Big Picture Science for Monday April 11, 2016 - Surfeit of the Vitalest

Big Picture Science - Surfeit of the Vitalest

ENCORE: In the century and a half since Charles Darwin wrote his seminal On the Origin of the Species, our understanding of evolution has changed quite a bit. For one, we have not only identified the inheritance molecule DNA, but have determined its sequence in many animals and plants.

Evolution has evolved, and we take a look at some of the recent developments.

A biologist describes the escalating horn-to-horn and tusk-to-tusk arms race between animals, and a paleoanthropologist explains why the lineage from chimp to human is no longer thought to be a straight line but, instead, a bush. Also, New York Times science writer Carl Zimmer on the diversity of bacteria living on you, and which evolutionary concepts he finds the trickiest to explain to the public.

Guests:

• Douglas Emlen – Biologist, University of Montana and author of Animal Weapons: The Evolution of Battle
• Bernard Wood – Paleoanthropologist, George Washington University
• Carl Zimmer – Columnist for the New York Times

This encore podcast was first released on November 16, 2014

Download podcast at: http://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/Surfeit_of_the_Vitalest

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://bigpicturescience.org/, and be sure to check out Blog Picture Science, the companion blog to the radio show.