Blast from the Past - 12th February

2006: I spent the weekend at home and then had to come home on Sunday because I had a 9am Monday lecture >.< Sunday trains are always all over the place due to engineering works and reduced services and then once back in Reading I had to wait ages for one of the few buses, then do my food shopping before meeting a friend for coffee in town!

My uni work to do list involved preparing a group talk about wolves, working on my final year project write up and poster, and a report about a forensic entomology lab we'd done.

2007: I found out that the area of Worthing I'm from was where the first Civil Partnership in the UK under the 2004 act was performed!

2009: It was Darwin's 200th Birthday. So I wrote about what Darwin and his famous theory meant to me.

I didn't read The Origin of Species until just over a year ago, but much of what I learnt during my science/biology education and, of course, my Zoology degree was underpinned by this elementary theory. You really can't investigate or study any biological process without accepting that it developed during millions of years of competition which shaped and refined it.

Having studied evolution and genetics for several years, it was incredible to finally read the book that first set out what now seems so obvious. The fact that Darwin had no knowledge of DNA or even of the mechanics of gene inheritance makes it all the more astounding that he came to a conclusion that we have been able to vindicate time and time again.

To be able to sequence genes and show that the species that appear to have common ancestors actually are related is just breathtaking, but in Darwin's day he just had the evidence of his eyes and drew his theory from watching the behaviours and characteristics of the isolated animals on the Galapagos islands. I have no idea why anyone would want to deny the process of every living thing on this planet evolving over millions of years from single-celled organisms for the intellectually unsatisfying conclusion of 'God did it'.

Happy Birthday Darwin, here's to hoping that more people will accept reality and throw out superstition before the next 200 years are up.

2010: On the next Darwin Day I shared an email I'd received about the day:

Darwin Day is an international celebration of science and humanity held on or around February 12, the day that Charles Darwin was born on in 1809. Specifically, it celebrates the discoveries and life of Charles Darwin -- the man who first described biological evolution via natural selection with scientific rigour. More generally, Darwin Day expresses gratitude for the enormous benefits that scientific knowledge, acquired through human curiosity and ingenuity, has contributed to the advancement of humanity. Recognizing science as an international language accessible to all individuals and societies, the Darwin Day Celebration provides a global holiday that transcends separate nationalities and cultures. In Darwin Day, we are able to recognize the diversity among us, while celebrating our common humanity and the universal understanding we share.

Darwin Day is celebrated by Humanists, atheists, agnostics, and is recognised by many believers of all faiths for its inclusiveness and celebration of diversity. There are international campaigns running to have the day formally recognised as a public holiday - a campaign fully supported by the British Humanist Association.