12-15 Feb 2009 Christchurch Convention Centre,
Christchurch, New Zealand
Programme
Evolution in Action
Today evolution is the foundation of all biology, so basic and all-pervasive that scientists sometimes take its importance for granted.
Equipped with genome data and field observations of organisms from microbes to mammals, biologists have made huge strides toward understanding the mechanisms by which living creatures evolve. The big breakthrough, of course, was the one Charles Darwin made a century and a half ago. By recognizing how natural selection shapes the diversity of life, he transformed how biologists view the world. But like all pivotal discoveries, Darwin's was a beginning. In the years since the 1859 publication of The Origin of Species, thousands of researchers have sketched life's transitions and explored aspects of evolution Darwin never knew.
As we enter the anniversary of 200 years since the birth of Charles Darwin and 150 years since the publishing of his book "On the Origin of Species", it is timely to consider the state of the concept of evolution across the world.
