Sunday, October 21, 2007

From Butterflies to Humans

This is the video I was looking for recently regarding Evolutionary Developmental Biology or "Evo Devo". Sean B. Carroll gives a one hour over-view of some of what he covers in his fascinating book - "Endless Forms Most Beautiful".

Why are we so different from chimpanzees, even though science now tells us that (not only are they are closest living relatives in the animal kingdom) we share over 98% of our genes? Get used to the following terms - Tool Kit Genes and switches. They play a huge role in how genes affect development and how development can change - providing the opening needed by natural selection and, thus, evolution itself.

The Modern Synthesis of evolutionary theory now has it's own missing link - Evo Devo - which provides a much fuller understanding of evolution and how it works. This is well worth watching and considering if you have any interest in evolution, because many of the future discoveries you will be reading about will be made possible by work in Evolutionary Developmental Biology.

Sean B. Carroll - in the fullest sense, an Evolutionary Middleman.

11 comments:

Unknown said...
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Unknown said...

I finally got a chance to watch this. Thanks for posting it!

At first it wouldn't load and I was afraid I was going to miss it (hence the first, now deleted, post), but it loaded when I refreshed the page.

John Evo said...

That's been happening to me too lately. And refreshing DOES seem to be the answer.

What did you think of Sean? I like the guy. Great scientist, although he's a bit cryptive (is that a word?) about his beliefs. I'm quite sure I can guess, based on what he says but he's certainly no Dawkins. That's ok though. Like you've said before, there is a place for all kinds of dialogue and he just wants to talk about the science. He does it in a way (this time like Dawkins) that is highly understandable for us lay people. (Look at ME, being all politically correct)! Memetics.

Anyway, I don't want to offend a wild feminist like you! :)

Unknown said...

Hahaha!

I'm a bit behind on my podcasts, but I was listening to the Nov 17 podcast of Sciencetalk and they have a recent interview with Sean Carroll on the program. You might be interested.

http://www.sciam.com/podcast/index.cfm?e_type=13

Unknown said...

That is, I was listening to it today at lunch. I need to learn to finish a thought when I'm typing. :P

Unknown said...

Oh, and one more thing. I like Sean quite a bit. He is easy to understand and he makes the subjects fun. Wouldn't it be great to take a class under him?

And I don't mind that he doesn't talk about religion. Isn't that the goal, to not talk about it at all in regards to science (or maybe eventually ever.. though I would never make people give up their rights to free speech and free religious expression.. but it'd sure be nice if religion went extinct)?

John Evo said...

OG - thanks for the link. I'll definitely check it out.

I'd go back to school just to take a basic Evo Devo class with him! it would be great.

John Evo said...

I don't have a problem with him not talking religion either. I shouldn't have even mentioned it. Science speaks for itself, and once accepted puts much of religion in its place.

Anonymous said...

Dr. Carroll was recently interview by the National Science Teachers Association.

Check it out:
http://www.nsta.org/laboutloud

Anonymous said...

your link saved us! the server didn't have enough real player licenses on biointeractive.org and this was the only way we could finish the lecture series and write the paper due tomorrow! Thanks!!!!!

John Evo said...

Anonymous - thanks for letting me know. It makes it a win that I posted it, if for no other reason than that! Glad the blog helped you.