Evolution - An International Conversation : Conference
| Place: | Conference Room, Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh |
| Start date: | Saturday 16, July 2011 |
| End date: | Saturday 16, July 2011 |
| Times: | 10 am - 5pm |
| Price: | - |
A Conference organised by the Life Science Trust and sponsored by the Anthroposophical Society (Edinburgh)
Open to all
With Dr Johannes Wirz (Dornach, Switzerland), Prof. Nicholas Barton
(Institute of Science and Technology, Austria) and Dr Margaret Colquhoun
(The Life Science Trust, Scotland)
Contact Dr K Buchanan: 07760642540
Email: ksbuchanan@btinternet.com
Contributors
Born in 1955, Dr Johannes Wirz has a PhD in molecular developmental genetics at the University of Basel. Since 1987 he has been co-director, lecturer and editor of Elemente der Naturwissenschaft at the Research Institute at the Goetheanum in Dornach (CH) . Projects (past and present) focusing on current questions in fundamental and applied biology, using and developing the Goethean tools of observation and investigation: Improving the habitats of butterflies, bee keeping without chemical pest control, non target effects of genetic modifications in crop plants, epigenetic inheritance in the groundsel (Senecio vulgaris), enhancing the vitality of honey bees by administration of plant extracts.
Professor Nicholas Barton began his career in evolutionary genetics by studying how populations can stay distinct even when they hybridise with each other. This involved field work on grasshoppers, toads, butterflies, and other organisms. This led on to mathematical work on modelling the evolutionary process. He has worked at University College London and the University of Edinburgh, and is now at IST Austria.
Dr Margaret Colquhoun is a Goethean Scientist who studied at the Carl Gustav Carus Institute in Öschelbronn, Germany with Thomas Göbel and in Dornach, Switzerland in the Natural Science Section at the Goetheanum with Dr Jochen Bockemühl. Her original degrees were in Zoology and Evolutionary Biology at Edinburgh University in Scotland. She has a deep interest in the relationship of human beings to Nature and in that which we can learn from her. In the 1990′s she helped set up the Pishwanton project in East Lothian as a British centre for the study and practice of Goethean Science and Art, where she still works as well as teaching freelance UK wide.
Programme
10 am Welcome – Dr Katherine Buchanan
10.15 – 11.00 Prof. Nick Barton (Institute of Science and Technology, Austria
Tea/Coffee Break
11.15 – 12.00 Dr Johannes Wirz (Natural Science Section, Dornach, Switzerland)
12.00 - 12.30 Conversation
12.30 – 1.00 Observation exercise – Dr Margaret Colquhoun (The Life Science Trust, Scotland)
Lunch
1.45 – 2.30 Observation Exercise – Dr Margaret Colquhoun
2.30 - 3.15 Prof. Nick Barton (Institute of Science and Technology, Austria
Tea Break
3.30 – 4.15 Dr Johannes Wirz (Natural Science Section, Dornach, Switzerland)
4.30 – 5.00 Concluding Conversation
Theme 1 – “What do we know about evolution”? Prof. Nick Barton
Darwin’s Origin of Species argued convincingly that all organisms descended from just one common ancestor. The discovery, half a century ago, of the molecular basis of heredity gave us vastly more evidence of the fact of evolution. Darwin’s arguments that evolution is mainly caused by natural selection were much harder to establish, and took another century to be accepted. Now, we are starting to find out just how far organisms are shaped by selection, and we can see how selection works both in the laboratory and in the wild.
Theme 2 – “Evo Devo“ Dr Johannes Wirz
Evolutionary developmental biology has deepened our understanding of evolutionary processes. The fundamentally different eyes of insects and vertebrates, for example, share a common genetic basis. And for some 500 Mio years, the master genes involved in the development of modern animals have been present in urbilaterians – a well known species is Kimberella – with a very primitive body plan.
On the basis of the „Double Law“ of Goethe, taking into account inner formative principles in organisms and outer modifying conditions, respectively, a new interpretation of these exciting facts will be tried.
Theme 3 – “The nature of the evolutionary process” Prof. Nick Barton
Evolution is caused by just a few processes – mutation, random genetic drift, sexual reproduction, and natural selection. It is astonishing that these simple processes have led to the extraordinary diversity of plants, animals and microbes that live on our planet. The process is one of diversification, rather than systematic progress. Nevertheless, some patterns do emerge over the long span of evolutionary time – most important, the coming together of different individuals to produce more complex organisms.
Theme 4 – “Epigenetics“ Dr Johannes Wirz
In a small village in Sweden, hunger in the prepubertarian state of grandparents has resulted in improved health and longevity of their grandchildren. Is Lamarck back?
Since C.H. Waddington has coined the term epigenetics in the fifties of the last century, this new genetics has turned into one of the most active fields of research, today. The understanding of the molecular processes underlying epigenetic phenomena cannot disguise the fact, that the “inheritance of acquired characters“ celebrates its rebirth. Organisms are not mere victims of random mutation and subsequent selection, but participate actively in the evolution of their offspring.
Email: ksbuchanan@btinternet.com
Details and more information: Dr Katherine Buchanan
At The Life Science Trust
Tel. 01620 810259 / mob. 07760642540 Email: ksbuchanan@btinternet.com
