Nearly 150 years after he proposed it, Charles Darwin's theory of evolution remains controversial, even though most scientists today accept it as biological fact. A major new museum exhibit in New York examines the scientific evidence for evolution, and attempts to understand &to=http://english.pravda.ru/region/2001/12/11/23359.html' target=_blank>Charles Darwin both as a scientific genius, and as a man.
At a press opening for "Darwin," one of the American Museum of Natural History's biggest shows in recent memory, Randal Keynes, Darwin's great-great grandson, stands between two exhibits that would certainly have pleased his famous ancestor.
To his left is a pair of live giant Galapagos tortoises, one of many species first recorded by Charles Darwin as a young naturalist aboard the HMS Beagle during its five-year voyage around the world from England through the southern oceans. To Mr. Keynes' right is a full-scale model of the laboratory and study where Darwin wrote his landmark book, On the Origin of Species.
"He was a man of passion," muses Mr. Keynes, "which is a bit of a surprise for many people who think of the elderly gray-bearded figure looking very severe," he says pointing to a famous portrait of the naturalist taken toward the end of his long life. "I think he remained a child all his life with his enthusiasm for the natural world, the beetles that he first collected and then for everything he went on to study. He was intensely ambitious. He wanted to find great truths in the wonderful variety of nature. And boy did he find one!" Mr. Keynes beamed.
That would be the &to=http://english.pravda.ru/science/19/94/377/9848_homo.html' target=_blank>theory of evolution, which states that all life on earth is descended from a single common ancestor, and that species change over time, through a process called "natural selection." In other words, organisms that adapt best to their environments tend to survive and produce offspring with those traits. This is in sharp contrast to prevailing Christian views, which held that God had created humans and animals in an unchanging form, over seven consecutive days, informs Voice of America.
The "Darwin's Legacy" discussion, convened in conjunction with the American Museum of Natural History's exhibit on the naturalist who developed the theory of evolution, came as legal battles played out over the teaching of evolution and "intelligent design" in U.S. schools.
Intelligent design holds that some aspects of nature are so complex they must be the work of an unnamed designer or higher power, as opposed to the result of random natural selection as argued by Darwin.
Policies that would promote teaching alternatives to evolution are being considered in at least 30 states, and the Kansas Board of Education earlier this month approved new public school science standards that cast doubt on the theory of evolution.
In Dover, Pennsylvania, a local school board was ousted over its requiring that intelligent design be taught in classrooms, and a group of parents has sued saying that violates the constitutional separation of church and state.
In a broad-ranging discussion, the panelists agreed as often as they differed, with several noting that the debate over evolution and intelligent design was rife with paradox.
James Moore of Britain's Open University noted religion was not taught in U.S. schools, yet this was a "very religious nation." In contrast, fewer than 5 percent of adults attend church services in Britain, a Christian country where religious education is mandatory and there is no separation of church and state, reports Reuters.
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