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Submit ReviewIn 2015,a spelunker named Joachim Kreiselmaier discovered a troglobite, a species that lives in underground environments, in the Danube-Aach cave system in South Germany. This small, pale fish had an elongated body, large nostrils, and minuscule, non-functional eyes. It was the first species of cave fish found in Europe and was related to loaches from the nearby Danube River. These cave fish lost their eyesight and pigmentation not because they stopped needing them, but due to evolution by natural selection.
Evolution Talk is also a book! You can find links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and others on the front page of EvolutionTalk.com, or call your local bookstore and ask them to order a copy.
On September 15, 1835, the Galapagos Islands welcomed the arrival of a ship that had traversed South America, offering a strikingly different landscape. The vessel, HMS Beagle, still had just over a year before it would return to England. Aboard the ship was a young naturalist named Charles Darwin, who was unaware that his brief five-week exploration of the Galapagos Archipelago would ultimately inspire him to pen a world-altering book. This work would revolutionize our comprehension of the origins and diversity of the countless species that have existed and continue to exist on Earth.
Evolution Talk is also a book! You can find links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and others on the front page of EvolutionTalk.com, or call your local bookstore and ask them to order a copy.
It can be straightforward to confuse facts and theories, but they remain distinct entities. Asserting that evolutoion by natural selection is not a fact does not diminish its significance as a theoretical framework. The theory is founded on empirical evidence and provides a deeper understanding of the subject matter. Scientific theories evolve over time as new evidence and discoveries emerge. They continue to be refined and expanded as our knowledge of the natural world grows.
Evolution Talk is also a book! You can find links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and others on the front page of EvolutionTalk.com, or call your local bookstore and ask them to order a copy.
Our diet has a direct impact on our quality of life, and this fact is not new. Throughout the evolution of our species, food availability and our diet have been influential factors. The Hominin River has provided insights into the dietary habits of our predecessors and how it affected their brain size and ability to walk on two legs. The transition from herbivores to omnivores, as well as learning how to cook food, caused a reduction in teeth size and gut size. Despite not documenting their meals or counting calories, our ancient hominin ancestors were keen on experimenting with what they ate. Their primary concern was avoiding predators, so we rely on archaeological findings to understand their diet.
Evolution Talk is also a book! You can find links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and others on the front page of EvolutionTalk.com, or call your local bookstore and ask them to order a copy.
Our journey down the Hominin River in search of our ancestors and the evolution of our species has been extensive. Homo sapiens began exploring the world 300,000 years ago, and anatomically modern humans appeared 200,000 years ago. We, also known as Homosapiens sapiens, are the last surviving species of the Hominin family. However, as we speed along the river, we may overlook a significant change - the river is now narrower, with its tributaries gone. This river, which has been around for over 6 million years, may be nearing its end sooner than we anticipate. With millions of years behind us, we might only have a few centuries left to navigate.
Evolution Talk is also a book! You can find links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and others on the front page of EvolutionTalk.com, or call your local bookstore and ask them to order a copy.
Music in this Episode
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Denouement by Podington Bear, License (CC BY 3.0): Artist website: soundofpicture.com
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Ghost by Podington Bear, License (CC BY 3.0): Artist website: soundofpicture.com
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Human Survivor by Podington Bear, License (CC BY 3.0): Artist website: soundofpicture.com
The discovery of a Homo erectus skull in 2005, known as Skull 5, marked a significant archaeological find. Among the five skulls found, estimated to be approximately 1.8 million years old, Skull 5 stands out as the most complete hominin skull ever uncovered. Remarkably, it had remained hidden within a cave for nearly two million years before its discovery.
Evolution Talk is also a book! You can find links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and others on the front page of EvolutionTalk.com, or call your local bookstore and ask them to order a copy.
Music in this Episode
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River Fire by Kevin MacLeod, Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/4294-river-fire, License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
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Slow Heat by Kevin MacLeod, Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/4373-slow-heat, License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
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Allada by Kevin MacLeod, Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/4981-allada, License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
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Rite of Passage by Kevin MacLeod, Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/4291-rite-of-passage, License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
In 1959, a significant event took place when teeth were discovered at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania. These teeth were identified as belonging to a hominin species known as Homo habilis, which for decades held a special place as the first hominin to be given the title of Homo and considered as our earliest Homo ancestor. However, as more evidence and research emerge, the question arises: is Homo habilis truly the first Homo species, or is there more to the story?
