http://www.news.ku.edu/2007/february/6/dodos.shtml
Move over Jayhawks, ‘Flock of Dodos’ coming to KU to celebrate Darwin Day
LAWRENCE — Hoping to avoid the fate of the extinct dodo bird, researchers and students at the University of Kansas will join a worldwide celebration of the 198th birthday of Charles R. Darwin.
Darwin Day is Monday, Feb. 12. The celebration will feature the Lawrence premiere of a new award-winning film, “Flock of Dodos: The Evolution-Intelligent Design Circusâ€; a costume contest; open house exhibits in two museums; and 10 special exhibits of KU research among other events all focused on the theme “We’ve come a long way since Darwin.â€
“Dodos,†directed by former Kansan, KU alumnus and evolutionary biologist Randy Olson, uses humor to explore the controversy over teaching evolution in Kansas public schools.
“One theme of the film is how poorly scientists have communicated the basics of evolution to the general public,†said Robert Hagen, a Kansas Biological Survey researcher who is helping to coordinate Darwin Day at KU. “The implication is that scientists must learn to do a better job or we’re at risk of extinction, too.â€
The film will be shown at 7:45 p.m. at Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union. Tickets are on sale in the Natural History Museum gift shop.
KU’s Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Institute and the Spencer Museum of Art plan open house events from 6 to 7:30 p.m. to showcase the breadth of evolutionary biology and concepts of evolution. In the Natural History Museum, KU researchers will have special exhibits of current research — ranging from fossils to frog courtship to psychology. KU Students for Science members will help answer questions. In the Spencer museum, the print room will feature special displays related to concepts in evolution.
Kansas Citizen for Science will award prizes of $100 and $50 for the best costumes of each of three categories: Darwin, at any age in his career; Muffy Moose (pictures of Muffy, mother of the “Dodos†film director, are online at www.muffymoose.com); and Dodos, which can be authentic or animated. All costume entrants receive free admission to the film.
Judging begins in Woodruff Auditorium preceding the film. The film’s audience will judge the best Darwin costumes. Muffy Moose, whose real name is Muffy Olson, will judge her category by Webcast from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. KU Natural History Museum biologists and staff will select the Dodo costume winners.
The “Dodos†cast includes two KU faculty members: Steven Case, assistant director of KU’s Center for Science Education, and Daphne Fautin, professor of invertebrate zoology. Others appearing in the film are John Calvert, retired attorney and director of the Intelligent Design Network Inc., and members of the Kansas State Board of Education and the Dover, Pa., school board.
Olson chose Darwin’s birthday as the occasion for the official release of his new film and has coordinated events at science centers and museums across the nation. The film will also be shown Feb. 16 and 17 at Science City in Union Station in Kansas City, Mo. That event is co-sponsored by the Kansas City Biosciences Authority.
KU sponsors for Darwin Day are the Center for Science Education; Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Institute; Spencer Museum of Art; Kansas Biological Survey; Division of Biological Sciences; the departments of anthropology, ecology and evolutionary biology, chemistry, geology, molecular biosciences, physics and astronomy and psychology; Kansas Citizens for Science; and KU Students for Science.
Full listing of Darwin Day events at KU:
Noon — Center for Science Education Brown Bag Seminar at the Pine Room in the Kansas Union
“Forms Most Beautiful: Ideas of Evolution at the Molecular Level†by Richard Schowen, KU distinguished professor emeritus of chemistry.
6 p.m. — Open House at the Natural History Museum
The ongoing Explore Evolution exhibit focuses on seven research projects that illustrate discoveries in evolution ranging from viruses to whales. For Darwin Day, 10 special displays of current KU research in evolution will be on exhibit and the scientists will be available to talk with visitors. They are:
— Treating Depressive Illness: Applied Evolutionary Psychology by Stephen Ilardi, associate professor of psychology
— Trace Fossils and the Evolution of Animal Behavior by John Counts, graduate student in geology, and Stephen T. Hasiotis, associate professor of geology
— Fossil Plants by Edith Taylor, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology
— KU Vertebrate Paleontology and the Orient: Mesozoic Birds over China by David Burnham, graduate student in geology, and Larry Martin, senior curator of vertebrate paleontology
— Corals, Anemones and Jellyfish: Evolution of an Early Animal Group by Daphne Fautin, senior curator of invertebrate zoology, and Paulyn Cartwright, assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology
— Primate Social Evolution by Jennifer Weghorst, adjunct research associate, Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Research Institute
— Honey Bee Evolution by Deborah Smith, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology
— Evolution of Frog Courtship by Rafe Brown, curator of herpetology
— Hybridization and Parental Care in Mammals and Birds by Raymond Pierotti, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology
6-7:30 p.m. — Evolution and the Arts in the Print Study Room, Spencer Museum of Art
7:30 p.m. — Costume judging in Woodruff Auditorium
7:45 p.m. — “Flock of Dodos†in Woodruff Auditorium
Tickets are $2 and available in the Natural History Museum gift shop.