Today marks the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin.  There is even a website devoted to the 200th anniversary marking the birth of this distinguished naturalist: Darwin Day.org

Fox News mentions Gallup and Pew polls which show that fewer than 4 in 10 Americans believe that evolution is factual (Fox News article). The Gallup poll found a significant link between understanding of evolution and education, ”Just 21 percent of respondents who had up to a high school level of education believe in evolution, compared with 74 percent of those with postgraduate degrees.” It is a little surprisingly that only 74% of those holding post grad degrees accept evolution as fact. ”Among weekly churchgoers, only 24 percent said they believe in evolution, while 41 percent do not and 35 percent have no opinion.” Fox News also offers several links to evolutionary articles and hosts it’s own online center.

Missing Links

Fox News Evolutionary and Paleontology Center

Celebrations today in Britain include exhibitions of artifacts, tours, and, at the Bristol Zoo if you visit wearing a real or fake beard (certainly non sexist), you get in for free (Bristol Zoo). Quoted from an article on the Bristol Zoo site, ”Simon Garrett, Head of Learning at Bristol Zoo Gardens, said: “Darwin is now a household name and, over the last 150 years, his ideas have revolutionised our understanding of nature and our place within it. Bristol Zoo’s ‘beard day’ is a fun way of commemorating Darwin’s life and work while allowing visitors to find out more about his theories.” ” ”Among the biggest celebrations is at the Natural History Museum in London which is putting on films, talks and pea soup, cooked to the recipe of Darwin’s wife, Emma.” And, at 5:45 pm today there will be a wreath-laying ceremony at Darwin’s grave in Westminster Abbey.

Swedish Professor Hans Rosling presents an engaging Technology, Entertainment, and Design (TED) lecture on world development statistics and the need for free, publicly searchable, public databases. One need not agree with this man’s conclusions to be impressed with his skillful use of quantitative methods and data presentation. As a part time MBA student I’m struck by how engaging an otherwise boring table of numbers might be.

Genes or lifestyle? Nature or nurture? How likely is it that you’ll get sick? It’s becoming clear that the answer lies in a minute portion of human DNA–the .1% that makes you different from me.

Catherine Arnst writes in a recent Business Week article, ”On Oct. 27 the three-year old International HapMap Consortium published a comprehensive catalog of more than 1 million human genetic variations, grouped in blocks called haplotypes. The DNA sequences of any two individuals are 99.9% the same, but the range of variations in the remaining 0.1% is enormous. That 0.1% is responsible for a predisposition to asthma, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, schizophrenia, and many other ailments.”

Her article is entitled ”How Likely Are You To Get Sick?” Click on the title to read the story. Read about hap maps and the concerns of some ethicists.