Manolis Ladoukakis
Biography
Manolis Ladoukakis studied Biology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the Department of Biology of the University of Crete. He conducted research at the University of Sussex, UK, where he taught as a lecturer. He has also conducted research at the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University, USA, as a Fulbright Scholar. He is currently serving as an Associate Professor in the Department of Biology, University of Crete. His main research interests regard the evolution of mitochondrial DNA, and the extension of the evolutionary theory to other evolvable systems beyond organisms, such as microbial communities (in collaboration with Ecologists) and spoken languages (in collaboration with Linguists). His research has been published in distinguished scientific journals.
Talk Details
Life on earth: a history that seems like a fairytale
What is this we call life? Where and when was it born? How many times did it occur and how did it lead to the magnificent abundance and diversity of organisms we call ‘the miracle of life’? These questions have occupied people since they became aware of themselves and have led to inventive and interesting myths. In the modern age, with the means given to us by science and its enormous possibilities, we can transform this narrative from a fanciful fairy tale into a documented history that becomes more and more interesting as we overcome the limitations of our knowledge and delve into the richness of the organisms that live and lived on Earth.