Evolution Talk is also a book! You can find links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and others on the front page of EvolutionTalk.com, or call your local bookstore and ask them to order a copy.
Music in this Episode
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Infados by Kevin MacLeod. Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/3914-infados, License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
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Artifact by Kevin MacLeod, Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/3382-artifact, License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
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Accralate by Kevin MacLeod, Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/3336-accralate, License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
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Drums of the Deep by Kevin MacLeod, Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/3681-drums-of-the-deep, License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Thomas Plummer, an archaeologist, had received information about the discovery of stone tools on the Homa Peninsula hillsides in Kenya. In an attempt to gain more knowledge, he initiated an excavation. However, instead of discovering more stone tools, he and his team came across numerous fossils of various animals such as crocodiles, antelopes, horses, and hippos. The fossils were accompanied by stone tools. But who made them?
Evolution Talk is also a book! You can find links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and others on the front page of EvolutionTalk.com, or call your local bookstore and ask them to order a copy.
For show notes and more, please visit https://EvolutionTalk.com
Music:
- Criminals (DECISION) by Sascha Ende, Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/248-criminals-decision, License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
- Lurking Sloth by Alexander Nakarada, Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/4785-lurking-sloth, License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
- Until Then My Friend by Euan Ford, Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/8692-until-then-my-friend, License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
- Blockbuster Atmosphere 5 (African Spirit) by Sascha Ende, Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/133-blockbuster-atmosphere-5-african-spirit, License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
We’ve come quite a long way along the Hominin River. We’ve passed tributaries and navigated some pretty large bends. On the way we’ve heard rumors about what was ahead. A name actually. You’ll recognize her name because she's been mentioned on this show more than once. She’s perhaps the most famous ancestor(?) of all.
Evolution Talk is also a book! You can find links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and others on the front page of EvolutionTalk.com, or call your local bookstore and ask them to order a copy.
For show notes and more, please visit https://EvolutionTalk.com
Music in this Episode:
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Ghost by Podington Bear, License (CC BY 3.0): Artist website: soundofpicture.com
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Pythagoras by Podington Bear, License (CC BY 3.0): Artist website: soundofpicture.com
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Gentle Chase by Podington Bear, License (CC BY 3.0): Artist website: soundofpicture.com
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Twine by Podington Bear, License (CC BY 3.0): Artist website: soundofpicture.com
- Clay by Podington Bear, License (CC BY 3.0): Artist website: soundofpicture.com
Between 1992 and 1994, working in the Awash region of Ethiopia, the same region that Ardipithecus kadabba would be found a few years later, paleoanthropologist Tim White unearthed well over 100 specimens of something new.
What was it?
Evolution Talk is also a book! You can find links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and others on the front page of EvolutionTalk.com, or call your local bookstore and ask them to order a copy.
For show notes and more, please visit https://EvolutionTalk.com
Music:
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Caravan by Podington Bear, License (CC BY 3.0): Artist website: soundofpicture.com
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Bit Rio by Podington Bear, License (CC BY 3.0): Artist website: soundofpicture.com
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Gamma Ray by Podington Bear, License (CC BY 3.0): Artist website: soundofpicture.com
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Climbing the Mountain by Podington Bear, License (CC BY 3.0): Artist website: soundofpicture.com
- Toboggan (Smooth Run) by Podington Bear, License (CC BY 3.0): Artist website: soundofpicture.com
In the last couple of episodes we’ve met two early travellers along the Hominin River. Today, we will meet yet another one. This one lived approximately 5.5 million years ago. It is know as Ardipithecus kadabba, and this is its story.
Evolution Talk is also a book! You can find links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and others on the front page of EvolutionTalk.com, or call your local bookstore and ask them to order a copy.
For show notes and more, please visit https://EvolutionTalk.com
We continue with our exploration into hominin history by introducing one who once walked the earth six million years ago - the Orrorin tugenensis. It was bipedal, a mix of ape-like and human-like traits, and may be a direct ancestor... of us!
