Alfred Russel Wallace: Back in the picture

Image: Natural History Museum

Giving a lecture this week on biogeography and the role played by Alfred Russel Wallace in the development of that area of study, I was delighted to be able to call upon comedian and musician Bill Bailey to lay the groundwork with his excellent documentary on the Welsh biologist.

Bailey's two-part documentary on Wallace (part two to be aired on BBC2, this Sunday) comes during Wallace 100, a series of events throughout 2013 to mark the 100th anniversary of his death.

Some, including Bailey, argue that Wallace is a 'forgotten man' of science; his contribution to the Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection having been watered-down or forgotten completely with the passing of time.

Wallace 100 seeks to put that right, not least by returning a portrait of the man to the main hall of the Natural History Museum in London - a portrait that was removed in 1971. Now, Wallace will have a presence in the NHM to rival that of his colleague in science, Charles Darwin.

A fund has also been set up to erect a bronze sculpture of Wallace at the NHM. This sculpture, currently being created, will finally complete an ambition which has existed since Wallace's death but was not realised due to the outbreak of World War 1.

As well as his contribution to the theory of evolution, Wallace is also know as the 'Father of Biogeography' - the study of how and why plants and animals are distributed across the world.

Biogeography, in tandem with evolution, explains why you find kangaroos in Australia and not in Canada; why you find giraffes in the wild in Africa and not in Ireland.

The Wallace Line (in red) marks a dividing line in biogeography

Wallace's travels and studies in south-east Asia led him to think about how animals and plants are distributed and he was able to draw a line - The Wallace Line - through modern day Indonesia and Borneo to indicate a dividing line between 'Australian-type' flora and fauna on one side and 'Asian-type' plants and animals on the other.

This line, we now know, corresponds with the meeting point of two major tectonic plates which have only (geologically speaking) recently moved together. So, whereas now these two regions lie very close together, the plants and animals on these plates developed in biogeographical isolation and differ hugely from one another. They're the original 'odd-couple'!

Watch the second episode of Bill Bailey's Jungle Hero on BBC Two on 28 April.

Darwin Day Special: Darwin's 'Lost' Fossils

During the Summer of 2011, Howard Falcon-Lang was rummaging around in the windowless vaults of the British Geological Survey when he opened a drawer labelled simply "unregistered fossil plants".

What he found inside was a 'treasure trove' of fossils including some collected by Charles Darwin - who's birth we celebrate this weekend as Darwin Day!

“While searching through an old cabinet, I spotted some drawers marked ‘unregistered fossil plants’. I can’t resist a mystery, so I pulled one open. What I found inside made my jaw drop!” said Falcon-Lang.

“Inside the drawer were hundreds of beautiful glass slides made by polishing fossil plants into thin translucent sheets. This process allows them to be studied under the microscope. Almost the first slide I picked up was labeled ‘C. Darwin Esq.’ This turned out to be a piece of fossil wood collected by Darwin during his famous Voyage of the Beagle in 1834!”

The collection was put together by Darwin's good friend Joseph Hooker while he was employed by the Survey for a short time in 1846.

"The purpose of my visit was to locate some specimens of Carboniferous fossil wood from the Bristol Coalfield", wrote Falcon-Lang in Geology Today. "A rummage quickly turned up the sought after fossils but as we were preparing to leave, my eyes fell on a series of drawers marked ‘unregistered fossil plants’. I can’t resist a mystery, so I pulled one open".

Joseph Hooker

Joseph Hooker (1817-1911) was one of the great botanists of his time and director of Kew Gardens for many years. The slide-mounted samples of fossilised plants in the newly re-discovered collection have the names of donors inscribed on the slides. At least two of the sections of fossil wood were obtained by Darwin during his famous voyage on the Beagle, from 1831 to 1836.

One of the samples (pictured above) comes from Chiloe Island, Chile a place Darwin visited in December 1834 and described it thus: "Chiloe, from its climate is a miserable hole".

There are many specimens from the collection which were not collected by Darwin although understandably given Darwin's fame his samples have stolen a lot of the attention. Other samples are associated with William Nicol, the pioneer of petrography (the detailed study of rocks).

Falcon-Long suggests that the collection probably got lost in the British Geological Survey's storage facility at Keyworth, near Nottingham, UK as a result of bad timing. The Survey didn't start formally registering its acquisitions until 1848. Since then, the samples seem to have been moved around London to various Museums, which at various times held geological collections. It probably arrived in Keyworth in the mid-eighties. Here, a process of cataloguing and photographing is currently ongoing so more fascinating discoveries may yet be waiting around the corner.

