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Darwin Day

I realize that I said this would be a weekly podcast, and it will, but I thought that this would be a good time to have a special episode since today is Charles Darwin’s birthday. Over the past couple years, more and more science enthusiasts have been celebrating today as “Darwin Day,” mostly just as a way to bring more attention to evolutionary theory in the context of the creation/evolution controversy in popular culture. This isn’t the only holiday of its kind- science enthusiasts have celebrated Isaac Newton’s birthday as Newtonmas, since his birthday is December 25th on the Julian calendar. When I was in high school, my chemistry teacher celebrated “Mole Day,” which honors the number of atoms in one mole of any substance, and I’ve heard that mathemtatics teachers celebrate Pi Day, which honors the number of the ratio between the circumference and radius of a circle. Creationists may use this day to accuse scientists of having a religious reverence for Darwin in the same way that Christians do for Jesus, Muslims do for Mohammed, and Buddhists do for the Buddha. To contradict this, I would like to point out one major difference- no scientist I have ever known has ever prayed to Darwin for a favorable result to an experiment.

But certainly Darwin has made an impact in popular culture, even in his own time. But a question posted to the messageboard by thoughtsurfer from Chicago seemed interesting to me. He says,

“A couple of years ago, my friends wife looked at my Darwin fish on my car and said, "By the way, whos this Darwin guy?" I was pretty shocked by the question. I realize that most people wont know the fine details of most scientific theories, but to have never heard the name. I told her that was like not knowing who George Washington was.
Have there been any recent polls about how many Americans actually know what Darwinian theory is?”

That also seems shocking to me. But I went to religioustolerance.org, a great reference for religious statistics, and I was able to find a citation of a Gallup poll of Americans from 1991. Although this poll didn’t directly ask people if they knew who Charles Darwin was, it did as what beliefs they held in respect to creation and evolution. People were given three options: 1) strict creationism, 2) theistic evolution, which means that God directed the evolutionary process after creating basic organisms, and 3) naturalistic evolution, which omits any mention of the supernatural at all. The results showed that nearly half of all Americans believe in strict creationism, and less than ten percent believe in evolutionary theory as a naturalistic process. When the demographics were broken down, it showed that men were more likely to reject creationism than women, people with college educations were much more likely to reject creationism than people with only high school diplomas, and rejection of creationism increased directly with salary. Blacks were also more likely to accept creationism than whites. A similar poll in 1997 showed little change in these trends, but also compared laypeople to those with a science background. The results were pretty clear- 90% of people who’ve had some kind of science training rejected creationism outright, and over half accepted evolutionary theory as completely naturalistic.

This data helps motivate me to continue to engage in scientific outreach, such as this podcast. Although thoughtsurfer’s friend’s wife may have been less likely to accept evolution and, presumably, know about Charles Darwin as a woman, but she’d be even more likely to do so without any idea of the scientific principles and facts underlying it.

So who was Charles Darwin, anyway? Was he just some guy who thought up a crazy idea that just happened to be accepted as science and is advanced for the sole purpose of contradicting established religious beliefs? Hardly. Darwin was born on this day in 1809 in England to a wealthy doctor and member of the Unitarian church. (Incidentally, he shared his birthday with Abraham Lincoln, if that helps you place him in history) His paternal grandfather was Erasmus Darwin, who was a physician, inventor, and naturalist who theorized about evolution before his grandson was even born. Although his father wanted him to continue in the family tradition of medicine, Darwin was fascinated with science and biology at a very young age. Rejecting medicine, Darwin was enrolled in school to become an Anglican pastor and did very well as a theology student, but interrupted his education to continue his study of nature when he got the opportunity to travel on board a ship that was traveling to South America, called the Beagle. This journey took five years, and during this time Darwin spent most of his time observing different species and collecting fossils and specimens, as well as writing volumes of notes. He also spent time reading the work of geologist Charles Lyell, who had clearly shown that geological features such as rivers and canyons were the result of gradual changes caused by natural forces working slowly over time. It was particularly while visiting the Galapogos islands, which are a long chain of islands each separated from the other, and very far removed from the South American mainland, that Darwin made the observation that each island contained a slightly different species of finch. He wondered if each species could have derived originally from a single ancestor, which led to the idea of new species forming from existing populations. But this was not an idea that was unique to him- remember, his grandfather Erasmus Darwin had written about a very similar process, and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, who I mentioned in the previous episode, had also theorized that species could change over time. What made Darwin’s idea unique was the mechanism that was proposed. In science, simply making an observation is not enough to warrant attention, nor is discussing the implications of those observations. For the scientific community to take notice, you have to provide a way to explain how those observations are taking place- you need a mechanism.

