Darwin Events: Interactive at British Library

Interactive

British Library, London NW1, to 22 March 2009 (0870 444 1500; www.bl.uk)

This innovative exhibition offers insight into how Darwin developed his evolutionary idea by producing a replica of his "sand walk" – a route he trod every day with his terrier. On this, he observed nature and reflected on his experiments and travels on the 'Beagle'; piecing his theory together. This playful idea complements the rich collection of letters owned by the British Library and revealing the private Darwin – a humorous, emotional and charmingly modest man.

Darwin Events: Cambridge Festival

Festival

Cambridge University, 5–10 July 2009 (www.darwin2009.cam.ac.uk)

A predominantly academic event, with the programme including debates on Darwin's impact on human nature and belief, focus sessions on fields influenced by Darwin, such as science ('On the Origin of Species': speciation studies now) and the arts (Darwin in poetry, music and on stage). Other events involve tours of the University Botanic Gardens and fringe events (live music, street theatre and soapbox talks) by Cambridge Footlights.

Darwin Events: Poetry

The Royal Society of Literature, Royal Society and Somerset House Trust will present 'The Life in the Stone – Charles Darwin, The Geology, The Poetry', with Padel reading from her book 'Darwin – A Life in Poems', with a response by Richard Fortey, on 9 February 2009. Contact the Royal Society of Literature on 020-7845 4676.

'Darwin: My Ancestor', four programmes written and presented by Ruth Padel, will be broadcast on Radio 4 every Tuesday for four weeks from 27 January at 9.30am.

'Darwin – A Life in Poems' is published by Chatto and Windus on 12 February at £12.99

"Darwin: A Philosophical Naturalist?" by Tim Lewens

The British Humanist Association Darwin Day Lecture 2008

"Darwin: A Philosophical Naturalist?" by Tim Lewens

The BHA's annual Darwin Day Lecture is held each year on or around Darwin Day (12th February) in the Darwin Theatre at University College London.

In 2008 the Lecture was again chaired by Richard Dawkins.

The Lecture was given by Tim Lewens whose talk was entitled "Darwin: A Philosophical Naturalist?"

Audio files are available of Dawkins's introduction and Lewens's lecture as well as the Q&A session which followed.

Evolution MegaLab - you can study the evolution of snails in your garden

Evolution MegaLab background

Scientists have been studying the banded snail for many years and have found that the darker shell types tend to be more common in woodland where the background colour is brown, while in grass the banded snails tend to be lighter-coloured, yellow and more stripy. This camouflage is an example of adaptation.

Birds eat banded snails

We want your help to find out whether this pattern can still be found, because there has been a big decrease in the numbers of song thrushes in some places over the last 30 years. If there are fewer song thrushes about, you would expect the different snails to be less faithful to their particular habitats than they used to be.

Climate change

There is also a geographical pattern in the colour of shells that we think may have changed in response to the warming of the climate over the last 30 years. Darker shells used to be more common in the north than in the south. We think this was because darker shells warm up more quickly in sunlight, enabling the animals to be more active than light-coloured snails in colder areas.

Help us find out whether lighter coloured shells are more common further north than they used to be, now that the climate has become warmer.

Evolution

We have collected together all the historical records of banded snail shell patterns that we can find. There are many thousands of them, mainly collected at least 30 years ago. Do a survey of your own and when you register and enter your data the website will automatically search our historical database and show you any changes that have occurred in your area. Visit the Instructions page to get started.

Darwin 2009 commemorations

• darwin-online.org.uk

• Natural History museum
  

The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online

Darwin's complete publications are listed here.

http://darwin-online.org.uk/contents.html