{"id":230,"date":"2011-11-06T15:12:00","date_gmt":"2011-11-06T14:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/multiblogold.educacion.navarra.es\/jemanald\/?p=230"},"modified":"2011-11-06T15:12:00","modified_gmt":"2011-11-06T14:12:00","slug":"aristoteles-y-la-biologia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/multiblog.educacion.navarra.es\/jemanald\/2011\/11\/06\/aristoteles-y-la-biologia\/","title":{"rendered":"Arist\u00f3teles y la biolog\u00eda"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t&lt;![CDATA[<\/p>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www3.imperial.ac.uk\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/www3.imperial.ac.uk\/2007templates\/images\/logo_imperial_college_london.png\" alt=\"Imperial College London\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div>\n<table id=\"rg264044\" summary=\"\" border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr align=\"left\">\n<td valign=\"top\">\n<div>\n<table border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td dir=\"ltr\" width=\"100%\">\n<div>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td colspan=\"3\" align=\"left\" valign=\"top\">\n<table cellpadding=\"4\" align=\"left\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"left\" valign=\"top\" width=\"5%\">\n<table border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><img src=\"http:\/\/www3.imperial.ac.uk\/portal\/pls\/portallive\/news_events.ne_images_pkg.get_image?p_image_type=MEDIUM&amp;p_image_id=3497\" alt=\"Professor Leroi\" border=\"1\" \/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"60%\">\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify\">IMPERIAL BIOLOGIST EXPLORES LEGACY OF ARISTOTLE\u2019S LAGOON IN NEW BBC DOCUMENTARY<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"color: #ffffff\">New BBC4 documentary sees Imperial&#8217;s Professor Armand Leroi visit the lagoon which inspired Aristotle&#8217;s ideas on biology. &#8211;<em>\u00a0News<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"color: #ffffff\">Date<\/span><\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<td align=\"left\"><span style=\"color: #ffffff\">13 Jan 2010<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"color: #ffffff\">Category<\/span><\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<td align=\"left\"><span style=\"color: #ffffff\">All<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"color: #ffffff\">Last Updated<\/span><\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<td align=\"left\"><span style=\"color: #ffffff\">13 Jan 2010<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"right\"><a href=\"mailto:?subject=Imperial%20biologist%20explores%20legacy%20of%20Aristotle%E2%80%99s%20lagoon%20in%20new%20BBC%20documentary&amp;body=New%20BBC4%20documentary%20sees%20Imperial's%20Professor%20Armand%20Leroi%20visit%20the%20lagoon%20which%20inspired%20Aristotle's%20ideas%20on%20biology.%20-%3Cem%3E%20News%3C\/em%3E%0Ahttp:\/\/www3.imperial.ac.uk\/newsandeventspggrp\/imperialcollege\/newssummary\/news_13-1-2010-11-23-3\">email to a friend<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www3.imperial.ac.uk\/people\/a.leroi\">Professor Armand Marie Leroi<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><em>Imperial College is not responsible for the content of external websites<\/em><\/div>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify\">\n<li>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/programmes\/b00q0hh2\"><em>Aristotle&#8217;s Lagoon<\/em>\u00a0on BBC4<\/a><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\">Wednesday 13 January 2010<br \/>\nBy John-Paul Jones<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>A new BBC documentary, developed and presented by Imperial\u2019s professor of evolutionary developmental biology, Armand Marie Leroi, will reveal the debt modern biology owes to the ancient Greek polymath Aristotle.<\/strong><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\">Airing on Sunday at 9pm on BBC4 Aristotle\u2019s Lagoon follows the professor in his exploration of the Greek lagoon which inspired Aristotle\u2019s fundamental ideas on biology.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\">Professor Leroi, from the Department of Life Sciences, answers some questions on the programme below:<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Why was Aristotle so important for science?<\/strong><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\">Well, Aristotle is a remarkable figure. Everyone knows him as the father of logic and philosophy, but people forget that he was the father of biology too. About a third of his surviving texts relate to biology and actually his thoughts on the subject inform his philosophy, his metaphysics and his ideas on a number of topics. In many ways he began it all, in effect developing an entire course on biology, including the classification of animals.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Why have people forgotten Aristotle\u2019s contribution?<\/strong><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\">Up until the seventeenth century\u2019s scientific revolution, when people spoke about biology they really spoke about Aristotle. His influence on early science was immense. It was so massive in fact that the science revolutionaries felt they had to destroy him during their attack on the old scientific system.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\">Despite this the impact of Aristotle\u2019s thought endures to this day. Even Darwin remarked: \u201cLinnaeus and Cuvier have been my two gods, though in very different ways, but they were mere schoolboys to old Aristotle.\u201d What we\u2019re trying to do with this programme is recover Aristotle for biology.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>How did your new programme come about?<\/strong><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\">Ten years ago I was on holiday in Greece. I walked into a second hand bookshop in Athens and bought a copy of Aristotle\u2019s Historia Animalium, or \u2018History of Animals\u2019. In the book\u2019s preface the Scots biologist D&#8217;arcy Thompson claimed Aristotle did most of his biological work at a lagoon on the island of Lesvos. It just so happened that I was going to Lesvos anyway to visit some Imperial researchers at the university there. I spent two weeks at the lagoon and it really opened my eyes to what an amazing biologist Aristotle was. He had a deep and integrated physiological system for understanding the world around us.