Evolution Talk is also a book! You can find links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and others on the front page of EvolutionTalk.com, or call your local bookstore and ask them to order a copy.
For show notes and more, please visit https://EvolutionTalk.com
We begin our exploration into hominin history with an introduction to what is arguably the oldest hominin fossil yet found. Does Sahelanthropus tchadensis represent our earliest hominin ancestor or is it something else?
Evolution Talk is also a book! You can find links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and others on the front page of EvolutionTalk.com, or call your local bookstore and ask them to order a copy.
For show notes and more, please visit https://EvolutionTalk.com
When talking about our ancient anscestors the question often comes up over how we refer to them. Are they hominins or hominids? It's a good question and it depends on how it is being used and what "hominid" branch is being discussed.
Over the next few episodes we'll be looking at some of those ancestors, so it's a good idea to address this terminology and what will be used going forward to avoid confusion. It might also answer some questions!
Evolution Talk is also a book! You can find links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and others on the front page of EvolutionTalk.com, or call your local bookstore and ask them to order a copy.
For show notes and more, please visit https://EvolutionTalk.com
When did our ancestors descend from the trees and walk on two legs instead of four? How exactly did bipedalism develop? We have some ideas but that's all they are - ideas. We may never know, but we can certainly have some fun hypothesizing!
Evolution Talk is also a book! You can find links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and others on the front page of EvolutionTalk.com, or call your local bookstore and ask them to order a copy.
For show notes and more, please visit https://EvolutionTalk.com
Our study of the Homo Naledi continues to surprise us. In December 2022, Professor Lee Berger announced yet another insight into the mystery surrounding the presence of the Naledi in the Rising Star Cave System.
Evolution Talk is also a book! You can find links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and others on the front page of EvolutionTalk.com, or call your local bookstore and ask them to order a copy.
For show notes and more, please visit https://EvolutionTalk.com
In 1979 Stephen Jay Gould and genetecist Richard C. Lewontin presented the paper “The Spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian Paradigm: A Critique of the Adaptationist Programme”. What do spandrels have to do with evolution and biology? Sometimes, things are there simply because they are.
Evolution Talk is also a book! You can find links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and others on the front page of EvolutionTalk.com, or call your local bookstore and ask them to order a copy.
For show notes and more, please visit https://EvolutionTalk.com
In Part 4 of a 4 Part Series on "The Eclipse of Darwinism", we take a look at William Paley's watch analogy and how it evolved into another explanation for the abundance and intricacies of life around us.
Evolution Talk is also a book! You can find links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and others on the front page of EvolutionTalk.com, or call your local bookstore and ask them to order a copy.
For show notes and more, please visit https://EvolutionTalk.com
In Part 3 of a 4 Part Series on "The Eclipse of Darwinism", we take a look at "Mutationism". Can a new species evolve in a single step or is it a series of gradual, accumulated changes as Darwinian evolution suggests?
Evolution Talk is also a book! You can find links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and others on the front page of EvolutionTalk.com, or call your local bookstore and ask them to order a copy.
For show notes and more, please visit https://EvolutionTalk.com
In Part 2 of a 4 Part Series on "The Eclipse of Darwinism", we take a look at "Neo-Lamarkism" as proposed by Jean-Baptiste Lamark. Proponents hoped it would push Darwinian evolution aside as the principal force behind the evolution of species.
Evolution Talk is also a book! You can find links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and others on the front page of EvolutionTalk.com, or call your local bookstore and ask them to order a copy.
For show notes and more, please visit https://EvolutionTalk.com
After Charles Darwin's death, the period from the 1880s to the 1920s is known as "The Eclipse of Darwinism". Coined by Julian Huxley, it was a time where alternative theories to explain evolution sought to push Natural Selection aside.
Evolution Talk is also a book! You can find links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and others on the front page of EvolutionTalk.com, or call your local bookstore and ask them to order a copy.
For show notes and more, please visit https://EvolutionTalk.com
In this continuation of the look at speciation we began in the last episode, we will tackle some more "not so obvious" causes.
Evolution Talk is also a book! You can find links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and others on the front page of EvolutionTalk.com, or call your local bookstore and ask them to order a copy.
