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The 2009 AAAS Annual Meeting in Chicago will focus on "Our Planet and Its Life: Origins and Futures." The theme calls to mind that 2009 is the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his book, "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection."

The multidisciplinary AAAS Annual Meeting will feature about 150 scientific symposia; plenary and topical lectures; a poster competition; career fair; career workshops; and an exhibit hall. Details about the scientific program and speakers will be available at the AAAS Annual Meeting Web site.

AAAS President James J. McCarthy will open the Meeting with the President's Address at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, 12 February 2009. McCarthy is the Alexander Agassiz Professor Biological Oceanography at Harvard University. From 1982 until 2002, he was the director of Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology. McCarthy's research interests relate to the regulation of plankton productivity in the sea and focus on regions that are strongly affected by seasonal and inter-annual variation in climate. He has served on and led many national and international groups charged with planning and doing studies on global climate change.

Plenary lecturers include:

• Sean B. Carroll, professor of molecular biology and genetics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who will speak on "Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origins of Species."
• Susan W. Kieffer, Walgreen Endowed Chair of Geology and Physics, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, speaking on "Celebrating the Earth: Its Past, Our Present, a Future?"
• Svante Pääbo, director, Department of Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthroplogy, Leipzig, Germany, speaking on "A Neanderthal Perspective on Human Origins."

Embargo Notice - Please note that specific content related to the 2009 AAAS Annual Meeting will remain strictly embargoes until the time of the scientific session or lecture, or the related news briefing, whichever comes first.

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