Cro-Magnon

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...

The Cosmic Calendar

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...

Dating Fossils Again

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...

Homo Naledi 2020

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...

Evolution Does Not Produce Perfection

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.     Evolution Talk is also a book! You can find links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and others on the front...

Is Evolution Random?

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...