For show notes and more, please visit https://EvolutionTalk.com
It's been awhile since we took a look at speciation and its causes. In the first of two parts we'll jump right in with Allopatric speciation.
Evolution Talk is also a book! You can find links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and others on the front page of EvolutionTalk.com, or call your local bookstore and ask them to order a copy.
For show notes and more, please visit https://EvolutionTalk.com
For decades, ever since we first began to study and understand our cell’s biology and the coding sequences of DNA, we saw bits and pieces that didn’t seem to make sense. Strings of DNA that didn’t appear to do anything at all. It appears, they do quite a lot.
Evolution Talk is also a book! You can find links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and others on the front page of EvolutionTalk.com, or call your local bookstore and ask them to order a copy.
For show notes and more, please visit https://EvolutionTalk.com
Written, Produced, & Narrated by: Rick Coste
In 1893, the German zoologist Wilhelm Haacke published Design and Inheritance. In it, Haacke introduced the concept of orthogenesis. According to Haacke, changes in organisms are directed toward perfection.
Evolution Talk is also a book! You can find links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and others on the front page of EvolutionTalk.com, or call your local bookstore and ask them to order a copy.
For show notes and more, please visit https://EvolutionTalk.com
Written, Produced, & Narrated by: Rick Coste
Consider this episode a memorial to the millions of extinct animals that once walked the earth long before we inherited it. Like fragments of novels and poems that have been found over the years, hinting at what might have been, we have fossils and shards of bones to tell us what once was.
Evolution Talk is also a book! You can find links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and others on the front page of EvolutionTalk.com, or call your local bookstore and ask them to order a copy.
For show notes and more, please visit https://EvolutionTalk.com
Written, Produced, & Narrated by: Rick Coste
Great idea don't spring out of a vacuum, but they do sometimes seem to. In this episode we take a look at a few.
For show notes and more, please visit https://EvolutionTalk.com
Written, Produced, & Narrated by: Rick Coste
Evolution Talk - the book is now available at your local bookstore!
If you love the show, and have listened to the last 100 episodes this book is for you. If you’re a student, or want to learn more about evolution by natural selection it’s the perfect introduction. If you’re a teacher, your class will love it. Just like the show, it’s meant to be accessible and easy to grasp.
You can find links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and others on the front page of EvolutionTalk.com, or call your local bookstore and ask them to order a copy.
What came first, the chicken or the egg? It's an age old question. How about another one? What stored genetic information first? DNA or RNA?
For show notes and more, please visit https://EvolutionTalk.com
Written, Produced, & Narrated by: Rick Coste
Colossal Biosciences hopes to reintroduce the wooly mammoth to the world, thousands of years after the last one walked the earth. If successful they will have paved the way for a "de-extinction pipeline" for other lost species.
For show notes and more, please visit https://EvolutionTalk.com
Written, Produced, & Narrated by: Rick Coste
Evolution by Natural Selection has assisted many amazing symbiotic relationships. Here's one you may not be familiar with, and which you're a participant in. It involves your gut microbiome.
For show notes and more, please visit https://EvolutionTalk.com
Written, Produced, & Narrated by: Rick Coste
In 1976, British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins published The Selfish Gene. It made exactly the splash he’d intended, but people were confused. How can genes be selfish?
For show notes and more, please visit https://EvolutionTalk.com
Written, Produced, & Narrated by: Rick Coste
Stephen Jay Gould once asked what would happen if the evolution of life on Earth were to take the same path if we had the ability to start it all over again? In this episode we'll ask the question again ...
For show notes and more, please visit https://EvolutionTalk.com
Written, Produced, & Narrated by: Rick Coste
Imagine a world without mutants. I don’t mean those super-powered heroes that populate the comics and movies from Marvel. I’m talking about you, me, and everyone else we know. We are all mutants trying to survive.
For show notes and more, please visit https://EvolutionTalk.com
Written, Produced, & Narrated by: Rick Coste
Just what does the act of chewing have to do with brain size and evolution? Perhaps nothing or everything. A team of researchers is helping us to understand exactly how much energy is involved when we use our jaws.
