School of Natural Sciences Mark 200th Anniversary of Darwins ‘Origins of the Species’
Posted on: 12 November 2009
Marking the 200th Anniversary of the publication of the Origin of the Species, the Darwin Seminar was organised by Zoology at Trinity’s School of Natural Sciences which took place recently (November 11th) featured a keynote lecture by the renowned author, Professor Andrew Parker, of the Natural History Museum, London and Oxford University. Professor Parker has written several books, including the book, In the Blink of an Eye: How Vision Kick-Started the Big Bang of Evolution about the so-called light switch theory that the ability of animals to both detect and respond to light was a major driving force behind the ‘Big Bang’ of evolution during the Cambrian explosion.
Burgess Shale worm Canadia (x1500) that lived 515 million years ago.
Suddenly, and for no obvious reason, the range and variety of animals erupted around 520 million years ago. This was during the Cambrian period, and it represents life’s ‘Big Bang’ – a subject for which Darwin was unaware. On a seemingly separate subject, but again one that troubled Darwin, the first animal to evolve vision was a Cambrian trilobite, around 521 million years ago. That trilobite had also evolved swimming capabilities and had become an active predator – in fact, the first active predator, with visual search capabilities. Its eyes and visual processing abilities had bestowed it a new level of sophistication. If the first eye is added to the geological timescale, the order of events becomes the introduction of vision, first, followed closely by the Cambrian explosion, second. Maybe this is more than mere coincidence.
About Professor Parker:
Andrew Parker was born in England in 1967. He received his PhD from Macquarie University in Sydney while working in marine biology for the Australian Museum. He became a Royal Society University Research Fellow at Oxford’s Department of Zoology in 1999, and is an Ernest Cook Research Fellow of Somerville College, Oxford, an EP Abraham Senior Research Fellow of Green College, Oxford, and a Research Associate of the Australian Museum and University of Sydney. I n 2006 he was appointed as a Research Leader at the Natural History Museum, London. He has published numerous scientific papers on topics as diverse as optics in nature, ostracod crustaceans, biomimetics and evolution, and is the author of In the Blink of an Eye: How Vision Kick-Started the Big Bang of Evolution, and Seven Deadly Colours (Simon and Schuster).