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A mouse which disappears in a hole, a bee heading for a blossom, a blackbird in full-throated song – animals interact with their environment in certain ways, they display behaviour. This is based on certain evolutionary mechanisms, as biologists Dr. Niklas Kästner and Dr. Tobias Zimmermann explain in their guest article. They run the online magazine “ETHOlogisch – Verhalten verstehen”.

Evolution is an ongoing process. The Münster Graduate School of Evolution (MGSE) has been bringing together the Faculties of Biology, Medicine, Geosciences, Mathematics and Philosophy, bundling interdisciplinary evolutionary research at the University of Münster. Four doctoral students provide insights into their work and show the role which evolution specifically plays in their everyday research.

One of the things that Dr. Marc de Lussanet de la Sablonière researches into in the field of kinesiology is the evolution of the brain and of the body. In this interview he talks about the advantages and disadvantages of wrinkled and smooth brains, as well as why the human body is structured both symmetrically and asymmetrically, and why such knowledge interests kinesiologists.

In many ways, nature serves as a model for processes and functions which we use in our everyday lives. Prof. Christian Grimme from the Department of Information Systems at the University of Münster has been working for many years now on, and with, so-called evolutionary algorithms which – as the name suggests – are oriented towards the underlying thoughts contained in the theory of biological evolution. Kathrin Kottke spoke to him about the function of this informatics-based approach.

Prejudices regarding a supposed conflict between the theory of evolution and the theological understanding of creation remain stubborn. These are based on stretching the theory of evolution into a materialistic and atheistic ideology. In fact, the theory offers a range of approaches for a dialogue with theology.

Münster's wastewater contains bacteria that can decompose a substance called "TRIS", which is frequently used in laboratories - a team led by Prof Dr Bodo Philipp discovered this by chance and unravelled the metabolic pathway, which is new in evolutionary terms.

Growth and decay, passing things on and renewal: evolution is life, and life is constant. The word ‘evolution’ is also used to describe gradual changes in culture and society. To start the series off, four researchers from the University of Münster give their views here on the dazzling diversity of evolution and what research has discovered.

“I feel as if I’m confessing a murder,” wrote Charles Darwin in his book “On the Origin of Species”, published in 1859. He was evidently aware that his new insights at that time were not only presenting some scientific theory. No, the British naturalist was shaking the prevailing conception of the world.