A seemingly infinite clock… credit: Chris Limb; see link to this image at Probing question: what is a molecular clock?
The Royal Society has announced a new scientific discussion meeting opportunity aimed at uniting experts from various fields of the life and earth sciences to share scientific ideas, methods, and results, relevant to the topic of using molecular clocks to date patterns of evolution. SO, if you can be, or plan on being, in London the 9-10 of November, 2015, and this topic interests you, you should look into this meeting!
Here is the link to the event announcement: Dating species divergences using rocks and clocks
The organizers have planned for a continuous poster session, and submission of posters ends October 1, 2015.
Looking at the list of invited speakers, it is quite remarkable and includes famous paleontologists and neontologists, empiricists and ‘methods people’. Among them will be the authors of key programs for molecular clock-based dating analyses including BEAST, multidivtime, MrBayes, and BPP, as well as authors of programs for ancestral state reconstruction methods relying on time-calibrated phylogenies, i.e. the author of DIVA.
For those willing and able to attend this short meeting, the most intriguing possibilities are perhaps the opportunities to learn about the most recent developments in the field, better understand how to use geological and paleontological data to calibrate molecular divergence dating analyses, and rub shoulders with leaders in the field. I, for one, wish that I could be there!!
~J