He got the inspiration for that mechanism from another man, Thomas Malthus. Malthus was a British political scientist and demographer who wrote wrote an essay demonstrating that, even by our best efforts, the human population would increase exponentially while the food supply would increase linearly. That is to say, the number of people would soon outnumber the availablility of food, and chaos would result. Darwin applied this principle to his idea of speciation- if a certain number of individuals in a population were competing for a limited food source, only those individuals who were best adapted to secure that food and reproduce would contribute offspring to the next generation. Eventually, those individuals that were poorly adapted to their environment would be bred out of existence, and only the best-adapted individuals would remain. Now, admittedly, this seems to be common sense to us now, but it was a revolutionary idea at the time. Darwin published his theory in 1859, calling it, ON the Origin of the Species by means of Natural Selection. Many people don’t know that Darwin wasn’t the only person to come up with this theory- a man named Alfred Russel Wallace, another naturalist working in Borneo had come up with the same idea independently.

Darwin published his theory reluctantly, because he knew that many people, especially those in religious circles, would object to it. But when he knew that Wallace had come to the same conclusions independently, he knew it was necessary to do so. If you get the chance to read Darwin directly, and I highly recommend that you try- you’ll find that Darwin is probably his own worst critic. I find this very commendable as a scientist- it’s a mark of scientific integrity to note the weaknesses of one’s explanation and the alternative explanations for one’s observations. Certainly Darwin’s theory was not complete- it was based on evidence, but he didn’t have nearly as much as he would have like. Fortunately, the discovery of countless fossils since his death and the burgeoning field of paleontology have provided and incredible amount of evidence in support of his theory. Another weakness of Darwin’s theory was that there was no proposed mechanism for the inheritance of traits. The work of Gregeor Mendel, which was carried out during Darwin’s lifetime but laid undiscovered until the early 20th century, showed that traits were inherited in discrete units, called genes. Further work showed that these genes were carried within cells’ deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, and Watson and Crick demonstrated the structure of DNA, leading to the modern field of molecular biology.

So, although Darwin’s work was important to the progress of science, I want to make it clear that there was nothing special about the man himself that led to his theory- he was doing nothing more than synthesizing existing science with new theories. If he hadn’t been born, we’d likely be discussing Wallace’s theory of natural selection instead. I also want to make it clear that evolutionary theory does not begin and end with Darwin. As I hope I’ve shown, the work of countless other scientists led up to his work, as well as have developed his work in the years past his death.

But regardless, happy 197th birthday, Charles, and thanks for all your hard work.

Available link for download

dangal film imdb 1st day collection expactation

Dangal (English: Wrestling competition) is an upcoming Indian Hindi-language biographical sports drama film directed by Nitesh Tiwari. It stars Aamir Khan as Mahavir Singh Phogat, who taught wrestling to his daughters Geeta Phogat and Babita Kumari. The former is Indias first female wrestler to win at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, where she won the gold medal (55 kg). Her sister Babita Kumari won the silver (51 kg). "Dangal" is the Hindi term for "a wrestling competition".
The music for Dangal was composed by Pritam, while the lyrics were written by Amitabh Bhattacharya. Kripa Shankar Bishnoi, a coach with the Indian womens wrestling team, trained Aamir Khan and the entire crew for the wrestling sequences.
Dangal is scheduled for release on 23 December 2016.



Mahavir Singh Phogat (Aamir Khan) is a former champion wrestler. He is married to Shobha Kaur (Sakshi Tanwar). Phogats dream is to win a gold medal for India in wrestling. He is unable to do this. He promises that his son will do what he couldnt do. However, although he loves them dearly, Phogat is disappointed when Shobha gives birth to four daughters. He does not believe girls can wrestle well. However, when two of his daughters, Geeta and Babita, come home after beating up two boys, Phogat realises how wrong he has been and begins to train his daughters in wrestling. The film is the story of how Phogat trained his daughters to become professional wrestlers.

DANGAL FILM TRAILER REVIEW

Aamir Khan had a sleepless night on Thursday wondering how the world will react to his Dangal trailer. He need not have bothered - Dangal trailer is a winner. But with a minor tweak - this film belongs to actors who are playing Aamir’s daughters. Don’t get us wrong, Aamir Khan is perfection in Dangal, just the way he always is - the man who challenges and reinvents himself with every role he does.
And like every role, he is no longer Aamir when he is in front of the camera. This time, he is Mahaveer Singh Phogat in this 3.25-minute trailer. A man hungering for a son who can fulfil his unfinished dream of winning a gold for the country. Why a son? Because wrestling is a man’s sport and in Haryana, who would ever think a girl can play this sport? That is till we see the two girls who are Aamir Khan’s daughters - Zaira Wasim as child Geeta Phogat and Suhani Bhatnagar as child Babita Kumari. And with all respect Mr Khan, Dangal belongs to the girls. Zaira and Suhani as well as Fatima Sana Sheikh and Sanya Malhotra who play the older Babita and Geeta.
They crash every stereotype in the book, they prove that issue is not the gender but our beliefs. The moment when Aamir’s character realises this and the play of emotions on his face is a masterclass in acting.
They are hungry and committed and you can see it in their eyes. Their wrestling moves or the way they announce, “Pehelwani bahut ho gayi, ab dangal ka time hai,” wants you to stand up and applaud. With the trailer itself, we can promise you this will be as unlike Salman Khan’s Sultan as you can imagine. A women’s empowerment tale, a real-life story and tale of a man finding his metier in life - Dangal is a package we can’t wait to unwrap.
And then, the trailer gives us that final striking moment before it ends - a buffed-up young Aamir flexing his muscles before he enters the wrestling arena. Now that is what we call a dhobi pachchad!
The film has been directed by Nitesh Tiwari.

