Rebel with a Rulebook: What to Do with the 300-Year-Old Rules for Biological Names

Species—and higher categories of life—are given names through the practice known as taxonomy. But the traditional rules that govern these names predate evolutionary thinking. To keep biological names meaningful, scientists are bending, or outright breaking, the rules to accommodate new discoveries. Rule following is now seen as a rebellious act. As a consummate rule follower, Dr. Jason Downs argues that rules should be followed until they no longer work—then they should be rewritten. Biology is at that revolution point, and our speaker is in the thick of it, and ready to report on where we stand.

About the speaker:

Dr. Jason Downs earned his Ph.D. from Yale University and has actively collected and researched Devonian vertebrate fossils for his entire professional career. He is on the faculty of the Wagner Free Institute of Science, where teaches courses on geology and evolutionary biology, is associate professor of Biology at Delaware Valley University and research associate in the Vertebrate Paleontology Group at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University.

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