I was very excited to attend this event in London on November 16th 2013. To my surprise, Consensus? Science Talks was organized to raise awareness for Alfred Russel Wallace, the man who for years, in parallel with Charles Darwin, approached thoughts and observations that would lead to the breakthroughs on the theory of evolution. I did not really know anything about Wallace or how he contributed, in writing and research before and with Darwin prior to the event, but from the quality of the speakers and a full auditoreum, I understood that this might be a case of Wallace slipping through on deserved credit in the annals of historical records. This was confirmed when we were informed that the proceeds of this event were to be for the newly erected statue of Wallace outside London’s Natural History Museum. Each speaker spoke about how Wallace influenced them in their own particular way. Bill Bailey, Patron of the Wallace Fund and comedian, spoke about The Making of a Jungle Hero, a documentary by the BBC of Wallace’s exploits in the Indonesian archipelago and his fervor for collecting samples. Richard Fortey, a paleontologist, spoke about the evidence in fossils and the DNA of evolution long after the death of the two great men. Richard Wiseman presented the psychological take of the sciences, and perception, for even a scientist like Wallace believed in superstition and ghosts. Jonny Berliner, sang songs about Wallace, dark matter, DNA and a classic eighties rendition power ballad dedicated to Faraday . He was, in my opinion, the star of the event. Very smart and witty, scientific, and a talented musician. Richard Dawkins emphasized education, and how evolution is the new classics and how it should be tought in universities as a major department because evolution is in everything; examples of which were given for economics, literature, ideas, politics, environment and other compnents of any syllabus. It was a long day and after the lectures, Entangled Bank organized an intimate dinner party at the Linnean Society of London which I had purchased tickets for. I did not make the dinner. I think not going was the biggest regret I will have in my life, but I was so tired and my body took a hold of me. Ghadah, prettygreenbullet.com , your business cards were too precious for me to give away anyways :), but I promise I will use them next time when I attend future events like these.
THE GENERALIST 
Yeeeeeee! So excited for you, J! Have fun and learn lots so that you can come back and educate this dimbulb!