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A website dedicated to the podcast Discovering Darwin.
In this final episode of Season 5, Sarah, Mark, and James discuss the last chapters from Lucy Cooke's book Bitch: On the female of the species. Sarah described the sex lives of barnacles and encouraged us to watch the Green Porno...
In this episode Sarah, Mark and James continue their discussion of the book Bitch by Lucy Cooke where they explore menopause in humans and non-human animals and discuss those animals that have forwent males when they reproduce. The first conversation...
In this episode Sarah, Mark, and James continue their coverage Bitch by Lucy Cooke. We discussed systems where female aggression was common and the subjugation of other females and males was done by "alpha" females. We were surprised to...
We continue our discussion of Lucy Cooke's book entitled Bitch: On the female of the species focusing on chapters 5 & 6 which covered variation in female genitalia, the evolution of the human penis, and maternal care. We spent some time talking...
In this episode we continue our conversation based upon Chapters 3 & 4 of Lucy Cooke's book Bitch: on the female of the species. We started off the conversation doing a deep dive on the famous Bateman experiment that purported...
We have returned from a long hiatus to discuss a wonderful book entitled Bitch: On the Female of the Species by Lucy Cooke. Sarah asked James and Mark to read this book that gives an updated look at Darwin's original model of...
In this final episode of Season 4, Mark, Sarah, and James finally critiqued Darwin's analysis of secondary sexual characteristics in humans and his clumsy attempt to apply his model of sexual selection in explaining the diversity of forms in what...
After a long COVID induced hiatus, we have returned to tackle the meaty middle of Charles Darwin's magnum opus The Descent of Man. It was actually most of Volume 2, three hundred and nineteen pages of anecdotes, observations, wild...
In this episode we dive into Chapter 8 from Darwin's Descent of Man. James incorrectly attributed this chapter to the end of Volume I of the two volume set but it is actually the first chapter of Volume II,...
image from:https://www.artsales.com/ARTistory/angelic_journey/index.html In this bonus episode we return to our conversation with our favorite ex-monk philosopher friend Dr. Jack Furlong where he discusses whether angels, as described in scripture, could actually be moral. We then briefly discuss the Yale baby...
In this episode we finally confront Chapter 7 of Descent of Man, entitled On the Races of Man. In this chapter Darwin discusses the races of humans and outlines the scientific arguments of the time that questioned if humans are...
Mark, Sarah, and James discuss Chapter 6 of Charles Darwin's Descent of Man. In this chapter Darwin unequivocally declares humans evolved from ancestral primate stock and that event occurred in Africa. We discussed how prescient Darwin was in interpreting the...
In this episode we enlist a different Furlong, Dr. Jack Furlong, to help us untangle morality and determine if there really is such a thing as big M morality, as Sarah calls it. Jack, after a very in depth...
In Chapter 4 Darwin begins to sketch out his views on how complicated human behaviors, like sacrifice, empathy for others, and group defense would evolve when selection would favor us to act otherwise.Chapter 4 is entitled Comparison of the Mental...
In this episode we discuss Chapter 3: The Mind from Darwin's Descent of Man. We are joined by a very special guest - Dr. Ellen Furlong from Illinois Wesleyan University who studies cognition in dogs. In this chapter Darwin spends...
In this episode we discuss Chapter 1 of Descent of Man and are joined by a special guest - Evolutionary developmental (EvoDevo) biologist Dr. Belinda Sly. Darwin spends the chapter documenting how human bodies show the scars from evolution...
In this episode we discussed Chapter XV - Recapitulation & Conclusion from Darwin's Origin of Species. It is our final podcast of this season and we chose not to recapitulate as much as discuss how Darwin's book was received at the...
https://commons.wikimedia.org/ This is the first episode of Season 4 where we begin our exploration of Charles Darwin's Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex which was published in 1871. In this episode we explore how Darwin finally...
By Photographer unidentified - MS Am 1092 (1185), Houghton Library, Harvard University, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34246605 In this final episode of Season 3 we actually do not talk about Darwin, but instead focus our attention to William James, a medical doctor,...
In this episode we discuss the interesting extinct and extant mammals that Darwin collected in South America during his voyage on the Beagle. James makes an argument that it was the mammals that Darwin collected that stimulated his idea that...
modified image from Bridgeman Art Library Mark, Sarah, and James discuss the last technical chapter of Charles Darwin's The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals, Chapter XIII: Self Attention, Shame, Shyness, Modesty: Blushing. Mark Jackson's graduate research was on...
We discuss Chapter XII of the text The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. In this chapter Darwin explores the expressions we associate with surprise, fear, terror, horror, and anxiety. The stereotypical expression of fear, as represented by...
