WHAT ART THOU, LITTLE BIRD?
Developmental Mechanisms for the Origin and Evolution of Birds

Lecture by Arkhat Abzhanov, Associate Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University

THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 6:00 PM

We might think robins are just a common backyard bird, but they actually represent one of the most unusual, successful, and abundant animal groups (the order Aves) in Earth’s history, tracing their origins to a single group of carnivorous bipedal dinosaurs. The new science of evolutionary developmental biology ("evo-devo") sheds light on how birds’ highly distinct skulls with toothless beaks have evolved and how modern birds can generate a seemingly endless array of beak shapes.

LOOKING FOR SIGNS OF EVOLUTION

Bees, Butterflies, and Bacteria

Lecture by Naomi Pierce, Hessel Professor of Biology and Curator of Lepidoptera at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 6:00 PM

Naomi Pierce examined the behavioral ecology of species interactions, such as insect/host plant associations, and the life history, evolution, and systematics of butterflies and other insects. Photo by Erick Greene

JURASSIC MOTHERS FROM CHINA

Origins and Evolution of Mammals

Lecture by Zhe-Xi Luo, Professor of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 6:00 PM

Paleontologist Zhe-Xi Luo discussed both the originations of modern mammalian biological adaptations in the deep times of the Mesozoic—dominated by the dinosaurs—and how Jurassic fossils discovered in China shed light on the earliest evolution of placental mammals.

FROM THE BIG BANG TO BROADWAY

How Things Evolve

Lecture by Robert Hazen, Research Scientist, Carnegie Geophysical Laboratory and Professor of Earth Sciences, George Mason University

TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 6:00 PM

The concept of evolution by natural selection has long been a lightning rod for anti-science rhetoric. Such attacks are usually aimed at the biological realm, but Darwin’s opponents must now face evidence that complex evolving systems also drive phenomena beyond life science, such as the diversification of minerals on earth.

PALEOFANTASY

What Evolution Really Tells Us about Sex, Diet, and How We Live

Lecture by Marlene Zuk, Professor of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10, 6:00 PM

From the Stone Age diet plan to Paleo workouts, our culture is rife with pseudo-scientific fads based on a time when we supposedly were more “in sync” with nature. Marlene Zuk dismantled this nostalgia and argued that evolution yields neither perfection nor a final product.

Each lecture is free and open to the public.
Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street.
Free event parking for evening lectures in 52 Oxford Street Garage starting at 5:00 pm.