Let's enter the fascinating world of animal communication used by different species. We'll also touch on the evolutionary aspects of these communication systems

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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

• Frogs by Podington Bear, License (CC BY 3.0): Artist website: soundofpicture.com
• Odd Wand by Podington Bear, License (CC BY 3.0): Artist website: soundofpicture.com
• Klink Tale by Podington Bear, License (CC BY 3.0): Artist website: soundofpicture.com

The new season is about to kick and I’m really excited about it.  I’m always looking for ways to expand the show’s reach and science education, and to do so, I’ll need your help. I’d love to go back to a weekly show, be able to fully kick off a supplemental video channel, and provide materials for schools. I’ve also always wanted to bring the newsletter back. The show will always be free for all to enjoy.  To find out how you can help the show achieve it’s goals financially, please visit evolutiontalk.com/support. 

Do our thoughts serve a purpose, or are they just a byproduct of something deeper? Consciousness studies bridge the realms of philosophy and science. Are we truly aware, or is it all just an illusion?

Please consider becoming a show Patron to help keep new episodes coming!

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

• Horn Haze by Podington Bear, License (CC BY 3.0): Artist website: soundofpicture.com
• Gentle Heart by Podington Bear, License (CC BY 3.0): Artist website: soundofpicture.com
• Grebe by Podington Bear, License (CC BY 3.0): Artist website: soundofpicture.com

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.

In this episode, we delve into the mysterious world of consciousness, a mystery that resides within the depths of our minds. We'll explore the physical and philosophical theories of consciousness, from the brain's intricate processes to the elusive concept of qualia. 

Please consider becoming a show Patron to help keep new episodes coming!

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

• Caterpillar Tunnel by Podington Bear, License (CC BY 3.0): Artist website: soundofpicture.com
• Netherland by Podington Bear, License (CC BY 3.0): Artist website: soundofpicture.com
• Dark Water by Podington Bear, License (CC BY 3.0): Artist website: soundofpicture.com
  
• Kitten by Podington Bear, License (CC BY 3.0): Artist website: soundofpicture.com
• Twinkle Toes by Podington Bear, License (CC BY 3.0): Artist website: soundofpicture.com

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.

In this episode, we dive deep into the astounding journey of technological evolution, from the Wright brothers' inaugural flight to humanity's giant leap on the moon, and onto the revolutionary frontiers of AI with ChatGPT. Let's contemplate AI's potential to become a new form of life, pondering its future impacts and the ethical dilemmas it presents. 

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.

Figure & Open AI Collaboration: Video on YouTube

Music in this Episode

• All music AI generated from Suno

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.

What killed off the dinosaurs? There are many competing theories yet there is no ‘smoking gun’. There is evidence however, and with each bit of evidence comes another theory. Dinosaurs didn’t disappear overnight. It took a few millions years for them to die out. Perhaps six million years.

Today’s episode of Evolution Talk is brought to you by all of those animals out there who exhibit vestigial features (which is pretty much every animal out there). Our DNA contains traces of our past - switches in our genes that have either been shut off or turned over the years while natural selection’s fingers hovers over the controls.

To mark the occasion of Evolution Talk's 30th episode, Rick Coste steps into the past to interview Charles Darwin.

In the X-Men movies the X-Men are mutants. Mistakes were made during DNA replications that brought out features and abilities which were not present in the population prior to their births. Defects which enhanced their chances of survival.

The Human genome project took 13 years to complete. Hundreds of scientists from all over the world were involved. What’s just as amazing as the completion of the project is the story that it tells when you begin to compare it with other chapters in the book of life.

How do we date fossils? There are a few ways and in this episode we will look at a couple.

Robert Chambers' masterpiece was titled 'Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation'. In it he explained how everything evolved. Everything from simple, less complex forms, to more complex forms over time.

Patrick Matthew published 'On Naval Timber and Arboriculture' in 1831. There were a few positive reviews but they were somewhat tepid in their praise. Only a couple reviewers happened to notice something else that Matthew had mentioned in his book. A certain passage that appeared in the book’s appendix. This passage would would later catch the eyes of Charles Darwin.

In this episode, we continue our exploration into the realm of evolutionary psychiatry, a field that seeks to understand the ancient roots of our modern mental health challenges. Are mental disorders "glitches" in our evolutionary programming, where ancient survival strategies may not align with contemporary societal demands?

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

• Memory Wind by Podington Bear, License (CC BY 3.0): Artist website: soundofpicture.com

• Submerging Green by Podington Bear, License (CC BY 3.0): Artist website: soundofpicture.com

• Poor Wayfaring Stranger by Podington Bear, License (CC BY 3.0): Artist website: soundofpicture.com

• Climbing the Mountain by Podington Bear, License (CC BY 3.0): Artist website: soundofpicture.com

William Charles Wells, in no uncertain terms, pointed out that mankind is not immune to nature’s ability to modify an organism's features over time.

Jean Baptiste Lamarck's mechanism for evolution was wrong, as history shows, and that fact has haunted his memory ever since. But ideas and theories have ways of being resurrected and, in recent years, there are hints out there that Lamarck wasn’t completely off base when he proposed his theory for the evolution of species.

Erasmus was a country physician. He believed that women should have access to the same education that men did, and that slavery should be abolished. He also believed that life evolved from a single filament that wiggled out of the mud in the distant past.

James Hutton saw the power of natural selection, but he didn’t see how it could eventually, over vast spans of time, mold an animal into something completely different. That would have to wait until Charles Darwin entered the scene over 50 years later.