Science artist Mark Whitton offers a unique snow scene on his greeting card.

Trouble in the Message Centre, originally uploaded by Mark Witton.

Hark, the herald pterodactyl sings,
“Peace to all on leath’ry wings.”

Today is the sesquicentennial of The Origin of Species‘ publication. After gathering evidence for twenty years, Darwin was surprised to receive a letter from Alfred Russell Wallace, detailing Wallace’s theory and asking Darwin’s opinion.

Darwin immediately realized he’d have to publish and invited Wallace to give a joint paper with him at the Royal Society. The rest, as they say, is history.

Thinkoholic has some lovely pictures of Europe, including an Austrian salt mine and ripe walnuts on the tree. Like chestnuts, they form inside a thick, green skin, which dries up and splits open. There are also pictures of Venus fly-traps, lakes, mountains, gondolas, biking through Switerland, and a host of other entertaining subjects.

Logical fallacies and how to spot them is a quick primer on common logical fallacies used in argument. All the examples are taken from “creation vs. evolution” themes.

Quantum to Cosmos festival, sponsored by the Perimeter Institute

If you get TV Ontario you can tune in to the Quantum to Cosmos Ideas for the Future festival (Q2C) at the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo… the discussions are being televised. I caught Cory Doctorow & others on the future of robotics tonight (show: The Agenda with Steve Paiken). During the show, the Agenda was taking chat comments and questions.

Sean B. Carroll (Molecular Biology & Genetics, U of Wisconsin) was on last night to discuss “Whose DNA is it?” The entire show is on the web.

Neal Stephenson (Snow Crash, etc.) was on Tuesday night.

Natalie Angier (science writer) and Stewart Brand (The Long Now Foundation, The Whole Earth Catalog), among others, will be on tomorrow night.

People around the world are welcomed to follow Q2C events online at tvo.org/agenda and q2cfestival.com.As presenting media partner for Q2C, TVO will not only have extensive coverage of the festival for broadcast, but will also provide its web production capacity for live streaming of Q2C events. Some of the highlights include:

• Exclusive access to all the special lectures and panels taking place throughout the festival in the Mike Lazaridis Theatre of Ideas. These discussions will be available for live streaming and on demand.
• Special web chats: from October 19 to 23, TVO’s The Agenda with Steve Paikin will broadcast live from Perimeter Institute and feature guests attending the festival to talk about the big issues in science. Producer Mike Miner will moderate a web chat each night discussing everything from space exploration to the importance of science.
• A daily blog featuring some of the guests from The Agenda with Steve Paikin at Q2C.
• A comprehensive timeline of the major milestones in space exploration.
• Video kiosks: anyone attending Q2C can leave a comment or ask a science-related question at one of two TVO video kiosks at Perimeter Institute and at the Physica Phantastica exhibit. Comments or questions and answers will be posted at tvo.org.