Evolution Talk

Rick Coste

Everything you wanted to know about evolution by natural selection in short, easy to digest, episodes. Hosted, and produced by writer Rick Coste.

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167 episodes
Updated July 20

Episodes167

Newest first

Nov 30, 2015 · 11 min
Math and Maupertuis
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.
Nov 23, 2015 · 12 min
Coevolution
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.
Nov 16, 2015 · 11 min
Why Water?
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.
Nov 9, 2015 · 15 min
Misconceptions About Evolution & Natural Selection
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.
Nov 2, 2015 · 15 min
An Explosion of Cambrian Proportions
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.
Oct 26, 2015 · 13 min
An Appendix
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.
Oct 19, 2015 · 13 min
Radiation and DNA
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.
Oct 12, 2015 · 17 min
Mendel and His Peas
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.
Oct 5, 2015 · 11 min
Our Unique Species
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?
Sep 28, 2015 · 14 min
Are We Unique?
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.
Sep 21, 2015 · 16 min
Hairless Apes
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?
Sep 14, 2015 · 18 min
Master Switches
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.
Sep 7, 2015 · 20 min
The Predictive Power of Evolution
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?
Aug 31, 2015 · 25 min
The Strange Case of Richard Owen
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.
Aug 24, 2015 · 16 min
Epigenetics
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.
Aug 17, 2015 · 17 min
99%
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.
Aug 10, 2015 · 18 min
The Hobbits of Flores
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.
Aug 3, 2015 · 20 min
Evolutionary Psychology
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.
Jul 27, 2015 · 12 min
The Missing Link
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?
Jul 20, 2015 · 14 min
Self-Directed Evolution
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.