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Evolution

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🎬 Videos(14)

Video

Anticipating CSICon 2022: An Interview with Nathan H. Lents

Skeptical Inquirer

This interview is part of my series with the featured speakers of CSICon 2022, the conference run by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. It will take place in Las Vegas October 20–23, and you can find all of the details and register for the conference right here. For this installment, my special guest was Dr. Nathan H. Lents. Lents is a CSI fellow, scientist, author, and university professor on the faculty of John Jay College, where he is the director of the Cell and Molecular Biology program. He is noted for his work in cell biology, genetics, and forensic science, as well as his popular science writing and blogging on the evolution of human biology and behavior. Lents studies the evolution of the human genome and is the author of the books Not So Different: Finding Human Nature in Animals and Human Errors: A Panorama of our Glitches, from Pointless Bones to Broken Genes.

📄 Articles(10)

Article

Adam the Ape

Wolfgang Wambach

Kenny is the best player in online adventure games, where nobody realizes he is unable to speak. In real life, the mute schoolboy is bullied and cannot find friends. Everything changes after he meets Adam, a circus ape who can talk through sign language. When the chimpanzee is threatened at the circus, he escapes from his cage, taking Kenny with him. Together, they decide to find the scientist who is said to know the "secret of language." A thrilling journey across the country begins, on which they surpass even their own expectations. But soon, Adam's life is in danger. Will Kenny follow his inner voice and fight for his new friend? An adventure novel for readers from eight to fourteen years old, with illustrations, photos, and scientific epilogues about evolution and Great Apes.

Article

Nathan H. Lents on Our Not So Intelligent Design | Skeptical Inquirer

Rob Palmer

Nathan H. Lents was a featured speaker at CSICon 2019, and his presentation on the not so intelligent design of the human body was one of my personal highlights. Following his recovery from a bad bout of COVID-19, I caught up with Lents to discuss these subjects and more.

Article

Defending Darwin

James J. Krupa

I teach human evolution at the University of Kentucky. There are some students I'll never reach.

📚 Books(5)

Book

Why Evolution Is True

Jerry A. Coyne

Why Evolution Is True weaves together the many threads of modern work in genetics, paleontology, geology, molecular biology, and anatomy that demonstrate the "indelible stamp" of the processes first proposed by Darwin. In crisp, lucid prose accessible to a wide audience, Why Evolution Is True dispels common misunderstandings and fears about evolution and clearly confirms that this amazing process of change has been firmly established as a scientific truth.

Book

The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution

Richard Dawkins

In The Greatest Show on Earth Richard Dawkins takes on creationists, including followers of 'Intelligent Design' and all those who question the fact of evolution through natural selection. Like a detective arriving on the scene of a crime, he sifts through fascinating layers of scientific facts and disciplines to build a cast-iron case: from the living examples of natural selection in birds and insects; the 'time clocks' of trees and radioactive dating that calibrate a timescale for evolution; the fossil record and the traces of our earliest ancestors; to confirmation from molecular biology and genetics. All of this, and much more, bears witness to the truth of evolution. The Greatest Show on Earth comes at a critical time: systematic opposition to the fact of evolution is now flourishing as never before, especially in America. In Britain and elsewhere in the world, teachers witness insidious attempts to undermine the status of science in their classrooms. Richard Dawkins provides unequivocal evidence that boldly and comprehensively rebuts such nonsense. At the same time he shares with us his palpable love of the natural world and the essential role that science plays in its interpretation. Written with elegance, wit and passion, it is hard-hitting, absorbing and totally convincing.

Book

The Selfish Gene

Richard Dawkins

Inheriting the mantle of revolutionary biologist from Darwin, Watson, and Crick, Richard Dawkins forced an enormous change in the way we see ourselves and the world with the publication of The Selfish Gene. Suppose, instead of thinking about organisms using genes to reproduce themselves, as we had since Mendel's work was rediscovered, we turn it around and imagine that "our" genes build and maintain us in order to make more genes. That simple reversal seems to answer many puzzlers which had stumped scientists for years, and we haven't thought of evolution in the same way since. Drawing fascinating examples from every field of biology, he paved the way for a serious re-evaluation of evolution. He also introduced the concept of self-reproducing ideas, or memes, which (seemingly) use humans exclusively for their propagation. If we are puppets, he says, at least we can try to understand our strings.

Book

The story of Evolution in 25 Discoveries

Donald Prothero

In The Story of Evolution in 25 Discoveries, Donald R. Prothero explores the most fascinating breakthroughs in piecing together the evidence for evolution. In twenty-five vignettes, he recounts the dramatic stories of the people who made crucial discoveries, placing each moment in the context of what it represented for the progress of science. He tackles topics like what it means to see evolution in action and what the many transitional fossils show us about evolution, following figures from Darwin to lesser-known researchers as they unlock the mysteries of the fossil record, the earth, and the universe. The book also features the stories of animal species strange and familiar, including humans--and our ties to some of our closest relatives and more distant cousins. Prothero's wide-ranging tales showcase awe-inspiring and bizarre aspects of nature and the powerful insights they give us into the way that life works.

🎙️ Podcasts(1)

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