Event commemorates the scientific achievements of Charles Darwin

Beginning Feb. 27, North Dakota State University will be hosting its annual Darwin Days. The event is sponsored by the departments of biological sciences, geosciences, sociology and anthropology, college of science and mathematics and a cooperative sponsorship at NDSU.

Steven Travers, a professor of Biological Science at NDSU, helped organize the event. Travers teaches evolution, plant structure and diversity.

“It’s a celebration of science and Darwin in particular,” Travers said. “It’s to draw attention and bring awareness to the contributions Darwin made it science.”

Activities will begin from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Feb. 27 with the Evolution Pop-Up Museum. The museum will feature demonstrations and exhibits relating to concepts of evolution.

Some demonstrations will include the relationship between birds and dinosaurs, the evolution of flight, a live reptile exhibit and hominin skulls. Hominins are they extinct ancestors of modern-day humans.

“It’s to show how the scientific approach to understanding the world around us is a really great thing,” Travers said. “We’re trying to say ‘Hey look all the cool things our planet has come up with’.”

“We want anybody and everybody who is a human who wants to come by and learn.”

Steven Travers, Professor of Biological Science

New this year to Darwin Days is the Anthrozoology presentation. Anthrozoology is the study of the interaction between humans and animals.

“I think they are going to have some live animals associated [with their exhibit],” Travers said.

The pop-up museum will reopen from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Feb. 28. The museum will be located in the A. Glenn Hill Center Atrium.

There will also be a keynote speaker at 4 p.m. on Feb. 28 in the A. Glenn Hill Center in room 112. The speaker is John Hawks, a professor of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“[Hawks] is going to talk about all the different species of hominins that are closely related to us,” Travers said. “New things are being discovered constantly. He is probably going to have the latest information.”

Darwin Days are open to the public and welcome people of all ages.

“Anybody can appreciate it. We get elementary school kids all the way up to senior citizens,” Travers said. “It’s just great, we love all that.”

In previous years, Darwin Days has had a large and diverse attendance. According to Travers, this is the biggest event the biology department hosts.

“We always have a really good turn out from NDSU students,” Travers said. “We want anybody and everybody who is a human who wants to come by and learn.”

In the future, Travers would like to broaden the appeal and the reach of Darwin Days to get more student attraction. In particular, students from elementary, middle and high school.

“We want to get kids excited about science and all these different fields,” Travers said. “We want to make something very approachable for everybody.”