a few news items

Some exciting things have happened since my last post, so I will just list them:

1) Last weekend, the letter to the editor of the Kansas City Star that my Evolution students composed was published!

2) The Biology Department decided on a name for our Bichir (pet fish) - The Incredible Mr. Limpet, after the Don Knotts movie from 1964 (see picture). This entry was submitted by Pat Laughlin and won unanimously.

3) The Evolution service learning interviews are now posted on their blogs (below). Please check them out if you get a chance!

Students' Evolution Blogs

Please check out the blogs my Evolution students are maintaining for their service-learning projects (links at the bottom of this page)! They parallel the themes of their Darwin Day posters (pictured here) and, just like their posters, the students have put a lot of work into their blogs as well. Soon they will be posting accounts of interviews they have conducted with experts on their respective project topics, followed by entries concerning scientific literature on their topics and updates about their projects. So please remember to check them regularly!

Darwin's Birthday Celebration!!!

Yesterday, the Biology Department threw a huge bash to celebrate Charles Darwin's 200th birthday. In preparation, students from Evolution, Genetics, Invertebrate Zoology, General Biology II and two sections of our non-majors Biology course created informative posters, amazing works of art, a beautiful banner and even dishes made from Mrs. Charles Darwin's cookbook! (The above students are posing next to their fantastic projects.) We had t-shirts made using artwork contributed by J.Q. Sirls, an incredibly creative non-majors student from last semester. The Biology faculty also brought Dodo Dogs, Vestigial Veggies, Cambrian Explosion Candy, Cretaceous Cookies, Finch Fritos, Coprolite Cheese Puffs, Galapagos Grapes and Primordial Punch in honor of Darwin and evolution. We had visitors from across campus who came to admire our students' work. We are so proud of them and of how successful this day turned out to be!