Year of Evolution: Philadelphia Celebrates Darwin’s 200th Birthday

In their “Year of Evolution Is Positive Step for Philadelphia” Opinion, published in The Philadelphia Inquirer (2/6/2009), Howard Goldfine and Michael Weisberg (both professors at the University of Pennsylvania) raise many good points about the ongoing debate (in certain circles) regarding the place of evolution in the public school curriculum. The time is now to recognize the need to keep religion out of the teaching of science in public schools.

Goldfine and Weisberg said,

In his inaugural speech, President Obama challenged us to “restore science to its rightful place” in our schools and public policy. In the same week, the Texas state school board had yet another discussion about teaching the “strengths and weaknesses” of the theory of evolution – a euphemism for introducing creationist views into biology classes.

The time has come for our country to decide: Will we continue to refight debates settled in the 19th and early 20th centuries? Or will we look to science and technology to help us solve the problems of the 21st century?

Philadelphia has chosen to look forward. This year, educational and cultural organizations in our city have come together to celebrate a Year of Evolution occasioned by Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday, which is next week. Darwin was a brilliant naturalist, gifted writer and profound thinker. He discovered that all life has a common origin, new species evolve over unimaginably long periods of time, and natural selection drives these changes, making organisms better suited to their environments.

Philadelphia is celebrating not just the man, but also his ideas. Evolution is central to both our scientific and quotidian views of ourselves and our world. It is the cornerstone of modern biology, helping us understand where we came from, where we’re going, and the challenges we will meet along the way.

HIV, genetic diseases and antibiotic resistance, to take just three examples, are all illuminated by evolutionary science. The human immunodeficiency virus was a medical mystery less than 20 years ago. Now, researchers have a clearer understanding of the virus that causes AIDS, largely due to careful observations of the evolution of the virus in patients. Frequent mutations of HIV – evolution in action – let it stay one step ahead of the human immune system. Yet evolutionary theory also provided hope: Once scientists understood that this rapid evolution rendered any single drug ineffective, they developed a highly effective triple-drug therapy.

Sickle-cell anemia and its concentration in people of African descent also has an evolutionary explanation. While potentially lethal, the sickle-cell genetic mutation also protects against malaria, which is endemic in sub-Saharan Africa. So evolution has increased the incidence of the sickle-cell mutation despite its unfortunate side effect.

Evolutionary considerations also urge caution about the overuse of antibiotics in medications and cleaning products. Like all life forms, individual bacteria vary slightly from one another. A small number even have the natural ability to resist antibiotics. When antibiotics destroy the bacteria that are sensitive to them, resistant strains quickly reproduce, potentially creating serious medical crises. Today we are seeing the evolution of tuberculosis strains that are resistant to drugs commonly used to treat the disease. The cause of this crisis is evolutionary – and so, no doubt, is the solution.

These examples show evolution’s centrality to some of our greatest scientific challenges. Every day brings new ones, and confronting them requires restoring science to its rightful place. That will happen only with an informed, engaged citizenry that understands the role of science in our future. We applaud Philadelphia – long a national leader in the scientific and medical sectors – for leading the way.