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David Storch: Through the Labyrinth of Evolutionary Biology

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  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: May 29, 2017, 19:00 – 21:00

The knowledge that life on earth has a history, that organisms gradually develop and that we can draw on knowledge of their history in order to understand them is one of the pillars of modern science. But how do we know all of this? How is it possible to research the history of life lost in the distant past when apart from a few fossils all that remains of it are present-day organisms?

Today’s evolutionary biology isn’t a speculative discipline that merely philosophises about whether organisms are developing toward a more perfect form and whether natural selection is the sole mechanism of development. Though Darwin’s theory remains its cornerstone, evolutionary theory is far broader, more interesting and in many regards more surprising than most people think. We have an image of the evolution of biological diversity and of what is behind the origin and extinction of species. The newly published book Jak se dělá evoluce (How Evolution Works) (Dokořán/Argo 2017) presents evolutionary biology as a dynamic field of science which incorporates with ease newly discovered biological phenomena and which enables us to reconstruct and grasp the detailed history of individual groups of organisms and their unique evolutionary novelties. Though many important things remain unknown to us, we still have a unique tool for understanding living beings and ourselves.

Discussion with David Storch (1970), zoologist, director of the Centre for Theoretical Studies at Charles University and the Czech Academy of Sciences and professor at Charles University’s Faculty of Science. He specialises in macroecology, biodiversity and environmental theory.

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