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November 1, 2009

Darwinathon in Norman Monday

By Ingo Schlupp

The Year of Darwin 2009 has seen many events and important external speakers highlighting the historical role of Charles Darwin and his seminal Book "The Origin of Species."

But what has happened in biology in the 150 years since the publication of "Origin"? Biology has not been standing still and has grown enormously in importance for our daily lives. Many breakthroughs have changed modern biology and morphed it into the science we experience today in addressing important questions about the origin of new species, the role of humans on the planet and curing emergent diseases.

All of this is based on the foundation provided by Charles Darwin's work, but has long transcended many of his views.

Here at OU, modern evolutionary biology, with its foundation in Darwin's theory is practiced by many scientists in many different units. The unifying principle remains evolution, even though many things about Darwin's ideas have changed.

The Darwinathon is an event designed to highlight the modern aspects of evolutionary biology at OU. This will demonstrate the quality and importance of modern biology for OU. The Darwinathon is an uninterrupted marathon presentation, lining up over 40 scientists from various units at OU, all of them presenting their research in a continuous string of talks.

The event starts at 8:30 a.m. and ends at 9 p.m. All presenters, except one, are from OU; mostly faculty members, but also many graduate students and an undergraduate student. Charles Darwin himself is planning to stop by for a short visit.

The Darwinathon will be in Meacham Auditorium in the Oklahoma Memorial Union. The event is free of charge and open to everybody. Any member of the OU community and the general public are welcome to stop by and attend for as long as they wish.

Likely this is going to be the longest uninterrupted presentation on evolutionary biology worldwide and might be a case for the Guinness Book of Records.

The event is organized by Dr. R. Broughton and Dr. I. Schlupp, sponsored by the OU Department of Zoology. Additional information can be found at http://www.ou.edu/darwin/Site/Home.html.

Schlupp is an associate professor in the OU Department of Zoology.

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