Internationally acclaimed evolutionary biologist and popular science author Neil Shubin will deliver a talk titled, “Finding Your Inner Fish” at 7:30 p.m., March 8, in McCrary Theatre. He is known best for the discovery of Tiktaalik roseae , an extinct transitional species that provides strong fossil evidence of the evolutionary connection between ancient lobe-finned fishes and true land animals.
According to Shubin, within each of our skeletons, our behavior and deep within our DNA lurks a distant past. Our heads are organized like long-extinct jawless fish, our hands resemble fossil fish fins, and the major parts of our genomes function like those of bacteria and worms.
Shubin is the co-discoverer of Tiktaalik, a 375-million-year-old fossil fish whose anatomical features provide a link between fish and the earliest land-dwelling creatures. Shubin’s most recent book is titled “Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5 Billion-Year History of the Human Body.”
Voices of Discovery Science Speaker Series with support of the Liberal Arts Forum.