Science: Carol Yoon: Naming Nature

Bellingham biologist and journalist Carol Yoon calls her new book, Naming Nature, "the story of the rise of a science, the science of taxonomy or the classification of all life," even as it illuminates our urgent need to stay connected to the natural world by using familiar, rather than scientific, names. From Linnaeus, whose system turned classification from a hobby to a science, and Darwin, who ended the idea of rigid species definitions, to today's dream of naming all of Earth's species and listing them online, Yoon investigates the poetic and deeply human need to label the natural world, and what such a drive means to us today. Presented as part of Seattle Science Lectures, with Pacific Science Center and University Book Store.