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Darwin Day: Heroes of Evolution
12/02/2020 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM PST
Free
This presentation has since taken place, you can view the film recording here
Heroes of Evolution: Margulis and McClintock: The Women Who Broke Darwinian Theory
This lecture will honor the accomplishments of two scientists who characterized exceptions to standard Darwinian Evolution Theory.
Dr. Lynn Margulis (aka Lynn Sagan) proposed that some organelles in cells are derived from once free-living organisms that took up residence inside a larger host cell. Chloroplasts and mitochondria are now well established examples of Endosymbiosis. Endosymbiosis is the combination of two organisms to create a new one thus breaking “identity by descent.”
Dr. Barbara McClintock (Nobel Laureate 1983) characterized “jumping genes” in corn. The presence of transposons and other mobile elements has described over time a new paradigm for how we understand genomes and how dynamic they are. Their ability to transfer themselves and DNA between organisms and move within genomes is another counterexample to “identity by descent”
The challenges these women in science faced from their male peers will be briefly discussed as well.
Previous work in the Library
Previous work in the Film Collection
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