Darwin Day 2016

In 2016, the Polish Society for Human and Evolution Studies (PTNCE) organised the celebration of the Darwin Day in Poznań (February 12), Toruń (February 11 and 12) and Wrocław (February 18).

Poznań Organisers: Polish Society for Human and Evolution Studies, Adam Mickiewicz University and Poznań Society of Friends of Sciences (PTPN). Date: 13 February 2016, 13:00-16:30. Place: Sala Posiedzeń in the seat of PTPN, ul. Mielżyńskiego 27/29, Poznań. Programme: 13:00-13:10 The opening dr hab. Jacek Wiewiorowski 13:10-13:30 Karol Libelt and reception of Darwinian thought in Poznań in the 19th century mgr Jakub Linetty 13:40-14:10 On the origin of man. How to understand the claim that "man comes from monkey" prof. Katarzyna A. Kaszycka 14:10-14:40 – presentation of prints from the collections of the PTPN Library, showing discussions on the Darwin theory in Poznan at the end of the 19th century, – exhibition of skull casts of human ancestors from the collection of the Institute of Anthropology (AMU) and private collection of a lecturer (KAK), – vernissage of a Poznań artist, Diana Lelonek, who uses evolutionary themes in her works. 14:40-15:10 Perception of physical attractiveness as an evolutionary adaptation dr hab. Krzysztof Kościński 15:20-15:50 Origin of the aesthetic sense. What do modern neuroesthetic concepts of art owe to Darwin? dr hab. Piotr Przybysz 16:00-16:30 Causes of intra-family murders of children in the light of evolutionary psychology dr hab. Justyn Piskorski

Toruń

Organisers: Polish Society for Human and Evolution Studies, Department of English (Nicolaus Copernicus University), Center for Language Evolution Studies (Nicolaus Copernicus University).

Date: 11-12 February 2016.

Place: Collegium Humanisticum Nicolaus Copernicus University, ul. Bojarskiego 1, the main campus Nicolaus Copernicus University.

The organizers conducted two 90-minute experiments illustrating the evolution of the language.
Experiment 1 took place on February 11 at 12:00 and aimed to answer the question of whether cavemen could communicate with aliens.
Experiment 2 took place on February 12 at 12:15 and concerned the possibility of communicating with Mieszko I.

Participants of the experiments learned the names of fruits in a new, fictional language, and at the same time they noticed the rules of the language, for example the relationship between the colors and shapes of fruits and syllables in their names. The language mastered by one group of participants (along with errors) was passed on to the next group as a model for learning. As the learning process passed from group to group, the language was changing, or evolving.

More information on the Nicolaus Copernicus University website

Reportage in TV Toruń

(Source material, time: 14:34-17:03)

Wrocław Organisers: Polish Society for Human and Evolution Studies and University of Wroclaw. Date: 18 February 2016, 16:00-19:00. Place: hall of the name of J. Czekanowskiego in Department of Human Biology (University of Wroclaw), ul. Kuźnicza 35, Wrocław. Programme: 16:00-17:00 Evolutionary psychology – the key to the human mind prof. Bogusław Pawłowski 17:00-18:00 Puzzles of our evolution – the origin of Neanderthals in the light of the latest research dr Wioletta Nowaczewska 18:00-19:00 Why do women possess breasts? dr Agnieszka Żelaźniewicz