Facebook Darwin 200th birthday group call with leading scientists

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Facebook Darwin 200th birthday group call with
leading scientists
Sponsors

• Presented February 12, 2009 at 1pm New York time
• Attendee dial-in code 1 312 878 0221, access
  code 235-824-992

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Professor Sean Carroll
Sean Carroll is Professor of Molecular Biology
and Genetics and an Investigator with the Howard
Hughes Medical Institute at the University of
Wisconsin. His research has centered on the genes
that control animal body patterns and play major
roles in the evolution of animal diversity.
Major discoveries from his laboratory have been
featured in TIME, US News World Report, The New
York Times, Discover, and Natural History. Sean
is the award-winning author of the new book
Remarkable Creatures Epic Adventures in the
Search for the Origiuns of Species (Houghton
Mifflin Harcourt), The Making of the Fittest
(2006, W.W. Norton) and of Endless Forms Most
Beautiful The New Science of Evo Devo (2005,
W.W. Norton). He is also the author or co-author
of more than 100 scientific papers. Sean is a
member of the National Academy of Sciences
(elected 2007) and a Fellow of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science.
Darwin group Buy his latest book, Remarkable
Creatures
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http//blog.reddit.com/2009/02/tomorrow-is-darwins
-200th-birthday.html
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Professor Hidde Ploegh
Professor Hidde Ploegh is member of the Whitehead
Institute and Professor of Biology at MIT. One of
the worlds leading researchers in immune system
behavior, Ploegh studies the various tactics that
viruses employ to evade our immune responses, and
the ways in which our immune system distinguishes
friend from foe. Selected achievements include
Annual Prize, Dutch Society for Biochemistry
(1984) Member, European Molecular Biology
Organization (1986) Correspondent, Royal Dutch
Academy of Sciences (1997) National Institutes
of Health Merit Award (1997) Member, American
Academy of Arts and Sciences (2000)
Avery-Landsteiner Prize (2000) Havinga Medal,
Leiden University (2004) Interbrew-Baillet
Latour Health Prize (2006
Darwin group View his online video
http//tinyurl.com/dzyt3k
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Editor-in-Chief, John Rennie
John Rennie, appointed editor in chief of
Scientific American, is only the seventh editor
in chief in the nearly 164-year history of the
magazine. Rennie joined the staff of Scientific
American as a member of the Board of Editors in
1989, having previously worked as a science
writer covering biology, technology and medicine
for a variety of publications. His writing has
appeared in The Economist, The New York Times and
other publications. His numerous television and
radio appearances include ABC World News Weekend,
The Newshour with Jim Lehrer, the AE special
Scams, Schemes and Scoundrels, Fox News Channel,
Entertainment Tonight, ABC News Overnight, CBS
Early Show and National Public Radio's Science
Friday.
Darwin group Visit Scientific American,
http//www.sciam.com
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Archie Miller wins the ThinkGeek Darwin birthday
video contest!
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Professor Paul Olsen
Professor Paul E. Olsen is the Storke Memorial
Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia
University. A member of the National Academy of
Sciences, Professor Olsen conducts research on
the evolution of continental ecosystems,
including their external and internal controls
and their biological and physical components. He
is especially interested in the pattern, causes,
and effects of climate change on geological time
scales, mass extinctions, and the effects of
evolutionary innovations on global biogeochemical
cycles. He has published Volumes I and II of "The
Great Rift Valleys of Pangea in Eastern North
America." He is currently working on a new book,
Dinosaur and Other Fossil Tracks of Eastern
North America to be completed by 2010.
Darwin group Get ready to buy his book in 2010
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Gerardo Camilos lab at St. Louis
Univeristy http//tinyurl.com/cm6wue
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Professors Andrew Baker and Peter Glynn
Professors Andrew Baker and Peter Glynn, both at
the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of
Marine and Atmospheric Science. They are joining
us live from a graduate classroom where today
they are discussing the influence of Charles
Darwin on coral reef science.  Professor Glynn
is a coral reef ecologist who, in the 1980s, was
one of the first scientists to link episodes of
coral reef leaching to global warming. He is also
one of the first recipients of the Darwin Medal
from the International Society for Reef Studies.
Dr. Baker studies the adaptive mechanisms that
allow some corals to survive high temperatures
and coral bleaching. A 2008 Pew Fellow in Marine
Conservation, Dr. Baker is currently developing
ways of promoting this adaptive response by
inoculating corals with species of heat tolerant
algae. 
Darwin group Visit Reefs of Hope,
http//tinyurl.com/d5r2ra
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Professor John Dowling
John Dowling is the Gordon and Llura Gund
Professor of Neurosciences at Harvard University
and the director of the Dowling Lab. Dr.
Dowling's current research focuses on the
vertebrate retina. The vertebrate retina is an
accessible part of the central nervous system and
an understanding of retinal mechanisms should
provide clues concerning neural mechanisms
throughout the brain. Prof. Dowling is a Fellow
of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a
member of the National Academy of Sciences, and a
member of the American Philosophical Society and
has received numerous awards including the
Friedenwald Medal from the Association for
Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, the Retinal
Research Foundation Award, an Alcon Vision
Research Recognition Award, the National Eye
Institute Merit Award, the Von Sallman Prize, the
Helen Keller Prize for Vision Research, and the
Llura Ligget Gund Award for Lifetime Achievement
and Recognition of Contribution to the Foundation
Fighting Blindness.
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Professor/MIT Museum Director, John Durant
John Durant is Professor and Director of the MIT
Museum. Durant, a native of Norwich, England,
received the M.A. in natural science in 1972 and
the Ph.D. in history and philosophy of science in
1977 from Queens' College at the University of
Cambridge. From 1989 to 2000, he was director of
science communications at the Science Museum in
London, one of the oldest and largest museums of
science and technology in the world. Appointed
in 1989 by Imperial College, London, to the first
professorship of Public Understanding of Science,
he devoted the next 11 years to galvanizing the
new field nationally and internationally, and
also founded the first peer-reviewed
international academic journal devoted to
research in the public dimensions of science and
technology.
Darwin group Visit the MIT Museum
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Professor George Amato
George Amato is the Director Sackler Institute
for Comparative Genomics at the American Museum
of Natural History. Dr. George Amato's current
research interests include using molecular
markers for assessing priority areas for
biodiversity conservation, non-invasive sampling
techniques for endangered species and monitoring
the trade in endangered species products using
DNA based forensic science. Dr. Amato has
participated in research activities worldwide,
including research in Cuba, St. Vincent and the
Grenadines, Madagascar, South Africa, Tanzania,
Malaysia, China and Peru. He has published and
lectured extensively on conservation strategies
for endangered species and especially on using
molecular analyses to determine conservation
priorities.
Darwin group Visit http//congen.amnh.org/
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Professor Rodolfo Dirzo
Rodolfo Dirzo is Professor of Biology at Stanford
University and director of the Dirzo Lab. His
interests are centered on the study of
plant-animal interactions, trying to understand
how the ecology and evolution of plants is
affected by their biotic environment,
particularly animals. His work is focused on
tropical forest ecosystems, particularly in
Mexico and Amazonia, but he is also interested in
developing similar studies in other ecosystems as
well. Finally, Dr. Dirzo has a major interest in
environmental education and sharing of his
experiences in ecology and conservation with the
general public and students of all
levels. Professor Dirzo is a Pew Scholar for
Conservation, Foreign Associate of the U.S.
National Academy of Sciences and has received
numerous awards for teaching and other
achievements.
Darwin group Visit the Dirzo lab
http//tinyurl.com/d8vtcn
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http//www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v66735076
674oid53320310123
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Professor/President Peter Raven
Peter Raven is the George Engelmann Professor of
Botany, Washington University - St. Louis and
President of the Missouri Botanical Garden.
President Raven heads the Missouri Botanical
Garden, an institution he nurtured into a
world-class center for botanical research and
education, and horticultural display. Described
by Time magazine as a "Hero for the Planet,"
Raven champions research around the world to
preserve endangered plants and is a leading
advocate for conservation and a sustainable
environment. Raven is the recipient of numerous
prizes and awards, including the prestigious
International Prize for Biology from the
government of Japan and the U.S. National Medal
of Science, the country's highest award for
scientific accomplishment. He has held Guggenheim
and John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
fellowships.
Darwin group Support the Garden,
http//www.mobot.org
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Professor Jonathan Weiner
Pulizer-prize winning Professor Jonathan Weiner
spent twenty years as an independent writer, and
joined the Columbia School of Journalism in 2005.
He majored in English at Harvard and learned to
write about science in the early 1980s while
working at the magazine The Sciences. In 1985,
Jonathan left the magazine to write his first
book, Planet Earth, the companion volume to a
seven-part PBS television series. Jonathans
books include The Beak of the Finch, winner of
both the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction
and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Science
Time, Love, Memory, winner of the National Book
Critics Circle Award for General Nonfiction, and
finalist for the Aventis Science Prize and
others. He has written for the New Yorker, the
New York Times Magazine, the New Republic, among
others. In 2000 and 2001, he served as
Rockefeller Universitys first Writer in
Residence.
Darwin group Buy and read Beak of the Finch or
other books
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Sing happy birthday, Darwin together
http//tinyurl.com/darwincake
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Thanks and next steps

• The volunteers have decided to keep going
  throughout the bicentennial year.
• Activities
• Monthly lectures with prominent scientists (Sean
  Carroll has already agreed as have several
  others)
• New goal 2 million members by February 12,
  2010
• Do you want to help?
• We need help promoting the group and the
  lectures
• We need more help monitoring the Facebook page
• We need volunteers to help run local meetups
• E-mail Phil if you want to help at
  darwin200_at_creativegood.com

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Thanks! We did it!