For show notes and more, please visit https://EvolutionTalk.com
Written, Produced, & Narrated by: Rick Coste
I'm excited to announce that the Evolution Talk book will be published by Prometheus Books on Oct. 2022! The Oldest Story Ever Told can now sit on your book shelf.
You can preorder the book at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or anywhere else you buy your books. You can also do so through the links here: https://evolutiontalk.com/
It has long been believed that an early oxygenation even gave rise to the eukaryotes. Perhaps oxygen had nothing to do with it. A castle deep beneath the ocean waves might hold the answer.
For show notes and more, please visit https://EvolutionTalk.com
If you were somehow in control of repopulating and regenerating an area that had essentially been wiped clean of life, how would you do it? With limited resources at your disposal would you decide to throw all your effort into producing as many offspring as possible, as quickly as possible? Or would you take a different tactic and produce a one or two offspring, protecting and nourishing them until they can take care of themselves?
Both strategies might work. And that’s what nature had to do. It had two strategies to chose from. They are known as the r and K selection estrategies.
For show notes and more, please visit https://EvolutionTalk.com
How do we find life in a galaxy, or galaxies, far far away while sitting here on Earth? It’s not just by looking through telescopes or sending probes. Those will tell us a few things, but not everything. We need a multi-disciplinary approach. One that combines astronomy, biology, oceanography and chemistry - and that’s just to name a few.
Enter Astrobiology.
For show notes and more, please visit https://EvolutionTalk.com
Written, Produced, & Narrated by: Rick Coste
A friend of mine recently posed a question on his podcast about carrion plants. If you don't know what one is, the carrion plant emits an odor that is very similar to rotting flesh.This odor attracts flies which serve to pollinate the flower. The question posed on my friend’s show was how? How does the plant know to do this?
For show notes and more, please visit https://EvolutionTalk.com
Written, Produced, & Narrated by: Rick Coste
We don’t know why dogs became man’s best friend, but we have some ideas. And those ideas take us back anywhere from 10,000 to 40,000 years ago.They are perhaps the perfect visual example when it comes to witnessing the power of the gene pool and how a selection process, whether natural or artificial, can affect it.
For show notes and more, please visit https://EvolutionTalk.com
Written, Produced, & Narrated by: Rick Coste
In this episode I want to introduce you to someone. Actually, this someone is a thing, and this thing wiggled its way through life between two to four billion years ago.
Listener, meet LUCA. Your Last Universal Common Ancestor.
LUCA, meet your descendant.
For show notes and more, please visit https://EvolutionTalk.com
Written, Produced, & Narrated by: Rick Coste
As a kid I was fascinated by the idea of cavemen. Of course, all I had to go on were a few poorly produced movies that depicted cavemen battling dinosaurs, which of course never happened. I even owned an early plastic model of a Cro-Magnon man and woman. To me the Cro-Magnon were indistinguishable from the Neanderthals. As far as I knew they both lived in caves, wore skins of the animals they slaughtered and fought with spears.
Spoiler alert - we really don’t refer to them as Cro-Magnon anymore.
For show notes and more, please visit https://EvolutionTalk.com
Written, Produced, & Narrated by: Rick Coste
Many years ago, in 1977, astronomer and author Carl Sagan offered us the concept of a “Cosmic Calendar” in his book The Dragons of Eden. It’s a fun thought experiment in which you take the entire history of the universe, from the Big Bang until now, and represent it as calendar year.
For show notes and more, please visit https://EvolutionTalk.com
Written, Produced, & Narrated by: Rick Coste
It's time to look at fossil dating again! The last episode mentioned two dating methods used to estimate how old the Homo Naledi bones found the Rising Star cave system might be. To do so, researchers used a Uranium-thorium method as well as electron spin resonance, or “ESR”. Let's take a brief look at what each of these entail.
For show notes and more, please visit https://EvolutionTalk.com
Written, Produced, & Narrated by: Rick Coste
Quite a few episodes back, I produced a show that looked at a new hominin species discovered in 2013. This history-changing discovery happened when paleoanthropologist Lee Berger, assisted by cavers Rick Hunter and Steve Tucker, explored the Rising Star Cave in the Cradle of Humankind, South Africa. I thought it’s about time we revisited that earlier hominin species. Think of it as an update on what science has to say about them now.
