The Darwin Now exhibition is both colourful and interactive, to be enjoyed by children and adults. Each panel tells its own story as you learn about Darwin, his findings and how his theory is relevant today.
A stage 16 chick embryo showing where the Hoxa-2 gene is switched on (purple). Hoxa-2 is a transcription factor, binding to DNA and affecting the action of other genes. © Abigail Tucker, Wellcome Images.
Iguana on a tree.
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There is obviously a lot to know about this. There are some good points here.
GeneTinsley
on... How did music evolve?
In the Matrix/DNA Theory Models,we suggest how the building block of galaxies systems are identical to nucleotides, t...
Louis Morelli, New York USA
on... How do genomes evolve?
I don't know If I said it already but ...Hey good stuff...keep up the good work! :) I read a lot of blogs on a daily ...
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Exhibition themes
Who was Darwin?
Charles Darwin was the son of a prosperous country doctor in Shrewsbury, in the largely rural English county of Shropshire. As a boy he loved the countryside and its creatures but had trouble settling on a career. He abandoned medical school in Edinburgh, and was sent to Cambridge University to prepare for life as a vicar.
Global networks
Darwin did not travel again after his Beagle voyage. However, throughout his life, he was a prolific letter-writer. It was his way of cementing scientific friendships, pursuing collaboration and gathering observations.
Darwin's theory - inheritance, variation, selection
One reason that Darwin's ideas have endured is their simplicity. The theory of evolution by natural selection has just three essential parts:
Reactions
Darwin's readers had strong opinions about his book in its early years - but in very different ways.
Evidence for evolution - then
The Origin of Species persuaded many readers that evolution occurs because Darwin expounded the arguments for and against with such thoroughness. He also presented them with a vast amount of varying types of evidence.
Evidence for evolution - now
Darwin gathered a mass of information to support his ideas. The types of evidence he used – from fossils to distribution of species – are all much more developed 150 years later. The proliferation of living forms in the so-called Cambrian explosion around 530 million years ago, for example, has been studied in enormous detail.
Does evolution challenge religion?
The epic sweep of the evolutionary history of life is an inspiration to many. As the British palaeontologist Simon Conway Morris put it: 'Evolution discovers the song of creation.'
How do new species appear?
Darwin offered a theory to explain how one species can change into another. That is what evolution means. Accepting his theory meant overturning the older view of species as distinct kinds, which stay the same for ever. Although it convinced biologists around the world it also prompted questions that are still being debated.
Evolving humans
Darwin's theory of common descent had a startling implication: 'Humans are not separate from the rest of nature. Yet we are also clearly different from other creatures. Evolutionary theory is a product of human culture, which is itself a mark of that difference.'
How did music evolve?
Wherever people are found, there is music, but how did music-making evolve? Darwin raised the question, but found no answer. The difficulty was in determining what advantage is offered to the music-maker by the making of music.
How do genomes evolve?
Genetic change is the motor of evolution. A single change in a gene's DNA sequence might be of no consequence or it might be damaging, leading to a defective protein molecule; occasionally, it might be advantageous.
Intimate evolution
Darwin was fascinated by examples of organisms that have adapted to each other: a flower with deep-buried nectar and a moth with a tongue long enough to reach it must have evolved together.
A larger synthesis
Understanding natural selection in terms of genes cemented Darwin's place at the centre of biology. The union of genetics with Darwinian evolutionary theory was famously dubbed the 'modern synthesis' in a book by Thomas Huxley's grandson, Julian, in 1942.
Why so many?
Darwin's account of the origin of new species does not make it clear why there are quite so many similar ones.
Words by Jon Turney and exhibition design by Arka
