[temara.brown]

Origins Conference - Darwin's Legacy

The Origins Institute (OI) at McMaster University is celebrating the sesquicentennial for Darwin's masterpiece, by staging a major international conference, May 25-29.

The information about the planned conference is copied below. AddItional information can be accessed at the Origins conference website.

The Scientific Organising Committee is extending invitations to anyone with a keen interest in exploring this topic to get involved with this conference!

The OI was founded in 2004 as a transdisciplinary academy to explore fundamental questions in science through 6 origins themes (space-time, elements, structure in the cosmos - stars, planets, galaxies, life, species & biodiversity, humanity).

Additional information about the OI may be accessed at http://origins.mcmaster.ca

The OI emphasises transdisciplinary research and all talks will be delivered in a manner that will accommodate the broad scientific audience and topics that will be featured at the conference.

Conference Details - Darwinian's Legacy: Natural Selection as an Organising Principle in Science

Date - May 25-29, 2009

Schedule:
The conference will comprise 9 half-day sessions and social activities. Each session will include one keynote addresses (approximately 50 minutes, plus 10 minutes for discussion), one invited speech (approximately 25 minutes, plus 5 minutes for discussion), and shorter contributed talks. Two poster sessions also will be held.

May 25, morning - Darwinian Science

May 25, afternoon - Selection (Natural, Sexual, and Kin)
Mark Rausher

Social Reception (May 25, evening)

May 26, morning - Paleontology
James Valentine

May 25, afternoon - Evolution & Development
Brian Hall

May 26, evening - Public Lecture
Steve Benner

May 27 morning - Cognition, Language, & Culture
Christof Koch

May 27, afternoon - Social Outing (Niagara Falls)

May 27, evening - Winery Dinner

May 28 - Speciation & Adaptation
Hopi Hoekstra

May 28, afternoon - Molecular Evolution
Steven Benner

May 28, Conference Banquet (Royal Botanical Gardens)

May 29, morning - Emergent Complexity

May 29, afternoon - Origin of Life & Astrobiology
David Deamer

May 29, evening - BBQ

[lorend]

I want to go!

Aahaha I'm such a nerd.

[Alvand]

The Origins Institute is also having a PUBLIC LECTURE this Thursday.

The topic is:

Origins and Aliens: The Search for Other Earths

For thousands of years people have wondered, “Are we Alone?” With over 300 planets discovered to orbit nearby stars, the existence of "exoplanets" is firmly established. Astronomers are now able to routinely measure planetary sizes, masses, and atmospheres for a subset of hot, big exoplanets. The race to find "habitable" exoplanets is on with the realization that big Earths orbiting small stars can be both discovered and characterized with existing technology. Professor Seager will present highlights of recent exoplanet discoveries and discuss when we might find another Earth and what kinds of signs of life we are looking for. The speaker is Sara Seager from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

26/ 03/2009 MDCL-1305/1307 8:00pm

[micadjems]

There's no way we're alone!!

I mean, did you SEE Battlestar?!

XD

[huzaifa47]

Originally Posted by lorend

I want to go!

Aahaha I'm such a nerd.

Lol I've actually been to a couple of these this year! BUT you would be surprised to find that the average age of these events is around 55-60! I only recall seeing a few engineering student's who were probably there for the particle collider lecture. BUT this one should really push up the average age even more! considering the baby boomers were exposed to an era fascinated with alien's.
I really don't see why more students don't attend! They are rather facscinating. A shame I'm attending Fyec rep training this thursday :(

[temara.brown]

The origins colloquiums are always really good.. If you're into this sort of thing, you don't have to wait for the public lectures or for the conference (which I'm sure is going to be amazing.. the dark energy one that was held last time was amazing) you can go to the colloquiums every monday at 2:30PM in MDCL 1110. Those lectures tend to be more technical than the public ones but they're still lots of fun!

[Kareko]

these sound very interesting, do you need to register somewhere?

you can go to the colloquiums every monday at 2:30PM in MDCL 1110

you can just drop in? don't you need to be in the class?
I will have to remember this for next year some of the topics sound very cool

[kokosas]

Originally Posted by Kareko

these sound very interesting, do you need to register somewhere?


you can just drop in? don't you need to be in the class?
I will have to remember this for next year some of the topics sound very cool

I believe you can just drop in but like Temara said, they're more technical than public lectures so you need to know at least a little bit about what they're talking about.

[temara.brown]

you don't need to be in the class. They're open for anyone to pop in on - AND THERE ARE COOKIES!

[Kareko]

cookies=instant win