For show notes and more, please visit https://EvolutionTalk.com
Written, Produced, & Narrated by: Rick Coste
Natural selection isn't perfect. It only cares that something works. If it works and is not harmful to its host, then that something is passed on.
For show notes and more, please visit https://EvolutionTalk.com
Written, Produced, & Narrated by: Rick Coste
There is more than random mutations when it comes to evolution by natural selection. You also have to look at other variables outside of a genetic mutation. Variables such as the environment the organism lives in, the challenges it has to face, and its ability to find food.
For show notes and more, please visit https://EvolutionTalk.com
Written, Produced, & Narrated by: Rick Coste
Please join me for a brief update on the show, it's future, and what you can do to help.
Evolution by Natural Selection is a beautiful theory. But as wonderful a theory as it is, it does have its detractors. One argument states that evolution violates the second law of thermodynamics. Is this true?
For show notes and more, please visit https://EvolutionTalk.com
Written, Produced, & Narrated by: Rick Coste
Evolution by natural selection can build complex features through small, incremental changes. But can it build an eye?
Caves hide many things. Be it shards of glass, arrowheads... or bones. It's to whom these bones might have belonged to which often leads us on a path to great discoveries... and forgotten 'cousins'.
Consider this a 'lost episode' of Evolution Talk. In it I talk with Stephanie Keep of BiteScis.org about the origins and misconceptions around the term 'survival of the fittest'.
There is now a new way to enjoy the show. A video series is being created to add visuals to the podcast. Learn more at EvolutionTalk.com !
Coming April 10, 2018 !
Pixie is a serialized story about a sad and lonely demon whose desire to create beautiful pictures angers her father Louie (who just happens to be the Prince of Darkness). Accompanied by her best friend, a bat named Waine, Pixie searches for a way out of her evil father’s kingdom before he can forever crush her dreams and force her to become the kind of demon she doesn’t want to be.
Pixie is an all ages show featuring an international, all star cast!
Subscribe today!
Rick Coste is a writer and producer. Past projects include Inhale, behemoth.html">The Behemoth, lane.html">Bryar Lane, there-anybody-out-there.html">Is There Anybody Out There? , dreams.html">Carbon Dreams, Scotch, s-mailbox.html">Charlie's Mailbox, fiona-potts-interview.html">The Fiona Potts Interview , Izzy, and and-rainbows.html">Waterguns Rainbows. Learn more at ModernAudioDrama.com.
In 1811 , or 1812, a young girl by the name of Mary Anning, along with her little brother, happened upon an incredible find while digging around the cliffs of Lyme Regis in England. It was a skull. A very large skull.
It’s safe to say, and very few would disagree, that without Rosalind Franklin the double helix structure would not have been discovered when it was, nor perhaps by the same team of discoverers.
Way back in Episode 30 I stepped into a time machine and traveled back to 1869 in order to interview Charles Darwin. This time around I brought someone forward in time... his wife Emma Darwin.
Convergent evolution has shown us that nature will find similar solutions under similar conditions. So too might it be on other planets. Life might not look that much different that it does here
A cladogram will show those animals that share similar form and structures. It’s not about animals which have evolved from one another. In this episode we are going to look at clades and cladistics. We will also create a cladogram... an audio cladogram.
Jonathan Tweet has authored a very remarkable book for children. He wasn’t just trying to make evolution and its concepts easier to understand for kids in elementary school, Jonathan was shooting for an even younger audience. The result is the book 'Grandmother Fish'.
There are some who say that evolution by natural selection, at least when it applies to you and I, is no longer a driving force. The argument is that we are no longer evolving and that we’ve pushed natural selection aside and taken the reign of our own development.
Over the course of billions of years a small region of specialized cells began to develop sensory organs. These light sensitive cells slowly developed into eyes. Behind them another organ began to develop. It’s still there, buried beneath everything else that has developed to become your brain today.
In 2013 a secret that had been hidden for hundreds of thousands of years in a South African cave was discovered. Bones... many bones. Upon inspection by a team of specialists a picture began to emerge. At the center of it all is a new species of hominin - Homo Naledi.
