Friday, March 02, 2007
Drinking from a Firehose
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"We're living through a new, golden era in the biological sciences," says Sean Carroll.The battle for life leaves a record in DNA. So much new information about the history of evolution is being discovered every day, says Carroll "it's like drinking from a fire hose."
Those of us who defend evolution in the culture wars often lament the untimely loss of Carl Sagan and Stephen Jay Gould. We worry that no one has come along to replace them.
I can tell you that after hearing Sean Carroll speak at K-State last night, we have a candidate.
I was up late last night driving home from Manhattan, so I'll post more on his extraordinary talk later in the day after I've had a chance to gather my thoughts.
For now, I'll leave you with this. At the end of his lecture, Carroll played a DVD featuring a photo montage of scientists who've contributed to evolutionary theory. It was set to a rousing version of Tom Petty's "I won't back down."
Well I won't back down, no I won't back down
You can stand me up at the gates of hell
But I won't back down
Gonna stand my ground, won't be turned around
And Ill keep this world from draggin me down
Gonna stand my ground and I won't back down
Hey baby, there aint no easy way out
Hey I will stand my ground
And I won't back down.
The crowd loved it.
