Sigma Xi hosts animal behavior expert
The Lamar University chapter of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society, will host Dr. Lee Dugatkin, professor and university scholar in the Department of Biology at the University of Louisville, to speak on "The Evolution of Goodness." An expert in animal behavior and evolution, he will speak in the Dishman Art Museum's auditorium 7:30 p.m., Thursday, February. 9. The lecture is free and open to the public.
For more information on the lecture, contact Jim Westgate, university professor of Earth and space sciences, at (409) 880-7970.
Dugatkin’s main areas of research interest are the evolution of social behavior, and the history of science.
Dugatkin has traveled worldwide, speaking at more than 125 major universities including Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge, Cornell, The University of Chicago, The University of Copenhagen, The University of Helsinki (Finland), The National University of Mongolia, The University of Zagreb, Uppsala University, The University of Groningen, National Taiwan University, The London School of Economics, and many others.
He is a contributing author to Scientific American, Slate Magazine, The New Scientist, Newsday, Cerebrum, BioScience, Psychology Today and The Wilson Quarterly.
The author of more than 150 articles on evolution and behavior, his work has appeared in Nature, The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and The Proceedings of The Royal Society of London, and has been featured in many leading scientific and popular publications around the globe.
Dugatkin has published three books on the evolution of cooperation: Cooperation among Animals: An Evolutionary Perspective, Oxford University Press, 1997. Cheating Monkeys and Citizen Bees, The Free Press, 1999. The Altruism Equation: Seven Scientists Search for the Origins of Goodness, Princeton University Press, 2006. These books have been translated into German, Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Spanish.
Two textbooks are among his accomplishments: Principles of Animal Behavior, in its third edition, and, with coauthor Carl Bergstrom, Evolution, now in its second edition.
Dugatkin has also written a number of popular books, including Mr. Jefferson and the Giant Moose (The University of Chicago Press, 2009) and The Prince of Evolution (2012).
His newest book, “How to Tame a Fox {And Build a Dog}: Visionary Scientists and a Siberian Tale of Jump-Started Evolution,” was written in collaboration with Russian scientist Lyudmila Trut. The book, now available for preorder on Amazon, tells the story from the inside: the science, adventure, politics, and heartwarming fox-human bond behind the 58-year silver fox domestication experiment in Siberia.
“Having the chance to go to Siberia on numerous occasions to spend time with Lyudmila, time with the team working on this experiment, and time with those gentle, lovable domesticated foxes, is something that will remain with me for as long as I live,” he said in a post announcing completion of the book.
The book is available online at: https://www.amazon.com/How-Tame-Fox-Build-Dog/dp/022644418X
