I'll be in the U.K. the rest of this week. The University of Birmingham has invited me to give a lecture for their "Great Read" event as they begin the new academic year. If you're in the area, the talk is at 3:30 on Thursday, September 22, in the Concert Hall of the Barber Institute. I'll be appearing after Ken Miller, widely known for his work in evolutionary biology and his advocacy of evolution education in the U.S.
As for myself, I'll be talking about Neandertal and Denisovan DNA and what they tell us about human evolution. All my talks have new, unpublished stuff in them, and this is no exception.
I notice that the topic of evolution education has really hit the news this week in the U.K, as a group of 30 prominent scientists, including Paul Nurse and Richard Dawkins, have signed a letter protesting lax evolution education standards ("David Attenborough joins campaign against creationism in schools", "Scientists demand tougher guidelines on teaching creationism in schools"). Looks like I'll be going there just in time.
My host has planned some exceptional activities later this week for us, and I'll plan to report back when I can.
