Nearly 150 years after Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species, evolution has been widely accepted by scientists as the blueprint for the engine of life. But not every scientist thinks that evolution as it's now understood and applied is complete. They want to scale it up to the level of populations, even whole ecosystems. Moreover, they say evolution is intertwined with other dynamics that science is just starting to understand.

The fusion of genectics and Darwin's original theory called neo-Darwinian evolution describes evolution as we now know it: Genetic mutations produce changes that sometimes become part of a species' heritage and, when enough changes accumulate, produce new species.

Evolution has moved not only beyond the individual, but beyond the biological. It is being used to understand the transition of a few primitive compounds to the chemical building blocks of life. Somewhat more pertinently, language seems to evolve towards efficient, easily propagated linguistic constructs. And then there is cultural evolution, on the other hand, may be just as complicated as biological evolution.

Join this panel of evolution experts as they debate the state of evolution.

Speakers:
Tony Barnosky, Professor of Integrative Biology, UC Berkeley
Robert Drewes, Curator, California Academy of Sciences
Elizabeth Hadly, Associate Professor of Biology, Stanford
Kevin Padian (moderator), Professor of Integrative Biology, UC Berkeley

About Wonderfest Dialogues:
Wonderfest dialogues between pairs of researchers reveal the human/emotional side of science, and they entrust the listener with the responsibility of making up his/her own mind. They are divided into 3 equal segments: 30 minutes of introductory background remarks, 30 minutes of “debate,” and then 30 minutes of questions from the audience. High school science faculty serve as discussion moderators, and student volunteers offer assistance at each venue.