“On the Evolution of the Vertebrate Eye,” a series of lectures and talks in honor of the 150th Anniversary of Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species,” will take place all day today in the Whitehead Institute Auditorium at 9 Cambridge Center in Kendall Square. The event will consist of two sessions: a morning session, open to the public; and an afternoon session consisting of short research talks for high school biology teachers. Talks included in the event include “Evolution of the eye lens crystallins,” with Professor of Molecular Biology Jonathan King; “Rods, Cones and the Retina,” with Ishara Mills-Henry, a technical instructor in the Department of Biology; “Vision and the Brain,” with Nancy Kanwisher, the Walter A Rosenblith Professor in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences; and “Darwin and the Origin of Species,” with John Durant, director of the MIT Museum. The program, which is free but requires registration, is sponsored by MIT’s Science of the Eye program, the Massachusetts Association of Biology Teachers, Whitehead Institute's Partnership for Science Education and Citizens for Public Schools. More information is available here.