BEFORE DANGAL TRAILER LANDED

While Aamir had talked about his sleepless night in this message, “Tonight is going to be a sleepless night. 12 hours to go before I launch our trailer of Dangal on Twitter and Facebook. Can’t wait for your response. Hope you like it,” film’s producer UTV had this power-packed announcement about Dangal, “Ladaai se peeche hatne walo mein se nahi hai mhaari choriyaan. #Dangal trailer releasing tomorrow. #Dangalvaar @aamir_khan @niteshtiwari22.”
For all his cliche-breaking roles, Aamir Khan is a traditionalist. The actor always releases his film in December and his trailers closer to Diwali, whether it is 3 Idiots (2009) or PK (2014). With Dangal too, he has continued this practice. A spokesperson earlier said about Dangal’s trailer release, “Aamir is going to treat his audience once again with a trailer of his movie on Diwali. He wants to uphold the tradition of releasing his trailers during the festive season.”

BEFORE DANGAL TRAILER, WHAT CELEBS SAID ABOUT AAMIR KHAN’S FILM

Although, even before Dangal trailer came out, Aamir held special screenings for his friends. Among those who have watched the film are Shabana Azmi, Karan Johar, Zoya Akhtar, Ayan Mukerji and Kunal Kapoor. And after watching the film, we know the guests were suitably impressed. But nobody was more so than Karan who took to Twitter and wrote, “Just saw DANGAL…haven’t seen a better film in a decade…… speechless!!!!”

KNOW MORE ABOUT AAMIR KHAN’S DANGAL CHARACTER MAHAVIR SINGH PHOGAT

Born in a small village in Haryana, Mahavir trained his daughters Babita Kumari and Geeta Phogat and helped establish them as world-class wrestlers. He broke conventions and made his daughters wrestle boys in an akhaada. For this, he had to face objections of his fellow villagers but he refused to budge. Geeta Phogat went on to win gold in 2010 Commonwealth Games while Babita won a gold at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Geeta also qualified for the Olympics, first Indian female wrestler to do so. Mahavir has coached many top Indian wrestlers and has been nominated for the Dronacharya Award.

PRODUCTION

DEVELOPMENT

In 2012 Divya Rao, a member of Disneys creative team, read an article in a newspaper about Mahavir Singh Phogat, who trained his daughters to become world class champions. She thought this would make for a great film, and spoke about this to Siddharth Roy Kapoor and other Disney personnel. Disney approached Nitesh Tiwari to write and direct the story. Tiwari met Mahavir Singh Phogat and his daughters, who instantly agreed to tell the story.
In 2013 Siddharth Roy Kapoor and Nitesh Tiwari went to Aamir Khan with the story, and Khan loved it in its first narration. Khan had just finished Dhoom 3 and started shooting for PK. Khan wanted to do the film after 5-10 years when he would be turning 60, because the script of the film demanded Khan to be 55 years old and he was still doing younger roles. But somewhere the story remained in his mind. After a few months he called up Nitesh Tiwari and asked him to narrate the script once again.
In 2014, after the release of PK, Aamir Khan announced that he would play the role of a wrestler in his next film titled Dangal directed by Nitesh Tiwari, a cinematographic biography of the former wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat. It would be produced by Khan himself and Disneys India. Khan said to reporters, "Nitesh has written a wonderful story. The topic is very important, its very dramatic. It highlights the discrimination that is meted out to the girl child in India. The best part is that he has done it in a very entertaining manner. The heart of the story is emotional, but it also has a lot of humour. Raju Hirani has this unique way to tell a story where he says something socially very relevant but he tells his story in a very entertaining manner. Similarly Nitesh has written a very entertaining lovely script, the dialogues are very entertaining. Each time I listen to the dialogues, I laugh a lot. I cry as well as laugh."
In March 2015, Junior Indian womens wrestling team coach Kripa Shankar Patel Bishnoi was approached by Aamir Khan Productions to train Khan and the entire crew of Dangal. Bishnoi said about the film in a Hindustan Times interview, "Very few Indians encourage women for wrestling, especially because of the uniform. This film will change that perception too. People would hopefully want to see their daughters taking up wrestling as a sport."
Khan lost some weight and took Haryanvi lessons and dialect training for the film. He played two distinct roles in the film: the 60-year-old wrestler Mahavir Phogat, and the 20-year-old version of Phogat.Khan reportedly gained 30 kg and weighs 98 kg to play the role of the older Phogat, then lost the weight to play the younger role in Dangal.
Casting
In March 2015 Taapsee Pannu, Deeksha Seth and Akshara Haasan were being considered for the roles of Khans on-screen daughters. In April 2015, Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sanya Malhotra were cast as the daughters, who hailed from the Jat community of Balali village of Bhiwani, Haryana.  Geeta Phogat had participated in the London Olympics in 2012. Babita won gold in 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. In June 2015, child actors Zaira Wasim (from Kashmir) and Suhani Bhatnagar (from Delhi) were roped in for Dangal. Ayushmann Khurranas brother Aparshakti Khurrana was also cast.Mukesh Chhabra was the casting director of Dangal. Vikram Singh was recruited to play the role of the villain. Aamir Khans nephew Pablo (son of Mansoor Khan) was the films assistant director. Mallika Sherawat auditioned for a role. In August 2015, Rajkumar Rao, who previously worked with Aamir Khan in Talaash, was approached for an important role in Dangal. Finally, after auditioning 70 actresses for the role, Sakshi Tanwar was brought on as Daya Kaur, the wife of Mahavir Singh Phogat. Ananya was chosen to play Sarita, the youngest daughter of Mahavir Phogat. In October 2015, Vivan Bhatena was selected to play a negative role in the film.

