LIVE from the NYPL: E.O. Wilson in Conversation with Ira Flatow

Whether we believe that nature arose through evolution or by divine creation, one thing is certain: our earth, the Creation itself, is in desperate need of protection from the wanton destruction wrought by human hands. NPR's host of Talk Of The Nation: Science Friday, Ira Flatow, will talk with Professor E.O. Wilson about his new book, The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth,written in the form of a letter to a Southern Baptist minister. Wilson seeks to attract not only his customary audience of science and nature lovers but also Evangelicals, whom he believes will be important allies in the struggle to preserve our planet. The stories he tells from his scientific adventures are both enlightening and humbling: amphibians like salamanders, frogs, and toads are the proverbial canaries in the mine and most vulnerable because they breathe through their skins. These early harbingers of disaster are being wiped out at an alarming rate. If humans were to disappear from Earth, the planet would soon regenerate. However, if insects were to disappear, the world would inevitably collapse into a state of famine and chaos.

Join this conversation about how we can come together with our differing religious and scientific viewpoints to ensure our continued survival as a planet.

About Edward O. Wilson

Edward O. Wilson is a Professor and Curator of Entomology at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University. He has conducted field research throughout the world and written more than twenty books, including The Ants, The Diversity of Life, and On Human Nature. His awards include two Pulitzer Prizes and the National Medal of Science. In his books, The Diversity of Life, Biophilia, and The Naturalist, he sounds a powerful alarm about the calamitous loss of species diversity.

About Ira Flatow

Ira Flatow is a veteran National Public Radio science correspondent and TV journalist who hosts NPR's Talk Of The Nation: Science Friday. Ira Flatow is also founder and president of TalkingScience, an organization dedicated to creating media projects that make science user friendly and host of the PBS series Big Ideas. He is author of They All Laughed ... From Light Bulbs to Lasers: The Fascinating Stories Behind the Great Inventions That Have Changed Our Lives, and Rainbows, Curve Balls and Other Wonders of the Natural World Explained.