By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
The Sternberg Museum of Natural History will celebrate Darwin’s Birthday from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday with free admission to the museum and activities centered on everyday evolution.
Charles Darwin was actually born on Feb. 12, 1809, but the celebration is still giving the museum an opportunity to further science education in the community.
The four main aspects of evolution that will be presented will be animal husbandry, genetically modified organisms or GMOs, vaccinations and deforestation.
Jessica Barnett, who helped organize the event, said each topic will have stations manned with museum staff and FHSU graduate students and will have opportunities not only to discuss the topics, but also participate in hands-on activities.
“Every single day you come in contact with organisms that are evolving,” she said. “Whether that is humans that have evolved from other organisms or the corn that you are eating for dinner or your dog that has been selectively bred to be the modern-day equivalent of the wolf.”
The museum is using dog breeding as a way to illustrate artificial selection as opposed to natural selection. Barnett gave the example of floppy ears in dogs. Puppies have floppy ears, but in the wild in adult wolves, they are replaced by perky ears that are better for pinpointing sound during hunting.
“We choose to breed animals with floppy ears because they are so cute. It is so nice to rub their ears and let them flop around everywhere. It is adorable when they are adults, but we chose that,” she said. “That is not necessarily advantageous in the wild.”
Children will be able to “Build a Dog.” They will make dog puppets using features that have been artificially selected through breeding by humans.
Another example of artificial selection is the brassica plant. The plant was a leafy edible plant in about 4000 BC. It was bred into kale and eventually cauliflower, cabbage and broccoli.
As part of the GMO activity, the museum hopes to dispel some of the misconceptions of GMOs and focus on the science. Laura Wilson, PhD, said the definition of a GMO varies greatly depending on the source, whether it is a scientific, government or pro-organic group.
“We are not taking sides, we are just trying to keep a just-the-facts-mam attitude,” she said.
The vaccine presentation will look at how viruses mutate or evolve and how scientists have to modify vaccines to keep up with the changing organisms. Wilson said this is particularly pertinent with the flu epidemic in the U.S right now.
Children will be able to create their own viruses, and then the activity coordinators will try to develop vaccines that will keep the kids from accidentally killing everyone.
“That is a fun activity for kids to let them see how the flu virus evolves over time and how scientists do their best to anticipate what flu viruses might become problematic and how that changes year to year and why that is important to get [the flu shot] every year,” Barnett said.
On the subject of deforestation, the museum is trying to show how evolution changes plants and animals on an ecosystem scale.
The museum staff found a study on palm trees in the South American rain forest. The palm trees are being cut down and the groves fragmented, Wilson said. Toucans that feed off the palm trees are going extinct in these areas. Toucans typically carry the seeds of the palm trees. Now scientists are seeing palm trees with smaller seeds that can’t disperse their seeds as far because there are no toucans to carry the seeds.
“These kind of cascading effects within ecosystems due to deforestation and fragmentation make little islands out of what was a big expanse of land,” Wilson said. “This can cause changes to plants and animals.”
The museums live animal collection also will be on display during the event, and all of the normal exhibits will be open.
Several new exhibits will also be available to the public. The museum recently mounted a display of a new collection of minerals. The museum is constructing a new paleontology lab. Although it is not yet equipped, visitors can view the new space. A history of paleo art exhibit will also be on display.