Evolution 2009 - Highlights 1

Conferences are always exciting – so much data, so many good ideas, so much to think about. A short list of highlights so far includes:

L. Morran talked about why sex was better with a partner (evolution of sex)

M. Hoso talked about asymmetry in snails and associated asymmetry in their snake predators

M. Szucs talked about the rapid evolution of diapause phenotypes in a biological control agent.

And many many more.

Conference dining and disposable one-use dishes

One thing that has always bothered me about conferences is the amount of one-use dishes that are gone through every day. Here at Evolution 2009, there are ~ 1100 registrants, most of whom attend at least 2 out of three meals a day at the dining facilities. About a month ago, I accumulated several backpacker dishes that I keep in my backpack at all times to try to minimize waste. I am using a folding camp plate/bowl, a reusable spork, a steel coffee mug and a nalgene bottle for water (I am following the lead of Dave over at 365 Days of Trash - check out his awesome video).

I have been using the dishes for the last few meals and I have been pretty amazed at how it was received by most other people here, commenting on how great of an idea it was. While they are using disposable dishes, I can reuse mine the whole time. This is my own little way of protecting the planet.

I have an idea for future conferences. Generally at these things you get a bag full of sponsored 'goodies' when you register - pens, water bottles, etc... (I have only seen about 10 people here using there reusable water bottle that they got for registration...). What if the conference was to have their sponsors supply reusable plates and silverware and not offer paper plates? That might make a point. Maybe it is just wishful thinking though.

I love my reusable plates.

Evolution 2009 - Day 1

After a long hiatus from posting (as I was finishing up the good ol' dissertation) and a 9.5 hour drive, I am at the Evolution 2009 meetings in Moscow, ID.

The first thing that I have learned at this meeting is that I will never again take the cheap way out and stay in a dorm room at a conference. Sure it saves some money, but is it worth it when you end up staying in a building that smells like a stale locker room? Not really. I am considering driving around the area and finding a nice campground nearby to put up my tent. Fresh Idaho air would be much nicer...

The conference started off for me with the SJ Gould Award Lecture given by Eugenie Scott of the National Center for Science Education. From the Evolution Society's website,

The Stephen Jay Gould Prize is awarded annually by the Society for the Study of Evolution to recognize individuals whose sustained and exemplary efforts have advanced public understanding of evolutionary science and its importance in biology, education, and everyday life in the spirit of Stephen Jay Gould.

Eugenie Scott definitely fits into this with her great work in advancing the public understanding of science, with particular focus paid to evolutionary biology. Her talk (which should appear at some point on the Evolution 2009 website above) focused on ways in which educators can clarify how they teach science to increase the public understanding of science. Some of her main points were:

• Science has three levels: core science which are generally accepted based on a large amount of evidence (evolution, atomic theory, gravity, etc...), frontier science where most work is done to describe the core science, and the fringe science for which there is little effort expended as there is a low probability of success (esp, telekinesis, intelligent design, ID). She makes the point that it is possible to move from fringe science to core science (pointing out the example of plate techtonics), but in most cases it is unlikely. The burden of proof lies in the intelligent design community to do the research if they want to advance ID from the fringe to the frontier, and to date this has not been done.
• One of the major hurdles to the public understanding evolution is that ID folks tend to point out disagreements between biologists in the realms of frontier science (this is why science works so well - we disagree), but the major point is that there is very little disagreement about the core science - that all forms of life on this planet are descended from common ancestors.
• Word choice is important - we are not "darwinists" - we are evolutionary biologists. If you can attached 'ism' to a word it becomes an ideology. Evolution is not an ideology - it is science.

I will post up a link to the video as soon as I come accross it.

It was an excellent way to start the conference. The SJ Gould Award is a great thing for the Evolution Society to have started. The public pays for us to do our research, and it is our responsibility to make sure that they benefit from this work.