In this episode of Evolution Talk we take a look at some of the theories which have attempted to trace the evolution of music, from Charles Darwin to philosopher Daniel Dennett.
Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis was fascinated with the origin and evolution of life. If there was a creator, finding the keys to his work had to involve careful study of the facts and an examination of the natural world with critical eyes.
Coevolution often involves an arms race. You have a predator and prey both upping the game. Like a bat and a moth. Each one trying to outdo the other. If the change in one organism is linked to a change in another organism, genetically speaking, then coevolution is said to have occurred.
Without water there would be no life. We are lucky. Extremely lucky that it is here at all. Especially in its liquid form. It doesn’t need to be. In fact, as far as the universe is concerned, water in its liquid form is almost a rarity.
In this episode of 'Evolution Talk' I am joined by a very special guest - Stephanie Keep from the National Center for Science Education (NCSE). Among her many talents as a writer and educator, Stephanie also loves to correct misconceptions that involve the science and study of evolution.
In the era known as the Cambrian, an era which kicked off 541 million years ago, life exploded. Natural Selection began to produce new creatures, one after the other. A parade of unique forms and shapes that had never been seen before.
For years the appendix has been considered a vestigial organ. In 2007 researchers at Duke University began to take another look at the appendix. While taking their closer look something interesting began to emerge. Something that had always been there but had remained hidden, or unobserved for centuries. Your appendix, that little organ that we so often remove and forget, just might be useful after all.
What does radiation do to us exactly and why do we care? The American geneticist Hermann Joseph Muller worried about it back in the 1920s.
In 1865 Gregor Mendel pulled together his work on heredity in peas and produced a paper which he read to a group of his peers. Unfortunately for Mendel, the world would't be ready to listen until decades after his death.
In the last episode I asked the question ‘Are we unique?’ and then set about showing why it is we are not by looking at the animal kingdom. From tool use to altruism it appears that we are not as special as we might think. But, of all of earth’s creatures we seem to be the only species cursed with the ability to ask ‘why ?’ We alone appear to have the ability to look back into the past to help us to explain the present and to prepare for the future. Is it, as Darwin said, only a matter of degree, or is it something more?
In what ways are we special or unique? Is it because we can think, like Rene Descartes said? Or is thinking just a chemical process that directs our actions as La Mettrie would have us believe? You might be shocked to know that we don’t really know. Science hasn’t been able to touch it.
If chimps are our closest relative why aren’t we hairy like they are? The answer lies somewhere in the far distant past. Imagine how hot it must have been on the savannah after our ancestors left the safety of the trees to hunt for food. Homo Erectus did this almost 2 million years ago, and perhaps as recently as 70,000 years ago. They made their homes on the savannahs. They ran, played, and hunted. They fought for survival. And one of the byproducts of all of that activity is sweat. Wouldn’t it be a benefit to have less hair?
Nestled comfortably within our DNA are a set of switches. Like the light switches you casually flip on and off in your home, they are responsible for making you who you are. And just like that one regulating switch which controls the current of electricity to your home, you have one which controls certain sets of genes. It’s called the PAX gene.
We can make broad predictive strokes when it comes to how an organism will evolve. But that’s all we can do. What those changes will look like, if they happen at all, is beyond our power to know. Does this mean that theories about evolution are outside of the realm of true science?
Every good story needs a villain. And there has been quite a few in the history of evolution theory. History has not been kind to Richard Owen. But just like the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Owen had his good side. Not that his good side cared about the proper treatment of his fellow man, his good side cared more about the proper treatment, and appreciation of, science.
In 2005 biologist Michael Skinner witnessed something that shouldn’t have happened. His mice were exposed to a toxin. A toxin which caused the children of these mice to experience birth defects. This wasn’t the surprise since the mice could easily have been exposed while in their mother’s womb. This could explain the defects. What it couldn’t explain was the fact that the next generation also had this defect.
If you’ve ever wondered why mice have been, and continue to be, science’s favorite research tools it’s becaus we are a lot a like. Yes, that little four legged furry bundle of whiskers and pink feet shares 99% of its genes with us. 75-80 million years ago that 99% was 100%. That was when our most recent common ancestor walked the earth. That ancestor split off into different directions. One lineage led to and the other led to mice.
