Darwin's birthday evolves into Westport tribute

It's become a natural selection, of sorts, for the region's supporters of science education, to join together in celebrating their cause annually on the birthdate of the naturalist Charles Darwin, who developed the theory of natural evolution.

This year, the Darwin Day program took place Saturday in Westport, attracting a crowd of nearly 150 people of diverse backgrounds to hear a presentation by Rene Almeling, an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at Yale University. The event took place at the Inn at Longshore.

"This is our 4th annual event," noted Cary S. Shaw, co-chairman of the Southern Connecticut Darwin Day Committee. "The first was in 2009 and marked the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth," which was Feb. 12, 1809.

"Our mission is to celebrate science, promote science education, celebrate the benefits that rational thinking and scientific endeavors have brought to mankind and mark the birth of Darwin," Shaw said. "Last year, we had a professor talking about viruses; the previous year, astrophysics; the first year, sexual selection."

Shaw thought it ironic that, "Americans have holidays that celebrate various aspects of our national life, but none that mark rational thinking with the aim of helping mankind. Darwin Day is that representation and it's growing nationally and internationally. In the New York Metro area, there are now five such celebrations including ours."

The speaker, Almeling, has just published a book, "Sex Cells: The Medical Market for (Human) Eggs and Sperm."

"I went to egg agencies and fertility programs around the country and interviewed staff to do research on how we value eggs and sperm," she said. "I look at the way our ideas about gender -- namely the ways women are expected to be altruistic and caring and men are expected to be devoted to the workplace -- and fuse the market for eggs and sperm. Egg donors and sperm donors are paid to provide sex cells -- for women this is considered compensation for the gift of life; for men, it's payment for a job well done. Reproductive technologies are helping to reshape how we define motherhood, fatherhood and the meaning of family."

Mitch Kalmus, a biology teacher at Carmel High School who developed a science quiz for dinner guests, noted that teaching Darwin's theories of natural selection and evolution can be controversial even now.

"It's ironic with all the new evidence we have that supports the theory of evolution that we are still in a hostile climate about teaching it in public schools," he said. "I'm aware of teachers prefacing its teaching with an apology."

Among the attendees were several public high school students, including Kate Buellesbach, 17, from Brien McMahon High in Norwalk. "I'm taking a couple of A.P. classes and plan to pursue biomedical engineering ... A program like this is very interesting."