You can view a selection from the collection at the British Geological Survey's online museum.

Giant Tortoise 'Re-discovered'

Scientists working on the Galápagos Islands say they may have discovered a breeding population of a species of giant tortoise thought to be extinct since soon after Charles Darwin's visit to the islands in 1835.

Chelonoidis elephantopus, a species endemic to Floreana Island, were thought to be extinct despite eleven hybrid tortoises being detected on a neighbouring island which were thought to contain the genetic signatures of the 'extinct' specises.

Now scientists writing in the journal Current Biology say that C. elephantopus individuals must still be alive today based on "the genetic footprints left in the genomes of very recent hybrid offspring" on Isabela Island.
1669 totrtoises were sampled, with 84 exhibiting genotypes consistant with having one parent of the  'extinct' species. Given that C. elephantopus can live more than 100 years, it is likely that these parents are still alive and could be used to attempt a species recovery via captive breeding.

On his voyage to the Galapagos in 1835, Charles Darwin observed that the shells of tortoises living on different islands of the chain had different shapes – one of the observations that inspired his theory of natural selection. For instance, the shells of C. elephantopus on Floreana were saddle-shaped while tortoises on other islands had domed-shaped shells.

On Floreana, however, the tortoises disappeared because of hunting by whalers and workers at a heating oil factory that had been established on the island.

“This is not just an academic exercise,” said Gisella Caccone, senior research scientist in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and senior author of the paper. “If we can find these individuals, we can restore them to their island of origin. This is important as these animals are keystone species playing a crucial role in maintaining the ecological integrity of the island communities.”

The international team of scientists suggest that, to their knowledge, this is the first rediscovery of a species by tracking the genetic footprints left in the genomes of its hybrid offspring.

The Rap Guide to Evolution

Canadian rap artist Baba Brinkman has created the Rap Guide to Evolution. Supported by the Wellcome Trust, the music videos are now online and make for some interesting listening. You can judge for yourself whether you think they are useful teaching tools.

The videos are based on the successful theatre show 'The Rap Guide to Evolution', which was performed to critical acclaim at the 2009 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

On the launch of the videos, Baba said: "The response to the show so far has been overwhelming, but these videos really take it to the next level. I hope educators all over the world find them helpful in overcoming the indifference and hostility that often impede the teaching of evolution, and science in general. Hip-hop music is all about rebellion, and no one's ideas are more revolutionary than Charles Darwin's."

The Rap Guide has been described as "astonishing and brilliant" by the New York Times, with Science magazine adding that Baba "marries the fast, complex, literate delivery of Eminem with the evolutionary expertise and confrontational manner of Dawkins".

The first in a series of twelve videos (two of which are currently available) is presented above. The remaining videos will be released over the coming months.  Enjoy!

Happy Darwin Day

This coming Saturday (Feb 12th) is Darwin Day - a global celebration of science and reason held to coincide with the birthday anniversary of evolutionary biologist Charles Darwin.

You can find more information on Darwin Day here.

The following is an award winning film clip by the Wellcome Trust and presented by David Attenborough which summarises evolution in spectacular fashion. Enjoy.

Science Snapshot Six: Darwin's Bulldog

Science Week is ongoing in Ireland and continues until the 14th. For more details of events taking place around the country, you can visit here.

Here on Communicate Science, for the duration of Science Week, along with our usual posts, we'll be posting a 'Science Snapshot' every day. If you have a Science Snapshot you'd like to share, you can email here and we'll post the best later in the week.

Today, it's an image of Thomas Henry Huxley as depicted in a statue in London's Natural History Museum. Huxley became known as "Darwin's Bulldog" because of his firm defence of Darwin's theories.

Huxley's debate with Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford is seen as a turning point in the public acceptance of evolution.

Funny Science: all-action Darwin

Dana Carvey is Charles Darwin in this all-action epic.

Dana Carvey is "DARWIN" - watch more funny videos

Science Gallery: London & Kew Picture Special

Charles Darwin overlooked the Central Hall of the Natural History Museum in London between 1885 and 1927, when it was replaced by a statue of Richard Owen (the scientist who coined the term 'Dinosaur'). Owen, while agreeing with Darwin that evolution took place, did not agree with Darwin on the explanation he outlined in 'On the Origin of Species'. Owen was a driving force behind the establishment of the Natural History Museum in London. Darwin's statue was returned to the Central Hall to celebrate Darwin 200.

