The Year of Darwin

2009 has been proclaimed the "Year of Darwin." Charles Darwin's 200th birthday is February 12, 2009, and the 150th anniversary of the publication of the book ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES is November 24, 2009.

The Scientific Library is planning various programs throughout the year to honor Charles Darwin, an amazing naturalist and author. We will show documentaries and movies, create bulletin boards, provide books and audiovisuals, and perhaps host an invited speaker.

We welcome your suggestions on what we can do during this "Year of Darwin," so let us hear from you. You can email your ideas to the Scientific Library.

• UPCOMING PROGRAMS

• RELEVANT WEBSITES

• RELEVANT MATERIALS FROM THE SCIENTIFIC LIBRARY

• CONTACT INFORMATION

UPCOMING PROGRAMS

• NCI-FREDERICK SPRING RESEARCH FESTIVAL
  
  The NCI-Frederick Spring Research Festival has selected Charles Darwin and the Pathway to Evolutionary Medicine as its theme for 2009. The Festival website has much information About Darwin. The Scientific Library staff will host a booth at the Festival for which we are planning various Darwin-related activities. Guess how many Darwin gummy worms are in the jar! Take a look at a demonstration of how worms help the environment. Be sure to participate in our Darwin Trivia event. Stop by our booth on either day of the Festival to see what's going on.
  
  NCI-Frederick Spring Research Festival
  Wednesday, April 29 and Thursday, April 30, 2009,
  Schedule of Events

• SUMMER VIDEO SERIES
  
  EVOLVE (an 11-part DVD series) -- It’s a tough, violent, and lethal world out there, and it’s been that way since the dawn of time. Roughly 99 percent of all species have become extinct. What enabled that other one percent to survive the cutthroat competition? Their ability to.... EVOLVE. Through a stunning combination of dramatizations, computer animations, live action nature footage and lab work, discover the biological and behavioral innovations that have kept us all on this Earth!
  
  This program will be held every Monday, 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m., in Conference Room A of the Conference Center in Building 549, from Monday, June 22 through Monday, August 31. Please check the schedule below for specific titles.
  
  Part One
  Date: Monday, June 22, 2009
  What: Eyes - Seeing is believing … not to mention evading, eating and surviving! Learn how the eyeball evolved from ancestors of jellyfish who developed light-sensitive cells to the unique adaptations that allowed primates to better exploit their new habitat, while the ability to see colors helped them find food.
  
  Part Two
  Date: Monday, June 29, 2009
  What: Sex - Sex is a necessity for most species to survive. As evolution continues, are we approaching a time when sex will no longer be a necessity? How is this possible?
  
  Part Three
  Date: Monday, July 6, 2009
  What: Size - How do we measure up? Understand the amazing processes that gave us vertebrates smaller than a thumbnail (a Cuban frog) and longer than a diesel locomotive (a blue whale). But what are the mechanisms of these adaptations, the evolutionary pressures that effect size, and the physical limits life can attain?
  
  Part Four
  Date: Monday, July 13, 2009
  What: Skin - Skin is absolutely amazing, far more complex and versatile than we ever give it credit for. It makes up 16% of your body weight, is the largest organ in the human body, allows birds to fly, mammals to nurse their young, and provides a lifelong defense against predators and parasites alike.
  
  Part Five
  Date: Monday, July 20, 2009
  What: Flight - In this high-flying episode, unearth the secrets, and the continuing mysteries, of the very first vertebrate flyer, the pterosaur, which escaped its earthly bounds 220 million years ago. This creature eventually evolved into flying Goliaths the size of small planes!
  
  Part Six
  Date: Monday, July 27, 2009
  What: Communication - Communication isn’t just the key to a good relationship; it also goes a long way toward ensuring the success of a species. While humans, comfortable at the top of the food chain, have made the most out of this particular evolutionary achievement, organisms everywhere - from dolphins to amoebae - can be found speaking to one another.
  
  Part Seven
  Date: Monday, August 3, 2009
  What: Guts - It doesn’t just take willpower to survive. It takes guts. Life needs energy to exist and almost all animals get their energy in the same way – with a built in power plant, a digestive system that turns food into fuel. Take a close look at the role guts have played in shaping some of Earth’s most successful animals: dinosaurs, snakes, cows, and us.
  
