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Big Questions in Science

Come hear one of the leading scientists in the world on faith and evolution

Evolution: Random or Determined?
Prof Simon Conway Morris FRS

Cambridge University

4 May 2018 (Friday) | 7pm
HKU Rayson Huang Theatre

Co-organised by:
Faith and Science Collaborative Research Forum, HKU
Faith and Global Engagement, HKU
The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion

Abstract

Received wisdom is that evolution lacks any predictability. This applies to all species, including humans: we are just another historical accident. Central to this idea is the claim that mass extinctions radically redeploy the trajectories of evolution. In reality, the evidence points in exactly the opposite direction. While mass extinctions are destructive on the day, they are ultimately creative, accelerating what was going to happen anyway. Moreover, evolutionary convergence suggests the number of evolutionary outcomes is surprisingly limited. It seems that something like a human is very much on the evolutionary cards.

This raises important questions: Where are all the aliens? Why are there are such profound differences between us and even our nearest primate relatives? It seems that the study of evolution will only flourish when it is put into much wider contexts.

Speaker

Simon Conway Morris holds an ad hominem Chair (in Evolutionary Palaeobiology) in the Earth Sciences Department in Cambridge University, where he is also a Fellow of St John’s College. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1990, and has received numerous awards including, in 1998, the Lyell Medal of the Geological Society of London.

A world expert on the Cambrian Explosion, his research considers the constraints on evolution, and the historical processes that lead to the emergence of biological complexity. Such work is central to palaeobiology, but is also of significance to biologists and bioastronomers, as well as the wider community. He is developing wider research interests across the entire field of evolution, including the question of animal cognition (including numerosity) and extra-terrestrial life.

Information and registration:
http://faithandscience.hku.hk/events/public-lectures/evolution-random-or-determined.html

Why Matter Matters to God
Prof Russell Cowburn FRS

Cambridge University

3 May 2018 (Thursday) | 7pm
HKU Rayson Huang Theatre

Co-organised by:
Faith and Science Collaborative Research Forum, HKU
Faith and Global Engagement, HKU
The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion

Abstract

Is Christianity only about spiritual things, or does God care about base matter? By extension, should Christians care only about spiritual things, or should they care about physical stuff too? In this lecture, Russell Cowburn FRS, Christian and Professor of Experimental Physics, with a love of nanomaterials, explores the interrelationships between interest in the spiritual and material world.

Speaker

Russell Cowburn is a Professor of Experimental Physics, and Director of Research for the Department of Physics at Cambridge University. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2010. He has had over 60 patents granted in connection with his research, is the founder of two start-up companies and the inventor of the anti-counterfeiting technology Laser Surface Authentication.

His current research projects cover work on nanoscale magnetism and spintronics. Applications of this basic research include low-energy computer chips, ultrahigh-density 3-dimensional data storage, and healthcare devices. He is interested in bringing ideas from applied physics through technology to commercialisation.

Information and registration: 
http://faithandscience.hku.hk/events/public-lectures/why-matter-matters-to-god.html

Faith and Global Engagement, HKU
christian • contemporary • engaging
www.faith.hku.hk

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