Thomas Henry Huxley was known as Darwin's Bulldog because of his strong defence of Darwin's ideas. His Great Debate of 1860 with the Bishop of Oxford Samuel Wilberforce was a key turning point in the public acceptance of the theory of evolution.

In an address on the occasion of handing over the Darwin statue to the Museum, Huxley himself said: "we beg you to cherish this Memorial as a symbol by which, as generation after generation of students of Nature enter yonder door, they shall be reminded of the ideal according to which they must shape their lives, if they would turn to the best account the opportunities offered by the great institution under your charge".

 A cherry blossom grows on the banks of the The Pond, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. See our earlier post on cherry blossoms here.

Above, some images of the plant life at Kew, including Pitcher Plants and Orchids. Also, an image taken from the top of the Xstrata Tree-top walk which takes you 18 metres into the air. The walkway is decorated with plaques which explain some astonishing facts about plant life.

A close-up shot of the spectacular bark of Encephalartos altensteinii, the oldest pot plant in the world. See our earlier post on this plant here.

The roof of the Palm House at Kew. Measuring 363 feet long, 100 feet wide and 66 feet high, the Palm House was designed by Decimus Burton and Richard Turner and built between 1844 and 1848. It is the world's most important surviving Victorian glass and iron structure. The structure was repaired in the 1950's and 1980's. During the most recent renovation, the glasshouse was emptied completely for the first time in its history. It was entirely deconstructed and put back together, replacing damaged parts with identical replacements.

The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, has as its mission statement : To enable better management of the Earth's environment by increasing knowledge and understanding of the plant and fungal kingdoms - the basis of life on earth.

Behind Kew's Mission Statement runs a simple maxim;

"All life depends on plants"

If you liked these photos and have taken some of your own, you might want to enter our Science Photo Competition. Entries close on Saturday 15th May, so get snapping.

Irish business could learn a thing or two from Darwin - Opinion

What should have been a very run-of-the-mill press launch last week for the Tanaiste has been somewhat overshadowed by a decidedly dodgy grasp of scientific history. Maybe it was a slip of the tongue on Mary Coughlan’s fault, and perhaps I’m cruel to bring it up again, but the second in command of Ireland Inc. really should know better.

The Tanaiste was addressing a bunch of entrepreneurs to promote the IDA’s campaign to market Ireland oversees when she made the monumental blooper of suggesting that it was Albert Einstein and not Charles Darwin who had come up with the theory of evolution. This is despite the fact that the last year has been a celebration of all things Darwin- with his 200^th birthday and the 150^th anniversary of the publication of his most well known of works ‘On the Origin of Species’ being celebrated throughout the country and the world.

Undoubtedly, the Tanaiste should have known better, especially as she was speaking to a group of entrepreneurs who would, I imagine (and hope), place good science and scientific research pretty high up on their agenda when it comes to developing new ideas to get us out of our current economic doom and gloom. Ms. Coughlan was, in fact, alluding to that great catch-all term ‘survival of the fittest’ when she put her foot in it. However, on this point too she has made the very common error of giving Darwin the credit for this term. The term itself was actually coined by Herbert Spencer, a 19^th century philosopher who, after reading Darwin’s most famous work, was able to see much overlap between the biologist’s theories on evolution and his own theories on economics. Where Spencer would use the term ‘survival of the fittest’, Darwin preferred the term ‘natural selection’. It is by natural selection, that traits which improve an organism’s ability to survive and reproduce become more common in a given population over many generations. For example, if a random change in the genetic information of a plant leads to larger flowers, which in turn lead to greater pollination by insects, this trait will tend to become more common in a population since more plants inheriting this trait will be produced.

Darwin did eventually use the term ‘survival of the fittest’ but not until the later editions of his work where he qualified it, using the word “fittest” to mean “better adapted for immediate, local environment” rather than “in the best physical shape”.

Perhaps the same could be said for Irish entrepreneurs. Those who will survive this current period of recession will be the best adapted to meet the economic and social challenges that we are presented with right here, right now and not necessarily the larger companies who for the last decade have been seen as being in ‘the best physical shape’. Irish business could learn a thing or two from Darwin.