  Part Eight
  Date: Monday, August 10, 2009
  What: Venom - The deadliest natural weapon employed in the animal kingdom has independently evolved in creatures as diverse as jellyfish, insects, snakes, and even mammals. Scientists from around the globe show how evolution adapted venom to fit the needs of the animals who wield it.
  
  Part Nine
  Date: Monday, August 17, 2009
  What: Speed - The ability to react and move can often mean the difference between life and death in the animal kingdom. Some animals have evolved into championship fliers, swimmers, and runners. What are the forces that create this need for speed, and how do animal bodies adapt to go into overdrive?
  
  Part Ten
  Date: Monday, August 24, 2009
  What: Jaws - Get ready to pry open some of the deadliest jaws on the planet as we expose this fierce and ferocious anatomical weapon. Sharp, menacing and more than an eating apparatus, the jaws of many animals are key to their survival. Go back along the evolutionary line to discover how various jaws developed in the first place.
  
  Part Eleven
  Date: Monday, August 31, 2009
  What: Communication - Communication isn’t just the key to a good relationship; it also goes a long way toward ensuring the success of a species. While humans, comfortable at the top of the food chain, have made the most out of this particular evolutionary achievement, organisms everywhere -- from dolphins to amoebae -- can be found speaking to one another.

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RELEVANT WEBSITES

• 2008-2009 Year of Darwin and Evolution (Case Western Reserve University)
• About Darwin: Dedicated to the Life & Times of Charles Darwin
• Beyond The Origin: Darwin 200: Celebrating the Man and the Book (NATURE issue - access restricted to NCI-Frederick)
• Charles Darwin (Wikipedia)
• Charles Darwin Quotes
• Commemorating the Bicentenary of Charles Darwin's Birth (NUCLEIC ACIDS RESEARCH issues)
• Complete Works of Charles Darwin Online
• Darwin: Big Idea, Big Exhibition (Natural History Museum, UK)
• Darwin Day Celebration
• Darwin: the Genius of Evolution (BBC Radio)
• Darwinian Time (THE SCIENTIST issue)
• Darwin's Gifts (THE LANCET special issue - access restricted to NCI-Frederick)
• Evolution (SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN magazine)
• Galapagos Conservancy (formerly Charles Darwin Foundation, Inc.)
• Happy Birthday Darwin (SCIENCE NEWS feature - access restricted to NCI-Frederick; call x1682 for password)
• Humanity Animality (research*eu: the magazine of the european research area)
• The Year of Darwin (SCIENCE journal - access restricted to NCI-Frederick)

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RELEVANT MATERIALS FROM THE SCIENTIFIC LIBRARY

The following materials about Darwin and evolution are available from the Scientific Library. Complete information about each item may be found by searching the Library's Online Catalog.

• ACQUIRING GENOMES: A THEORY OF THE ORIGINS OF SPECIES by Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan
  Book; Call No. QH 380 .M37 2002
• THE BEAK OF THE FINCH by Jonathan Weiner
  Book; Call No. to be decided
• DARWIN & EVOLUTION
  CDs; Call No. AV 00370 no.6
• DARWIN'S GIFT TO SCIENCE AND RELIGION by Francisco J. Ayala
  Book; Call No. QH 375 .A973 2007
• EVOLUTION
  Videotapes; Call No. AV 00236 - 00242 (7 videotapes)
• THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES by Charles Darwin
  Book; Call No. QH 365 .D228o 1971
• THE QUOTABLE SCIENTIST: WORDS OF WISDOM FROM CHARLES DARWIN, ALBERT EINSTEIN, RICHARD FEYNMAN, GALILEO, MARIE CURIE, AND MORE by Leslie Alan Horvitz
  Book; Call No. Q 173 .H739 2000
• THE RELUCTANT MR. DARWIN: AN INTIMATE PORTRAIT OF CHARLES DARWIN AND THE MAKING OF HIS THEORY OF EVOLUTION by David Quammen
  Book; Call No. WZ 100 .D228 2006
• THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION
  Audiocassettes; Call No. AV 00291

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CONTACT INFORMATION

We would like to hear your ideas, comments, and suggestions about this program. Please email the Scientific Library .

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