04 December, 2019 – Episode 749 – Did It Really Start With A Bang?

What is in the This Week in Science Podcast?

Interview w/ Dr. Ethan Siegel, Shrinking Brains, Domesticated People, Questionable Domestication, Evasive Bacteria, Bird Breaks, Galapagos Finch Fear, Shrinking Birds, Listening Dogs, Frozen Pup, Foggy Findings, EPA Transparency Troubles, And Much More…

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DISCLAIMER, DISCLAIMER, DISCLAIMER!!!

The universe is a very big place

Partly due to the fact that we only know of one universe

And compared to anything in it,

the universe is always substantially larger.

So when pondering the universe,

the first question that confronts a potential ponderer is:

just where to begin one’s pondering?

There are more than several logical pondering places to begin.

However, it’s always recommendable to begin in a place immediately relevant to the ponderer.

Being that you are most likely a mostly hairless ape,

you might start with pondering how a mostly hairless ape

with such pondering powers came to be in the first place.

And like loose threads of a tightly knitted sweater,

this starting point will begin to unravel the recent development of human evolution on earth.

If you can avoid the detailed rabbit hole of human history…

all the gnashing of teeth, flag waving, and near constant battles over this or that square measure of dirt…

Then you might get on to pondering all life on earth…

And, even the earth itself.

Pointing your pondering beyond this planet will provide you with many more world to explore.

The solar system…

Beyond that, as if that were not enough,