FILMING

The shooting schedule of Dangal began on 1 September 2015. The villages of Ludhiana were given a Haryanvi transformation. The shooting took place in the villages of Gujjarwal, Narangwal, Kila Raipur, Dango and Leel in Punjab and Haryana. Interestingly, the village of Dango, which is in the Pakhowal Tehsil in Ludhiana, is veteran actor Dharmendras ancestral village.
From September 2015 to December 2015, Aamir Khan gained 9% fat, weighing around 98 kg for Dangal, and from January 2016 to April 2016, he regained the shape that he had opted for in Dhoom 3 and will hear the script for next future films, halting shooting of Dangal for said period.
The first scene was taken on 21 September 2015 in Ludhiana with the presences of Mahavir Singh Phogat and his both daughters Geeta Phogat, Babita Kumari.
On 14 November 2015, while shooting in Ludhiana, Khan suffered minor injuries resulting in muscle spasms in his back.
On November 20, 2015, Khan collapsed after sustaining a shoulder injury on the set.[45] After suffering an injury Aamir Khan resumes shooting in Pune on 9 December 2015.
The team filmed in and around stadiums at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune. At the time, the complex hosted the 2015 Rollball World Cup, and athletes of the Netherlands national rollball team and Slovenia womens national rollball team were recruited to play background athletes in the film. The team also shot some portions of the film in Symbiosis International University, Pune.
On 19 January 2016, Khan and the entire crew of the film shot in Delhi, at Talkatora Stadium, to film wrestling sequences. The crew then moved to Thyagaraj Stadium to shoot sequences of Commonwealth Games and National Games. The first schedule of shooting was also done in schools and in Dango village, located in Pakhowal Tehsil in Ludhiana.
The second schedule of the film started on 16 June 2016 at the Akhada Leel near Toosa village, in Ludhiana district. It is one of the largest villages in Punjab, India. Khan said, "When I came to Ludhiana, I was very fat. At that time, we shot for the scenes where Mahavir has become old. 85 per cent of the film is about his old look only. Now we are shooting for the portion when Mahavir was young."

RELEASE

Dangal is scheduled to be released on December 23, 2016.

ACTOR/ACTRESS

Mr perfactionist Aamir Khan will be seen playing the lead role in the film. Two fresh faces Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sanya Malhotra have been finalised to play Aamirs daughters in the film. After months of talent scouting, casting director Mukesh Chhabria finally decided on these two girls. Sakshi Tanwar will play the role as Daya Kaur, wife of Aamir Khan in the movie.

AAMIR KHANS ROLE

Aamir has started preparing for the film, in which he will play as a wrestler. It will be interesting to see Aamir khans avatar in this film since he is known to undergo rigorous training for his role. He has got some extra packs of abdomen muscles and build his biceps more. He has gone through extensive training by Hollywood fitness experts for his role.

FIRST LOOK/POSTER

The new poster of the movie Dangal has been revealed. It features Mr perfactionist along with his daughters and son.

SOUNDTRACK

The films music is composed by Pritam with lyrics are penned by Amitabh Bhattacharya. It was reported that Daler Mehndi has sung a song in the movie.

Available link for download