Why is the world the way it is? How did we
get here? Does everything happen for a reason or are some
things left to chance? Philosophers and theologians have
pondered these questions for millennia, but startling
scientific discoveries over the past half century are
revealing that we live in a world driven by chance. Like every
other species, we humans are here by accident. But it is
shocking just how many things-any of which might never have
occurred-had to happen in certain ways for any of us to exist.
From an extremely improbable asteroid impact, to the wild
gyrations of the Ice Age, to invisible accidents in our
parents' gonads, we are all here through an astonishing series
of fortunate events. And chance continues to reign every day
over the razor-thin line between our life and death.
About the Speaker:
Sean B. Carroll is an award-winning
scientist, author, educator, and film producer. He leads the
Department of Science Education of the Howard Hughes Medical
Institute, the largest private supporter of science education
activities in the US, is the Head of HHMI Tangled Bank
Studios, and is the Andrew and Mary Balo and Nicholas and
Susan Simon Endowed Chair of Biology at the University of
Maryland. He is also Professor Emeritus of Genetics and
Molecular Biology at the University of Wisconsin. An
internationally-recognized evolutionary biologist, Carroll's
laboratory research has centered on the genes that control
animal body patterns and play major roles in the evolution of
animal diversity. In recognition of his scientific
contributions, Carroll has received the Benjamin Franklin
Medal in Life Sciences, been elected to the National Academy
of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, named a
Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the
American Association for the Advancement of Science, and
elected an Associate Member of the European Molecular Biology
Organization. He earned his B.A. in Biology at Washington
University in St. Louis (1979), his Ph.D. in Immunology at
Tufts Medical School (1983), and carried out his postdoctoral
research with Dr. Matthew Scott at the University of
Colorado-Boulder. He has received an honorary Doctor of
Science from the University of Minnesota (2009) and from Tufts
University (2017).