(FOX19) -

Herman Mays, the curator of zoology at the Cincinnati Museum Center, is giving a free lecture about the role islands have played in the study of evolution at 7 p.m. Thursday at the museum.

Islands are laboratories of evolution. From the Galapagos Islands to New Guinea, the islands of the Pacific Ocean have provided the foundation for modern understanding of evolution. But considerably less attention has been paid to the islands of the Eastern Pacific, namely Taiwan and the many islands that make up and surround Japan.

Mays will be on Wednesday's FOX19 Morning News.

Mays has been a key participant in a long-term study of the birds of this region for more than a decade. He will discuss how he and his colleagues have used cutting-edge tools in genetics to help decipher of the history of the region's birds and what they can tell us about the science of evolution.

The lecture will be followed by a question-and-answer session.

The program is free to the public and will be preceded by a screening of the OMNIMAX film "Journey to the South Pacific" at 6 p.m.. Tickets for the film are $8.50 for adults and $6.50 for children.

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Islands, evolution: Free lecture at the Cincinnati Museum Center