Dear friend of Arkadia,

You are heartily invited to ‘How the Turtle Gets Its Shell: The New Developmental Approach to Evolution’ by Scott Gilbert, ‘Finland Distinguished Professor’ at the University of Helsinki, on Tuesday 28.8 at Old Arkadia (Pohjoinen Hesperiankatu 9A).

http://www.swarthmore.edu/academics/biology/faculty/dr-scott-gilbert-howard-a-schneiderman-professor.xml#Brief%20CV

In order to understand how large changes in anatomy come into existence, one needs to first understand how the organs develop. The new science of evolutionary developmental biology understands evolution to be changes in the embryonic organism. The origin of such big changes as the turtle shell, the bat’s wing, the duck’s webbed feet, and the snake’s loss of limbs can be explained by showing how small genetic changes alter development in the respective embryos. Evolution doesn’t make new genes as much as it alters where, when, and how long old genes are expressed. This new science integrates genetics, embryology, and evolution, and answers many of the problems thought insolvable by creationists.

Welcome!

Warm regards,

Ian
www.arkadiabookshop.fi

– Entrance is free and green tea will be served. A donation of €2 (or more!) is suggested and would be very welcome.

Scott Gilbert is a “Finland Distinguished Professor” at the University of Helsinki, and the author of the textbooks, “Developmental Biology,” “Ecological Developmental Biology,” and “Bioethics and the New Embryology: Springboards for Debate.”