The effects of climate change like melting sea ice and rising sea levels occur naturally, and may not necessarily be due to human impact on the environment, according to some scientists and contrary to popular belief. These changes are part of a natural cycle and have happened before.

Dr. Thomas M. Cronin, a geologist at the U.S. Geological Survey, gave a guest lecture Wednesday, Feb. 15, as part of the University’s Darwin Days. Cronin’s presentation, “Climate Challenges and the Geologic Record,” focused on two main areas: sea ice and sea level.

In celebration of Charles Darwin’s 203rd birthday, the Cornell-affiliated Paleontological Research Institution arranged a series of events –– including discussions, lectures and a beer tasting –– on campus this week. This year’s Darwin Days focused on raising awareness in the Cornell community about evolution and climate change, according to Prof. Warren Allmon, earth and atmospheric sciences and director of the PRI.

Prof. Robert Frank, management and economics, detailed his new theory of how capitalism can be explained by Darwinian concepts at a lecture in the Plant Sciences building on Monday.

Bruce MacFadden gives the Darwin Days Keynote Lecture and discusses evolution.

From your roomate’s goldfish to the trout in Cayuga Lake; for Prof. Amy McCune, ecology and evolutionary biology, these ordinary specimens provide a glimpse at a world of great diversity. 

While water covers over 70 percent of the earth, land life is 300 times more diverse than sea life. However, the ocean has a wide diversity of species. On Wednesday, in “Evolution and Biodiversity of the Sea,” panelists examined the threat of climate change on the biodiversity of the sea.

“Why should we care about biodiversity and saving nature?” asked Prof. Harry W. Greene, ecology and evolutionary biology, at his Feb. 11 seminar “Saving all the Pieces: Evolutionary Benchmarks for Conservation.” According to Greene, we should turn to Charles Darwin for the answer.

In school, Doug Erwin trained to think like a snail. This isn’t an insult to the his mind; it’s a tribute to his ability to think in tens of millions of years. He is a senior scientist, the curator at the Smithsonian Institution, and the president of The Paleontological Society.

On Tuesday, panelists discussed the topic, “Evolution and Biodiversity on Land.” The goal, as moderator Prof. Warren D. Allmon, earth and atmospheric science, said, was to make Cornell expertise available to a wider audience, to go beyond the “buzz word” connotations of biodiversity and to examine what biodiversity really means.

Kirk Cameron is headed towards a college campus near you.

Cameron, the one-time star of television’s Growing Pains, has planned a rather unique commemoration of the upcoming 150th anniversary of the printing of Darwin’s The Origin of the Species. Along with of a cadre of volunteers, Cameron plans to distribute 50,000 copies of a “special edition” of the Origin on the campuses of the “top 50 universities.” Its “specialness” is due to its introduction, that details, among other things, “Adolf Hitler’s undeniable connection to the theory” and Darwin’s “racism,” “disdain for women” and “thoughts on the existence of God.”

As self-proclaimed “moderns,” we often immediately brand the claims attempting to “debunk” evolution as sheer lunacy, the work of fundamentalists whose world view is entirely incommensurable with our own.