EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL
APRIL 29, 2007
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Donna Krupa
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dkrupa@the-aps.org
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How To Teach About
Evolution In A Biomedical Context?
Experts
Larry Kraus, Eugenie Scott and Randolph Nesse offer their views at 120th
annual meeting of the American Physiological Society (APS)
WASHINGTON – Three of America’s best known
voices in the debate about evolution in the teaching of science will meet to
discuss the issue on Sunday, April 29, 2007 in Washington, DC. The
symposium, entitled Teaching About Evolution in a Biomedical
Context, is part of the 120th annual meeting of the American
Physiological Society (APS;
www.the-APS.org). The APS, founded in 1887, is one of the nation’s
oldest scholarly societies for scientists. The Society, with 10,500 members,
publishes 11 peer-reviewed scientific journals each month.
The panel is comprised of the following:
Lawrence M. Krauss,
Ph.D.: Dr. Krauss is Professor of Astronomy and Director of the
Center for Education and Research in Cosmology and Astrophysics at Case
Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH. He is the author of more than
200 scientific publications and an internationally known theoretical
physicist with wide research interests, including the interface between
elementary particle physics and cosmology. His studies include the early
universe, the nature of dark matter, general relativity and neutrino
astrophysics. He has investigated questions ranging from the nature of
exploding stars to the origin of all mass in the universe.
Eugenie C. Scott,
Ph.D.: Dr. Scott is the Executive Director of the National Center
for Science Education, Inc. (NCSE), a non-profit organization located in
Oakland, CA, and affiliated with the American Association for the
Advancement of Science (AAAS). Dr. Scott has been both a researcher and an
activist in the creationism/evolution debate for more than 20 years. Her
organization opposes the teaching of religious views in science classes in
America’s public schools and defends the teaching of evolutionary biology.
Randolph M. Nesse, MD:
Dr. Nesse is a professor of psychology at the University of
Michigan, Ann Arbor, and professor of psychiatry at the University of
Michigan Medical School. He is noted for his work on evolutionary psychology
and Darwinian medicine. Darwinian medicine seeks to find evolutionary
explanations for vulnerabilities to disease.
Jon F. Harrison, Ph.D.:
Dr. Harrison, a Professor and Associate Director in the School of Life
Sciences at Arizona State University’s School of Life Sciences, will
moderate the panel. Dr. Harrison’s research centers on the mechanisms and
evolution of physiological responses of insects to environmental change.
The goal of this symposium is to help educators,
parents, and lawmakers to understand the importance of the study of
evolution to biomedical research, and to enhance the integration of
evolution and biomedical science in the classroom.
***
The
American Physiological Society (APS) has been an integral part of the
scientific discovery process since it was established in 1887. Physiology
is the study of how molecules, cells, tissues and organs function to create
health or disease. # # #
NOTE TO EDITORS: The APS annual meeting is part
of the Experimental Biology 2007 (EB ’07) gathering and will be held April
28-May 2, 2007 at the Washington, DC Convention Center. To schedule an
interview with one of the above speakers, please contact Donna Krupa at
301.634.7209 (direct dial), 703.967.2751 (cell) or
DKrupa@the-APS.org.
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