evolution

Neil deGrasse Tyson sits down with evolutionary biologist and author of The Genetic Book of the Dead Richard Dawkins to talk about evolution, whether we were “designed,” how we are living reflections of our ancestors, and much much more.  

NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can listen to this entire episode commercial-free here: 
https://startalkmedia.com/show/darwins-daring-idea-with-richard-dawkins/

Thanks to our Patrons Jason Byttow, Keith Bale, Daniel Levin, Multimedia Kart, Renata, CESAR FRADIQUE, Ginger Towers, handzman, Lisa Kohler, and 21Pandas_ for supporting us this week.

Is there a quantum reason we could have free will? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice explore the concept of free will and predetermination with neuroscientist, biologist, and author of Determined: The Science of Life Without Free Will, Robert Sapolsky. 

A special thanks from our editors to Robert Sapolsky’s dog. 

NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can listen to this entire episode commercial-free here: 
https://startalkmedia.com/show/do-we-have-free-will-with-robert-sapolsky/

Thanks to our Patrons Pro Handyman, Brad K. Daniels, Starman, Stephen Somers, Nina Kane, Paul Applegate, and David Goldberg for supporting us this week.

This is Episode 89. I’m publishing it right at the beginning of 2024, and it's a review of some fascinating things that happened in the world of ornithology and bird conservation over the last 12 months, in 2023.

Naturally, this isn’t an exhaustive review of every scientific discovery about birds in 2023. That would be too much. An exhaustive review would be, well, exhausting. Maybe not for you, but definitely for me.

Instead, I’ll tell you about a handful of studies and projects that I think you’ll find interesting. These gems were hand-selected by me for your educational pleasure.

Links of Interest

• Colossal Biosciences
• Birds, Not Mosquitoes
• How Wolbachia Can Save Forest Birds [VIDEO]
• Puzzle-solving caracaras [VIDEO]

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Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website 

Why have we not found the cure for cancer yet? Neil deGrasse Tyson, Chuck Nice, and Gary O’Reilly explore paradigm shifts in cancer treatment, molecular biology, and a promising new cancer drug AOH1996 with City of Hope cancer researcher Dr. Linda Malkas. 

NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can listen to this entire episode commercial-free.

Thanks to our Patrons Willie Bass, Nicholas A Jones, Edwin Goel, Joe Gibbs, Shane Alexander, Keith Goodman, and James Kuntz for supporting us this week.

Photo Credit: Dr. Cecil Fox (Photographer), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

What happens when we go to sleep? Neil deGrasse Tyson and co-hosts Chuck Nice and Gary O’Reilly break down the mystery of why we sleep, time dilation in dreams, circadian rhythms, and sleeping in space with neuroscientist Matt Walker. 

NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can listen to this entire episode commercial-free here: 
https://startalkmedia.com/show/the-paradox-of-sleep-with-matthew-walker/

Thanks to our Patrons Micheal Unwin, Vijay Krishnan, Leroy Gutierrez, alycia allen, Hilary Rush, Kira Lesser, and Daryl Sawyer for supporting us this week.

Photo Credit: ManuelSchottdorf, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

In this episode—which is Number 76—I’ll be answering some interesting questions sent to me by my listeners. Questions about birds, of course.

The questions in today’s episode came from not just any old listeners, but from my supporters on Patreon. At the two higher tiers of support, one perk for my patrons is the chance to send me questions for these “Ask Me Anything” episodes. So if you’d like to ask your own question for a future episode, consider becoming a supporter of this show on Patreon.

For the next few weeks over the Holiday break, we'll be revisiting a few of the most impactful episodes of Slo Mo from 2021. Appropriately for Christmas, I wanted to again feature Dr. Stephen C. Meyer, who made a compelling case for the existence of God. For this holiday season, I can't imagine a more important contrast to the commercialization that has come to define this time.

Dr. Stephen C. Meyer received his Ph.D. in the philosophy of science from the University of Cambridge. A former geophysicist and college professor, he now directs Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture in Seattle.

He has authored the New York Times best seller Darwin’s Doubt: The Explosive Origin of Animal Life and the Case for Intelligent Design and Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design, which was named a Book of the Year by the Times of London Literary Supplement in 2009. Stephen’s books and research address the deepest mystery surrounding the origin of human and animal life, particularly the origin of biological information necessary to produce it.

In his latest book, The Return of the God Hypothesis, Stephen presents groundbreaking scientific evidence of the existence of God, based on breakthroughs in physics, cosmology, and biology.