In 2003 something was found in a large limestone cave located in Liang Bua, Flores. It was a small skull which was at first identified as being that of a small child. Upon further examination there was something odd about the skull. It didn’t appear to be exactly what the researchers assumed it to be.
Evolutionary psychology seeks to explain why we feel the way we do in certain situations. It also looks to understand what psychological adaptations were naturally selected to accompany us on our journey forward through time. Just like an archaeologist digs into the sands of time to piece together the physical world, it may be possible to do the same for the psychological world.
Darwin himself never used the term ‘missing link’. He wasn't concerned with a missing link but he was concerned with gaps in the fossil record. It wasn’t that he thought these gaps hurt his theory. So where did this term come from and why is it still used?
Mankind has only just begun to unlock the secrets hidden within our DNA. As we move from gene to gene we will begin to see how it all ties together, and where evolution made a few mistakes. It will be within our power to correct those mistakes.
Mitochondrial DNA is only inherited from your mother. Everyone alive on earth today can trace their lineage back to Mitochondrial Eve. We know this because we’ve all received our Mitochondrial DNA from her. It has been passed down generation by generation from mother to daughter.
The Cretaceous period ended 65 million years ago as did the reign of the dinosaurs. According to the International Union of Geological Sciences, we are currently in the Holocene. The Holocene has seen a number of changes. It’s seen us cultivate the land, store food, and build long standing shelters. It’s also seen us craft tools to shape the world around us. Some scientists have proposed calling this era the Anthropocene.
It’s probably safe to say that everyone enjoys a good laugh. But where did it come from? What is it about laughter that gave us an advantage over our ancient competitors?
In 1972 Stephen Jay Gould and Niles Eldridge published a paper that immediately went viral among biologists. Gould and Eldridge pointed out, using the fossil record as evidence, that evolution by natural selection worked in a series of starts and stops. There were periods of stasis where no changes occurred. They called this theory Punctuated Equilibrium.
In the late 19th century, Europe was having a grand old time when it came to fossils of ancient hominids. The problem was - nothing was being discovered in England. Germany had the Neanderthal and France had the Cro-Magnon. In the summer of 1912 all of that changed.
On June 30, 1860 a great debate took place at the Oxford University Museum. This debate helped to launch Thomas Huxley's career as 'Darwin's Bulldog".
In the last episode we came face to face with the Neanderthal. What happened to the Neanderthal? Did they die on the battlefield or did they live out their lives in a quiet struggle for survival while modern humans settled around them? Was they killed... or assimilated?
In the Neander valley, limestone miners found something which shocked them. They had found bones which they first thought belonged to a bear. Once Professor Schaafhausen had seen the bones he recognized them for what they were. Shortly after that the Neanderthal Man stepped into the spotlight. Were Neanderthals our early ancestors or were they a separate species?
Frog populations remained pretty much the same in Podville until the Great Fire of 2015. After the fire the population of blue frogs increased. Welcome to genetic drift, the subject of this week's episode of 'Evolution Talk'.
In 1997 Professor Stephen Jay Gould published an essay in Natural History which also appeared in his book Rocks of Ages. This essay was titled ‘Non-Overlapping Magisteria’. It’s commonly referred to as NOMA. The concept behind NOMA is that science and religion operate in two different, non-overlapping, realms.
Where does altruism come from? How did it evolve in a world ruled by 'selfish genes'?
The term 'Survival of the Fittest' was unleashed on the world in 1864 by Herbert Spencer when he published his work Principles of Biology. It was later picked up by Charles Darwin who used it himself in the fifth edition of On the Origin of Species five years later. But is it fair to say that the term "Survival of the Fittest" is synonymous with evolution by natural selection? In this episode of Evolution Talk we explore this very question.
For Charles Darwin, the idea of sexual selection explained a lot of what he saw in the animal kingdom. He gave sexual selection just as much importance as natural selection.
In 1986 Professor Robert Bakker, a paleontologist, published 'The Dinosaur Heresies'. According to Professor Bakker there have been waves of extinction, and these extinction events mainly attacked, or affected, one particular type of animal... warm blooded animals.
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