The third event organized by Humanist Society (Singapore), Darwin Day 2011, was a huge success with the biggest turnout yet!
The talk “What makes acientific truth” by Dr. Mathia Lee was both courageous and intriguing.Dr. Mathia explained how scientific truths are skewed by social and economic reasons, and that we must remain skeptical and cautious with information even if it is from the scientific community.
Dr. John van Wyhe debunked the false claims that Charles Darwin’s religious beliefs drifted towards agnosticism due to the loss of his favorite daughter Annie. By sharing with us Charles Darwin’s personal life, he shone new light on the matter and brought us closer to understanding this scientific figure.
Yuchen ended the series of talk with an entertaining and jaw-dropping presentation which has various photos of insects and their genitals, a video of fearsome sea slugs “penis-fencing”, and a humorous animation of “displacement of someone else’s semen”. In between laughs, he showed that sexual selection has much greater effect than natural selection on producing this diversified sexy animal kingdom.
After the talks, a raffle was drawn, and token of appreciations were given to the speakers.
Members mingled as two wonderful birthday cakes baked by our talented committee member, Sven, were distributed. One depicted the Galapagos Islands and the other a birthday cake, coated with brightly colored coconut shreds, soft and fluffy. The Darwin Fish cookies were also a huge hit! *nom nom nom*
The society also loaned out books related to evolution on this special day, such as “On the Origin of Species” by the birthday boy, and “The Greatest Show on Earth” by Richard Dawkins. Return them on time or you get fined!
Details of the event:
Date
12/02/2011
Time
3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Location
Onepeople.sg
