Biologist weighs in on debate over Intelligent Design

Dr. Maureen Stanton did not wish to go to Disneyland after winning the academic equivalent of the Super Bowl. She wanted to go to the Galapagos, which she said is like the "Mecca for the evolutionary biologist."

In 2005, Stanton, professor and chair of the evolution and ecology department at UC Davis, was awarded the top prize for Undergraduate Teaching and Scholarly Achievement. This honor is only one of dozens of accolades Stanton has earned in her nearly 25 years of teaching and discovery at the university.

Sadly though, due to other needs and constraints, Stanton has yet to make her trip to South America. She says she still longs "to travel to the Galapagos Islands, which were such a crucible for Darwin's revolutionary theory."

Stanton will give the public insight into the evolution of the diverse life forms found on Earth and explain why the Intelligent Design approach is fundamentally nonscientific at a free talk at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 20 at the Davis Branch Library, 315 E. 14th St. The talk, "Evolution vs. Intelligent Design: Which is Legitimate Science?" is part of Explorit Science Center's Cutting Edge of Science Lecture Series, sponsored by Novozymes and hosted by the library.

As Charles Darwin came to see during his voyage on the HMS Beagle, the Galapagos offered in their biology a fascinating insight into the mechanism of evolution. Stanton‚s current work depends largely on the discoveries made 175 years ago that led Darwin to the principle of natural selection, the explanation of how and why evolution occurs.

So exactly how does a modern-day evolutionary biologist uncover these mechanisms?

"In my early work on behavior and ecology, I became dissatisfied with the then-standard practice of treating all individuals within a species as though they were identical. In fact, every species is highly variable, and it is this variability that provides the raw material upon which natural selection acts," Stanton explains. "Once I began to focus explicitly on the consequences of variability within species for the ecology and performance of individuals, I was hooked."

Stanton has been pondering the question of why Intelligent Design has such a following „for decades.‰ She thinks it is vital that people understand that science is based on testable and falsifiable hypotheses and that literal interpretations of the Bible fall outside of science‚s domain.

"Galileo was found guilty of heresy for demonstrating that the Earth rotates around the sun. In his day, this was seen as directly contradicting passages in the Bible, but that is certainly not the case today," she added.

In light of the controversy sometimes surrounding this field, what is the "take home" message from this talk?

"Most people, and even many scientists, do not realize how overwhelming the evidence is for life on Earth having descended from a single common ancestor. Evolutionary analysis is a thriving, healthy discipline, and there is no genuine scientific controversy about whether it has happened, only about the details of how and when."

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Our bodies have 206 bones and more than 650 muscles, and it is up to us to keep them healthy. Join Explorit staff at the „
"Stay Fit, Stay Healthy" Family Exploration on Saturday for a day of health, fitness and fun with hands-on activities. This program runs from 1-4 p.m. at Explorit‚s main public site, 2801 2nd St. The Family Exploration is free with paid admission and is sponsored by Davis Waste Removal.

Also on Saturday, the Davis Astronomy Club at Explorit, offers "Count Your Lucky Stars and Comets," where visitors will learn about comets and, weather permitting, can participate in the annual count of the visible stars in the Orion constellation, which is part of a project to track light pollution. This Astronomy Club event is free and starts at 7:30pm at the Mace Park Branch of Explorit, 3141 5th St.

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Explorit has set a new date for the opening of its Web Lab. Due to construction delays, the lab will open March 31 instead of March 17 as originally planned. It will adjoin the main public gallery on Explorit's first floor in what was formerly the DISC kitchen. Stainless steel tables and sinks will provide an area for science exploration that would potentially be too messy in the gallery. The lab, funded by the Rumsey Community Fund, is the next phase of Explorit's $2.4 million expansion, to be followed by the opening of exhibits in the Gumerlock Gallery on the second floor in 2008.

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Explorit Science Center is open at its new site, 2801 Second St., Davis. Through Sunday, you can visit the exhibition "From Codes to Crystals: Patterns All Around." Explorit is closed to the public from Monday-Friday next week  while the new exhibition is being installed. "Looking Up: The World Above Us" opens on March 17 and runs through June 10. Public hours are Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Tuesday through Friday from 2 to 4:30 p.m. For more information: www.explorit.org or (530) 756-0191.