First Fridays March 6, 2009

“Finding Your Inner Fish” with Dr. Neil Shubin

Why do we look the way we do? The answers to this question come from seemingly strange places: from the bodies, fossils and DNA of everything from microbes to worms and fish. Dr. Neil H. Shubin is a paleontologist and Associate Dean of Organismal and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Chicago. He'll guide guests through the discovery of a key link between fish and amphibians, and how this ancient event informs the basic structure of the human body.

About Dr. Neil H. Shubin

Dr. Neil H. Shubin is Provost of Academic Affairs at the Field Museum and a paleontologist and the Associate Dean of Organismal and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Chicago. He has found new fossils that change the way we think about many of the key transitions in evolution: from the reptile-mammal transition, the water-land transformation, and the origin of frogs, salamanders, turtles, flying reptiles. In 2006, he announced in the journal Nature the startling discovery of Tiktaalik, “a mosaic of primitive fish and derived amphibian.” Author of numerous scientific papers, he has received a variety of fellowships and awards including a Miller Research Fellowship, Guggenheim Fellowship, The Berlin Prize and ABC News Person of the Week.

Tour of the “Fish” Collection with Jeffrey Seigel

NHM Ichthyology Collections Manager Jeff Seigel shows off some of the Museum's more wonderful, and odd, fish specimens.

Music

Fool's Gold's unique American mix of African and Ethiopian indie rock, sung mostly in Hebrew, along with South African rock band BLK JKS, are this month's musical performers.

Curated by the non-profit radio collective dublab,  The Phatal DJ and Anthony Valadez will DJ in the African Mammal Hall.

Series Overview

Darwin's Origin of Species: From a Theory of Evolution to a Cultural Revolution

This year Charles Darwin turns 200 and his world-altering On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection turns 150. Often considered one of the two or three most important – and misunderstood – texts published in the sciences, The Origin of Species is also one of a handful of scientific works that has reverberated beyond science, shaking the foundations of art, literature, philosophy, religion and society. This season's First Fridays celebrate “Darwin Year” through entertaining and fascinating conversations with six of the world's foremost authors and experts on the life of Darwin, the science of evolution, and the revolutionary impact of the man and his work.