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\">It inspired me to begin working on a book, together with my friend and colleague Richard King (from the University of Glasgow\u2019s Philosophy Department). Having made a Channel Four series based on my book Mutants I went on to make programmes for the BBC and when they asked if I\u2019d like to make another, on a subject of my choice, I chose Aristotle.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Is it useful for scientists to have knowledge of the history of their field?<\/strong><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\">I don\u2019t think knowledge of the history of science is essential but it does give a more global view and appreciation of the possibilities of science. One also sees echoes of issues we grapple with these days. It\u2019s certainly been useful for me. As an example: Aristotle was insistent that the crucial point of understanding in dissection comes when putting the parts back together to see how an animal works as a whole. This very much chimes with systems biology today.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Another of your BBC programmes was on Charles Darwin and his contribution to science. Of the two, which project did you feel more passionate about?<\/strong><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\">Darwin is obviously hugely important, and also inspiring. I\u2019d say, however, that this programme is extra special for me because, while everyone knows of Darwin, Aristotle\u2019s contribution is so undervalued. People always say \u201cThanks to Darwin&#8230;\u201d or \u201cBecause of Darwin&#8230;\u201d and we want them to say \u201cThanks to Aristotle&#8230;\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>As a university scientist why is it important for you to reach out to the public at large, through programmes like Aristotle\u2019s Lagoon?<\/strong><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\">For three reasons: Firstly the public pays for science, so it\u2019s important that we show them what we\u2019re doing. Secondly, there are always anti-scientific forces in society, in various guises, and an ongoing battle. Scientists should always take the opportunity to show people how science is the only way to understand the natural world. Finally, science is a source of stories. These can give us joy and inspiration in what we do, and they have the added quality of being true, or as true as we can know. It\u2019s natural for scientists to want to share these stories.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>You revisited the lagoon when filming the programme. Do we know how much it might have changed since Aristotle visited millennia ago?<\/strong><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\">Aristotle\u2019s work is perhaps the oldest description of a natural habitat in the world but he doesn\u2019t give us a comprehensive diary of his time at the lagoon. Everything he mentioned, however, can still be found at the lagoon, from scallops at the lagoon\u2019s mouth to the fish which travel in seasonally. He actually mentioned that scallop numbers had been high but had dwindled due to overfishing. Speak to a Greek fisherman today and he will say exactly the same thing. It suggests a cycle that\u2019s been going on for thousands of years.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\">One of the most conspicuous changes is the presence of flamingos there today. They certainly weren\u2019t mentioned by Aristotle but that\u2019s not surprising as it appears they arrived in the last 50 years. They have been steadily moving east due to changes in the marshes that served as their usual habitat. The lagoon hasn\u2019t escaped some environmental degradation either, especially with run off pollution in the water. Despite this, though, the diversity which Aristotle brilliantly recorded can still be found there today.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><em><a title=\"Aristotle\u2019s Lagoon\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/programmes\/b00q0hh2\">Aristotle\u2019s Lagoon<\/a><\/em>\u00a0airs this Sunday, 17 January, at 9pm on BBC4, as part of the channel\u2019s \u2018<a title=\"Beautiful Minds link opens in a new window\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/tv\/comingup\/beautifulminds\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Beautiful Minds<\/a>\u2019 series.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>]]&gt;\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&lt;![CDATA[ IMPERIAL BIOLOGIST EXPLORES LEGACY OF ARISTOTLE\u2019S LAGOON IN NEW BBC DOCUMENTARY New BBC4 documentary sees Imperial&#8217;s Professor Armand Leroi visit the lagoon which inspired Aristotle&#8217;s ideas on biology. &#8211;\u00a0News Date 13 Jan 2010 Category All Last Updated 13 Jan 2010 email to a friend Professor Armand Marie Leroi Imperial College is not responsible for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":317,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[376],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/multiblog.educacion.navarra.es\/jemanald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/multiblog.educacion.navarra.es\/jemanald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/multiblog.educacion.navarra.es\/jemanald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/multiblog.educacion.navarra.es\/jemanald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/317"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/multiblog.educacion.navarra.es\/jemanald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/multiblog.educacion.navarra.es\/jemanald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/multiblog.educacion.navarra.es\/jemanald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/multiblog.educacion.navarra.es\/jemanald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/multiblog.educacion.navarra.es\/jemanald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}