It’s no secret that I too used a bit of math, physics and cosmology to try and show that our universe and everything in it is not the result of randomness but rather the product of intricate design. (Chapter 14 of Solve for Happy)

Give us a chance today to take you through the possibility of the existence of a divine designer. This surely is a topic that, regardless of how busy you are today, is worth taking a little bit of time to slow down.

Listen as we discuss:

• Political correctness in science.
• What led Stephen to dive into his work?
• The highly unlikely probability for evolution to generate new species in such time.
• The bike lock analogy.
• DNA is literally like software code, and therefore someone must have programmed it.
• Information is the hallmark of intelligent activity and inference to the best explanation.
• Darwin’s Doubt and the Cambrian Explosion.
• What did Darwin get right?
• The return of the God hypothesis: who is the designer?

Connect with Stephen Meyer on Facebook @drstephencmeyer, Twitter @stephencmeyer, Instagram @discoverycsc, and his website, stephencmeyer.org.

YouTube: @mogawdatofficial
Instagram: @mo_gawdat
Facebook: @mo.gawdat.official
LinkedIn: /in/mogawdat
X: @mgawdat
Website: mogawdat.com

Don't forget to subscribe to Slo Mo for new episodes every Saturday. Only with your help can we reach One Billion Happy #onebillionhappy

Tara has a conversation with genius biologist Bruce Lipton, an expert in the field of epigenetics, on how our environment can influence the behavior of genes. Together, Tara and Bruce delve into what it means to believe, and how attitudes and convictions can change the world around us.

Follow Bruce Lipton on Social Media:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brucelipton/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BruceHLiptonPhD/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/biologyofbelief

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/biologyofbelief

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Visit Bruce Lipton’s Website: https://www.brucelipton.com/

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Follow Dr. Tara on Social Media:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drtaraswart

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TaraSwart

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taraswart

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drtaraswart

Reinvent Yourself with Dr. Tara is proud to be supported by MIT, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and their Executive Education programs. “MIT: Join us in building a better world.” For more information on MIT Executive Education, including details about Dr. Tara’s six-week course, “Neuroscience for Business,” simply visit executive.mit.edu today. An extraordinary first step toward Reinventing Yourself.

Reinvent Yourself with Dr. Tara is proudly supported by Emotional Wellbeing by Raffles Hotels & Resorts. A true luxury is not just about what you do, it’s about how we make you feel. For more information on Raffles Hotels & Resorts, including details about their curated wellbeing programs, simply visit Raffles.com today.

This episode—which is Number 62—is all about the major geographic divisions among birds across the planet.

Why are bowerbirds found only in Australia and on the islands of New Guinea? Why are the birds you see in India so different from those in China? Does North America have any unique, endemic bird families?

Questions like these fall within the domain of biogeography. Biogeography is the study of where living things are found and why they’re found there—both in the present and the past.

Today, we’ll be sketching out the big picture of what types of birds are found where across the world map.

By learning the basics of bird biogeography, you can get a deeper appreciation for the uniqueness of bird communities in different parts of the world.

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Links of Interest

• What Are The 7 Realms of Biogeography? [VIDEO]

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

This episode—which is Number 59—is a bit different. Today, I’m going to be answering questions from my listeners. More specifically, these questions come from my supporters on Patreon.

I have several “tiers” or “membership levels” on my Patreon page. Each level comes with perks. One perk for the “Helpful Hornbill” and “Awesome Osprey” tiers is getting to submit questions for episodes like this.

So, today, we’ve got a fun grab-bag of questions to ponder.

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Links of Interest

• Northern Mockingbird Wing Flashing Behavior [VIDEO]

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

This episode—which is Number 50— is all about Female Birdsong.

Songs are one of the things we love most about birds. They define the soundscapes of the natural world.

Even though humans have been surrounded by singing birds for millions of years, we still have some misconceptions about birdsong. Today’s episode is about a misconception of sex differences in birds… Of who sings and who doesn’t.

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Links of Interest

• The Forgotten Female: How a Generation of Women Scientists Changed Our View of Evolution
• Female Bird Song Project
• Video of Superb Fairy Wren female Singing
• Singing female Cerulean Warblers [Video]

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

Today’s guest is one of my most anticipated ever, Dr. Stephen C. Meyer, who is openly contesting much of what is assumed about evolution and natural selection. 

Stephen received his Ph.D. in the philosophy of science from the University of Cambridge. A former geophysicist and college professor, he now directs Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture in Seattle.

