DANBURY, CONN. — James Gorman, New York Times deputy science editor and editor of the newspaper’s weekly “Science Times” section, will explore some of the more surprising outcomes of the evolutionary process in a lecture at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 16, at Western Connecticut State University.

Gorman’s talk on “Evolutionary Surprises: Pets, Hot Sauce and Other Side Effects of Natural Selection” will survey a potpourri of phenomena that defy obvious explanation as the outcomes of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. Admission will be free and the public is invited to attend the lecture, which will be presented in Science Building Room 125 on the university’s Midtown campus, 181 White St. in Danbury.

“Not all the results of evolution are direct products of natural selection or survival of the fittest,” Gorman noted in his lecture summary. “There are some fascinating puzzles. Did music have a role in survival, or is it a happy accident? What about the human love of pets? Dogs may have helped out in the hunt — but why do people keep snakes?”

“And then there are chili peppers,” he observed. “We may have domesticated them to help preserve food. But when the human taste for pain meets a chemical defense evolved by plants, the result is a comic, but enlightening, accident of evolution.”

Gorman joined The New York Times in 1993 as a science reporter, and has served as founding editor of the Times’ “Circuits” section, story editor for The New York Times Magazine, and a columnist writing on outdoors subjects. He has traveled around the world to cover subjects spanning a wide range of scientific fields, including two trips to the remote continent of Antarctica. A graduate of Princeton University, he also has written humor pieces for The New Yorker and other magazines.

Gorman has earned acclaim as an author who combines informed discussion of complex scientific themes with accessible writing that explains these concepts in a clear, often entertaining manner. He has written a series of books including “The Man With No Endorphins,” “Ocean Enough and Time,” “First Aid for Hypochondriacs” and “The Total Penguin.” In his newly published work, “How to Build a Dinosaur: Extinction Doesn’t Have to Be Forever,” Gorman and coauthor Jack Horner, an internationally renowned paleontologist, explore the intriguing hypothesis that re-creation of dinosaur traits through genetic manipulation is not beyond the realm of scientific possibility.

Gorman’s lecture, presented during the bicentennial commemoration this year of Darwin’s birth, is sponsored by the WCSU “Science at Night” series, which provides a forum for specialists in a wide range of fields to inform the university community and the public about scientific topics of general interest.

For more information, contact Professor of Biological and Environmental Sciences Dr. Thomas Philbrick at (203) 837-8773 or philbrickt@wcsu.edu or the Office of University Relations at (203) 837-8486.

Western Connecticut State University offers outstanding faculty in a range of quality academic programs. Our diverse university community provides students an enriching and supportive environment that takes advantage of the unique cultural offerings of Western Connecticut and New York. Our vision: To be an affordable public university with the characteristics
of New England’s best small private universities.