today's the 150th anniversary of the publication of the origin of species, known in science circles as simply, "the origin". this whole year was a celebration of darwin and "the origin" because it's also the 200th anniversary of his birth. at ASU we've had a series of lectures throughout the year known as darwinfest. the last lecture was by historian janet browne, who wrote what are probably the best biographies of darwin (see my reading list off to the left).

i had dinner with dr. browne a couple weeks ago when she was here and she mentioned that she's been traveling all year for various darwin commemorations. in fact, there is one right now at the university of toronto, in celebration of the publication of "the origin." next year, dr. browne said that she's already scheduled to attend various "what did we learn" conferences and seminars trying to summarize the shifts in evolutionary thought that came out of this past year.

it really is an amazing thing - that darwin and "the origin" are celebrated so ardently. more so than any historical figure i can recall. i mean, darwin was born on the same day as abraham lincoln (feb 09, 1809) but we haven't had nearly the same kind of birthday celebration for arguably the greatest president of the US. darwin really was a remarkable man, and we know so much about him because we have all his correspondences and notebooks. i'm looking forward to the motion picture about darwin that's slated to come out next year - starring paul bettany and jennifer connolly. sure, paul bettany as charles darwin might be a bit of a stretch, but remember, he already played a "fictional" darwin in "master and commander".

i'm always a bit suspicious about some of the fish i've gotten at sushi restaurants...i order a lot of the more uncommon sushis (uncommon in most american restaurants - like uni, suzuki, hirame, etc.) and since these whitefish are more subtle in flavor, i'm sure it's easy to do the, um, bait and switch.

DNA barcoding is a controversial topic in systematics (the field of biology that is responsible for grouping and organizing organisms based on various criteria)...believe me, it's a very contentious topic and the feud goes back 40 years, even though the actual technology is very recent. it is good PR for the proponents of DNA barcoding that it can be useful for something as attractive as sushi.