He has authored the New York Times best seller Darwin’s Doubt: The Explosive Origin of Animal Life and the Case for Intelligent Design and Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design, which was named a Book of the Year by the Times of London Literary Supplement in 2009. Stephen’s books and research address the deepest mystery surrounding the origin of human and animal life, particularly the origin of biological information necessary to produce it.

In his latest book, The Return of the God Hypothesis, Stephen presents groundbreaking scientific evidence of the existence of God, based on breakthroughs in physics, cosmology, and biology.

It’s no secret that I too used a bit of math, physics and cosmology to try and show that our universe and everything in it is not the result of randomness but rather the product of intricate design. (Chapter 14 of Solve for Happy)

Give us a chance today to take you through the possibility of the existence of a divine designer. This surely is a topic that, regardless of how busy you are today, is worth taking a little bit of time to slow down.

Listen as we discuss:

• Political correctness in science.
• What led Stephen to dive into his work?
• The highly unlikely probability for evolution to generate new species in such time.
• The bike lock analogy.
• DNA is literally like software code, and therefore someone must have programmed it.
• Information is the hallmark of intelligent activity and inference to the best explanation.
• Darwin’s Doubt and the Cambrian Explosion.
• What did Darwin get right?
• The return of the God hypothesis: who is the designer?

Instagram: @mo_gawdat
Facebook: @mo.gawdat.official
Twitter: @mgawdat
LinkedIn: /in/mogawdat
Website: mogawdat.com

Connect with Stephen Meyer on Facebook @drstephencmeyer, Twitter @stephencmeyer, Instagram @discoverycsc, and his website, stephencmeyer.org.

My new book

YouTube: @mogawdatofficial
Instagram: @mo_gawdat
Facebook: @mo.gawdat.official
LinkedIn: /in/mogawdat
X: @mgawdat
Website: mogawdat.com

Don't forget to subscribe to Slo Mo for new episodes every Saturday. Only with your help can we reach One Billion Happy #onebillionhappy

Can mushrooms take over your mind? On this episode, Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Matt Kirshen explore the weird world of fungi with fun-guy fungus expert and ecologist, Merlin Sheldrake. Could inactive spores survive space?

NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can watch or listen to this entire episode commercial-free here: https://www.startalkradio.net/show/cosmic-queries-the-fungus-among-us-with-merlin-sheldrake/

Thanks to our Patrons Bradley Sheldrake, Marc Armstrong, The Warzone12, Luis Cruz, Ely, Andrea Sperini, and 1x4x9 for supporting us this week.

Photo Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/calliope, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Why do humans have butt cheeks? Neil deGrasse Tyson, Chuck Nice, and Gary O’Reilly learn about the biomechanics of running with professor and running specialist Dr. Irene Davis, featuring Neil’s interview with author Chris McDougall.

NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can watch or listen to this entire episode commercial-free.

Thanks to our Patrons Stephan Hoffmann Arvidsson, Louis Palen, Kara Young,
Nick Skibicki, Jennifer Magnus, Ceasar Perez, Cameron Bishop,
dniel, Pouneh Golabian, and Coleman for supporting us this week.

Photo Credit: https://fshoq.com

This episode is all about how birds choose their mates and the evolutionary outcomes of those choices.

A lot of what we’re talking about today has to do with sexual selection, which is a special form of natural selection. 

In sexual selection, individuals compete for mates. This is when females and males choose their partners based on specific traits. Traits like plumage color or song, behavior, etc.

This choosiness has resulted in some spectacular features in birds. Many of the things we love most about birds are consequences of sexual selection.

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Links of Interest

• Video of Long-tailed Manakin Display

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

This is Part 2 of my mind-blowing conversation with the brilliant Dr. Donald Hoffman.

Donald is a full professor of cognitive science at the University of California, the author of The Case Against Reality and Visual Intelligence, and the co-author of Observer Mechanics.

Within his body of work, Donald studies how our visual perception, guided by millions of years of natural selection, generates every aspect of our so-called reality. Through his research, he has discovered important clues pointing to the subjective nature of reality, which can be best understood as a set of phenomena our brain constructs to guide our behavior. In other words, we actively create everything we see, and we see what we need to see to make sense of things and survive.  This is a truly mind-blowing conversation, so get ready to work your brain and challenge your perceptions at their very most fundamental.

