The Scientific Culture and Innovation Unit of the University of Valencia (UV) has opened registration for the 26th Evolution Morning, which will take place on Saturday 17 May in the Joan Plaça Auditorium of the Botanical Gardens. The event, which will feature three presentations and a debate, is aimed at secondary school teachers, and registration for the activity is free.

The morning event will feature Marcos de la Peña, Alicia Marcos and Raquel de Rivas, with Raquel Ortells, professor in the Department of Microbiology and Ecology at the UV and researcher at the Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, and Juli Peretó, professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and member of the Institute of Integrative Systems Biology I2SysBio (UV-CSIC), as moderators.

Marcos de la Peña (Institute of Cellular and Molecular Biology of Plants IBMCP, CSIC-UPV) will give the presentation ‘A new world of circular RNA’. In it, he will explain the RNA world hypothesis, which proposes that life arose from self-replicating RNA that performed both the function of genetic information transmission and chemical catalysis, roles that are currently performed separately by DNA and proteins, respectively. Among the vestiges of this primitive world are certain catalytic RNAs (or ribozymes) such as the ribosome, as well as a handful of tiny circular RNAs, viroids, which would fit well with primitive RNA replicons.

Alicia Marcos, who has a degree in Biology (UV) and a master's degree in Environmental Health, will give the talk ‘The fossil trail: from the Mercat to the Nau’. This activity is aimed at secondary and sixth-form schools and has a dual objective: on the one hand, to recognise the fossils we find in the urban environment (pavements, façades, monuments, etc.) and, on the other hand, to use the other meaning of the word fossil as ‘extraordinarily outdated’.

Raquel de Rivas Verdes-Montenegro, professor in the Department of Experimental and Social Science Education at the UV, will give the third presentation: ‘Climate change: essential ideas’. She will discuss education on climate change, which is essential for encouraging citizen involvement and promoting concrete actions, a process in which students must play an active role. Key ideas and common misconceptions about climate change will also be reviewed.

After the presentations, there will be a debate between the speakers and the audience.

This activity of the Rector's Delegation for University Inclusion (UV) is part of the annual plan of activities of the UV's Scientific Culture and Innovation Unit and is supported by the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT), the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, the Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology (UV), the Institute for Integrative Systems Biology I2SysBio (UV-CSIC), the Faculty of Biological Sciences (UV), the Botanical Garden (UV), UV Publications, Mètode magazine, Acció Cultural del País Valencià, the Catalan Biology Society and the Institute of Catalan Studies.

Registration:  https://encuestas.uv.es/index.php/593968?lang=ca-valencia