biology, but for many people on the perception and relevance of a belief in a god.

There's some freebies too. You can download the ebook here, and Open University is giving away Tree of Life posters.

Evolve!

Welcome to 2009

Happy New Year! 2009 is a year to celebrate two key anniversaries in science history - Charles Darwin's birthday (200th) and the publication of his groundbreaking and meticulous On the Origin of Species (150th).

A major event in history with probably the most influential scientist ever, it would be a shame if our government and schools failed to take the opportunity to celebrate and educate, particularly at a time when science is under attack from the religious fundamentalism of creationist myths and paranoia of climate change denialism.

Science education also seems worryingly at risk from a generation of teachers who have a flexible approach to creation myths. Hopefully the polls overrate the problem.

A recognition of Darwin and his achievements and science in general would go a long way to challenge ignorance, and celebrate, not flying a painted piece of cloth or a mythical saint, but a real person who has provided such a valuable addition to our rich heritage that the British can be proud of.

Genius of evolution

If you missed it the other night, here's the first episode of Richard Dawkins' series, The Genius of Charles Darwin:

150 years ago today

Papers by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace on Natural Selection where presented publicly for the first time. The low-key event was a precursor to the release of Darwin's The Origin of Species 18 months later, which had been 20 years in the making.

It's probably the single most important theory in biology, but also had the unintended consequence of putting a very big nail in the coffin of religion by erasing the credibility of pretty much any creation story.

I raise a glass to them.

Okay then, two.