Donald has received a Distinguished Scientific Award of the American Psychological Association for early career research into visual perception, the Rustum Roy Award of the Chopra Foundation, and the Troland Research Award of the US National Academy of Sciences. 

Listen as we discuss:

• The brain is just an icon, and accepting that as a neuroscientist is possible.
• Brains do not exist when they're not observed, nor does anything else.
• We render what we see every time we perceive it and garbage collect it.
• Getting into the flow state while playing video games is like rendering a new reality.
• Donald's current work on trying to find a mathematical model for conscious agents
• How you can manipulate the visual cortex and movement perception with magnets
• Each hemisphere of the brain has different consciousness, knowledge and worldviews.
• Natural selection has hidden the truth from us.
• The tools of science can be applied to something beyond spacetime - spirituality.
• The role of the observer in quantum theory, and quantum theory is nothing but the algebra of space-time.

Instagram: @mo_gawdat
Facebook: @mo.gawdat.official
Twitter: @mgawdat
LinkedIn: /in/mogawdat

Connect with Donald Hoffman on Twitter @donaldhoffman.

Don't forget to subscribe to Slo Mo for new episodes every Sunday and Thursday. Only with your help can we reach One Billion Happy #onebillionhappy.

YouTube: @mogawdatofficial
Instagram: @mo_gawdat
Facebook: @mo.gawdat.official
LinkedIn: /in/mogawdat
X: @mgawdat
Website: mogawdat.com

Don't forget to subscribe to Slo Mo for new episodes every Saturday. Only with your help can we reach One Billion Happy #onebillionhappy

Today’s guest is the brilliant Dr. Donald Hoffman. Donald is a full professor of cognitive science at the University of California, the author of The Case Against Reality and Visual Intelligence, and the co-author of Observer Mechanics.

Within his body of work, Donald studies how our visual perception, guided by millions of years of natural selection, generates every aspect of our so-called reality. Through his research, he has discovered important clues pointing to the subjective nature of reality, which can be best understood as a set of phenomena our brain constructs to guide our behavior. In other words, we actively create everything we see, and we see what we need to see to make sense of things and survive.  This is a truly mind-blowing conversation, so get ready to work your brain and challenge your perceptions at their very most fundamental.

Donald has received a Distinguished Scientific Award of the American Psychological Association for early career research into visual perception, the Rustum Roy Award of the Chopra Foundation, and the Troland Research Award of the US National Academy of Sciences. 

Listen as we discuss:

• How did Donald get into the full time study of making a case against reality?
• Why mathematical models of processing reality are still ignoring a deeper layer.
• You cannot infer from what you're doing in a game what is actually rendering the game.
• We only see the parts of the game we focus on.
• Evolution has given us a VR headset, not a window into reality, and the point of it is to win the game of life.
• Winning the game and seeing the truth are two very different things.
• If you try to control reality directly, you're going to be very inefficient and lose the game.
• Science is evolving, and space-time is doomed because it's in "the game world".
• We're programmed to believe in "reality" from age 4 and never question it.
• Humility is how we learn.
• The brain is an icon in your perception, not a causal mechanism.
• Donald's Theory of Conscious Agents and why existence is like Twitter
• Reality is a visualization tool that distills and focuses our experience so we don't get overwhelmed.
• Everything is just icons we associate with a consciousness.

Instagram: @mo_gawdat
Facebook: @mo.gawdat.official
Twitter: @mgawdat
LinkedIn: /in/mogawdat

Connect with Donald Hoffman on Twitter @donaldhoffman

Don't forget to subscribe to Slo Mo for new episodes every Sunday and Thursday. Only with your help can we reach One Billion Happy #onebillionhappy.

YouTube: @mogawdatofficial
Instagram: @mo_gawdat
Facebook: @mo.gawdat.official
LinkedIn: /in/mogawdat
X: @mgawdat
Website: mogawdat.com

Don't forget to subscribe to Slo Mo for new episodes every Saturday. Only with your help can we reach One Billion Happy #onebillionhappy

Yuval Noah Harari is one of the rare historians who can give us a two-million-year perspective on today’s headlines. In this wide-ranging conversation, Yuval explains how technology and democracy have evolved together over the course of human history, from paleolithic tribes to city states to kingdoms to nation states. So where do we go from here? “In almost all the conversations I have,” Yuval says, “we get stuck in dystopia and we never explore the no less problematic questions of what happens when we avoid dystopia.” We push beyond dystopia and consider the nearly unimaginable alternatives in this special episode of Your Undivided Attention.