From RNA to Humans: A Symposium on Evolution is the title of a meeting held at Rockefeller University on May 1st and 2nd.1 The entire series of lectures is available online at Evolution.
There are several interesting talks but the one that you need to listen to, in my humble opinion, is the talk by Ford Doolittle on Barking up the Wrong Tree: The Dangers of Reification in Molecular Phylogenetics and Systematics. Ford Doolittle challenges the common belief in The Three Domain Hypothesis and Norm Pace's idea that the term "prokaryote" is no longer useful. (Norm Pace is Carl Woese's bulldog.)
Furthermore, Ford Doolittle challenges the very way we think about phylogeny and the tree of life. If you want to keep on top of the current controversies in the field of molecular evolution then this is an excellent way to begin. Ford allies himself with Stephen Jay Gould and against Richard Dawkins. You may not agree with him but it is extremely important that all evolution supporters become aware of the controversy.
1. An unfortunate choice of title. Why not "from RNA to E. coli" or, better yet, "from RNA to modern organisms"?
[Hat Tip: Panda's Thumb]
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