Pulitzer-prize-winning author Jonathan Weiner of Columbia University will tell a story of discovery. By going back to the Galapagos year after year, scientists in Darwin’s islands have now witnessed an event that Darwin himself did not think could be seen at all.

Darwin wrote that the origin of a new species would require “the lapse of ages.” But a small team of biologists has been observing the evolution of Darwin’s finches on a desert island in the center of the Galapagos archipelago for more than forty years. Their study shows that evolution can be surprisingly rapid and turbulent. The work throws light on many aspects of the science of life--including the science of the brain.

Weiner is the author of The Beak of the Finch, and five other books. His writing has received many honors, including the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Award, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He is the Maxwell M. Geffen Professor of Medical and Scientific Journalism at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.

This talk is part of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Brain Insight Lecture series, offered free to the public to enhance understanding of the biology of the mind and the complexity of human behavior. The lectures are hosted by The Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute at Columbia University and supported by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.