Specials

  • The 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Robert Darwin falls on 12 February 2009. No single researcher has since matched his collective impact on the natural and social sciences; on politics, religions, and philosophy; on art and cultural relations. In this landmark year, our Nature news special provides continuously updated news, research and analysis on Darwin's life, his science and his legacy.

Special : Darwin 200

Nature is currently celebrating Darwin's life and work by looking at the global reach of his ideas. A series of opinion pieces from 29 October to 19 November will examine how Darwin's theory was accepted and adapted in the eastern world, Russia, China, and Latin America. Our focus on Darwin will culminate in November, which marks the 150th anniversary of On the Origin of the Species.

  • Insight

      • Evolution : Insight
      • A century and a half ago, Charles Darwin detailed his theory of evolution by natural selection in his book On the Origin of Species. How does this remarkably successful theory apply to life on our planet? How have the scientists of subsequent generations built on Darwin's ideas? And does revisiting the original theory shed new light on the remaining puzzles?
      • 11 February 2009

  • News & Features

  • Opinion

      • Costing the Earth
      • The value of biodiversity must be accounted for, says Pavan Sukhdev. It is time for governments to invest to secure the flow of nature's 'public goods'.
      • 15 November 2009
      • Global Darwin: Revolutionary road
      • In China, under the threat of Western imperialism, interpretations of Darwin's ideas paved the way for Marx, Lenin and Mao, argues James Pusey in the third in our series on reactions to evolutionary theory.
      • 12 November 2009
      • Global Darwin: Contempt for competition
      • Darwin's idea of the 'struggle for existence' struck a chord with his fellow countrymen. But Russians rejected the alien metaphor, says Daniel Todes, in the second of four weekly pieces on reactions to evolutionary theory.
      • 5 November 2009

  • Books & Arts

      • The invention of heroes
      • The Western public's misapprehension that genius in science is always male and caucasian is partly a legacy of Victorian politics, says Christine MacLeod.
      • 29 July 2009
      • A vision of humanity united
      • A controversial new reconstruction of Charles Darwin's life suggests his family's campaign against slavery influenced his belief that all humans evolved from a single ancestor, explains W. F. Bynum.
      • 11 February 2009
      • Poems from Darwin's descendant
      • mid the many analyses of Darwin's life and work, a more intimate literary portrait emerges from the poetry of his great-great-granddaughter, Ruth Padel. Her series of poems on his life — six of which are reproduced here — evokes the emotion and drama of the naturalist's discoveries.
      • 11 February 2009

  • Research

      • A burst of segmental duplications in the genome of the African great ape ancestor
      • It is generally accepted that the extent of phenotypic change between human and great apes is dissonant with the rate of molecular change. Between these two groups, proteins are virtually identical, cytogenetically there are few rearrangements that distinguish ape-human chromosomes and rates of single-base-pair change and retrotransposon activity have slowed particularly within hominid lineages when compared to rodents or monkeys.
      • 11 February 2009
      • Sequencing the nuclear genome of the extinct woolly mammoth
      • A joint US/Russia team of 22 scientists describe what they did to sequence 80 per cent of the mammoth genome, 1000 years after extinction. Stephan Schuster and colleagues used hair from several different species found preserved in the permafrost.
      • 19 November 2008
      • Mechanism of phototaxis in marine zooplankton
      • Darwin suggested that the eye as we know it today, would have been preceded by a 'proto-eye'. Marine plankton can sense the direction of light using what are called 'eyespots' containing just two cells. Gáspár Jákely and colleagues from Germany believe they this simple mechanism for sensing light provides clues to what a proto-eye might have looked like.
      • 19 November 2008

  • Resources

      • Nature Publishing Group collection
      • In his seminal work On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, Darwin collected his thoughts on what became the most important concept in biology - evolution. In celebration of Darwin's 200th anniversary, journals across Nature Publishing Group are publishing a range of articles showcasing how Darwin's seminal work and ideas have enriched and transformed diverse disciplines.
      • 25 February 2009
      • Nature Podcast: Darwin
      • For this special edition of the Nature Podcast we're at Down House, the Darwin family home for over 40 years. Join us on the hunt for Darwin's pigeons, for poetry from a Darwin descendant, and to find out how Darwin dabbled in psychology. Plus, we talk to actor Paul Bettany about playing Darwin in the new movie 'Creation'. You can hear an extended version of that interview in our Podcast Extra
      • 12 February 2009
      • 15 evolutionary gems
      • We offer here 15 examples published by Nature over the past decade or so to illustrate the breadth, depth and power of evolutionary thinking. We are happy to offer this resource freely and encourage its free dissemination.
      • 31 December 2008

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