Billy Idol and his trademark sneer In this episode of Mark, Sarah, and James discuss Chapter XI from Darwin's text The Expression and Emotions in Man and Animals, 3rd edition. Sarah noted that this chapter was a potpourri of emotions,...
Detail from Truth Coming Out of Her Well to Shame Mankind Jean Leon Gerome 1896 In this episode we discuss both Chapters IX & X from Darwin's The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. Chapter IX dealt with...
In this episode of Discovering Darwin we tackle Chapter VIII - Joy, High Spirits, Love, Tender Feelings, Devotion in Darwin's book The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. In this chapter Charles explores how we express ourselves when we...
Persons suffering from excessive grief often seek relief by violent and almost frantic movements, as described in a former chapter; but when their suffering is somewhat mitigated, yet prolonged, they no longer wish for action, but remain motionless and...
"The fact of tears not being shed at a very early age from pain or any mental emotion is remarkable, as, later in life, no expression is more general or more strongly marked than weeping." pg 154 EEMA Charles...
In this episode we discuss Chapters 4 & 5 of Darwin's The Expression of the Emotions of Man and Animals, 3rd Definitive edition. Chapter 4 documented how animals use specific sounds and body postures to communicate their current emotional state....
In this episode we discuss the first three chapters of Darwin's On the Expression and Emotion of Man and Animals, and James fails to convince the team to refer to the book as EEMA for short. The first chapters of...
This is the first episode of the long awaited Season 3 of Discovering Darwin. In this season we will be exploring Charles Darwin's 14th original published book entitled The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. We are reading...
In this, the final episode of Season 2, Darwin does some island hoping, takes a surprising return trip to Brazil, and on October 2, 1836, finishes his 4 year 9 month journey. In this episode of the podcast we are...
"At daylight, Tahiti, an island which must for ever remain classical to the voyager in the South Sea, was in view. At a distance the appearance was not attractive. The luxuriant vegetation of the lower part could not yet be...
This podcast episode is dedicated to Chapter III from Charles Darwin's Origin of Species. The title of the chapter is Struggle for Existence. We discussed Thomas Malthus and how his ideas of population growth influenced Charles Darwin. In particular, Malthus...
"In the morning (17th) we landed on Chatham Island, which, like the others, rises with a tame and rounded outline, broken here and there by scattered hillocks, the remains of former craters. Nothing could be less inviting than the first...
To celebrate the 186th Anniversary of Charles Darwin setting sail on the HMS Beagle we post a Bonus podcast discussion with Dr. Geoffrey Williams, an economics professor, on the expenses and wealth of Charles Darwin. Hope you enjoy the conversation!...
"I climbed up on foot to very near the crest; from the Puna I experienced, I cannot suppose the elevation is less than 8000 to 10000 ft; There was a good deal of snow, which however only remains here in...
"Whilst going on shore, we pulled alongside a canoe with 6 Fuegians. I never saw more miserable creatures; stunted in their growth, their hideous faces bedaubed with white paint & quite naked.— One full aged woman absolutely so, the rain...
In this episode of we are joined by the historian Dr. Gregg Bocketti (Transylvania University) in a discussion on the cultural and political conditions of South America when Charles Darwin set shore in Brazil and surrounding territories in the 1830's. In...
In this episode we discuss the extensive library on the HMS Beagle that was created by Charles Darwin and Robert Fitzroy. Over 400 books were in the ship's library and the catalog had a heavy emphasis on travel accounts (travelogues),...
In this episode Sarah, Josh and James discuss the opening chapters of Voyage of the Beagle where Darwin recounts the initial months of his voyage that includes an aborted stop at the Canary Islands, a visit to Cape Verde and...
This is the first episode for Season 2 of Discovering Darwin. We have titled this season Darwin the Adventurer because we plan to explore in detail the Voyage of the Beagle, Darwin's five year around-the-world survey in which he collected...
This episode discusses Chapter XIV where Darwin applies his ideas of evolution and descent with modification to explain the developing "natural system" of classification, the unity of embryos and why organisms have rudimentary or vestigial organs. Classification From the...
In this episode we gather our liquid strength and courage to work our way through two chapters of Origin of Species, Chapter XII - Geographical Distribution and Chapter XIII - Geographical Distribution continued. Although Sarah predicted the podcast would last...
Let us now see whether the several facts and laws relating to the geological succession of organic beings accord best with the common view of the immutability of species, or with that of their slow and gradual modification, through variation...
...so must the number of intermediate varieties, which have formerly existed, be truly enormous. Why then is not every geological formation and every stratum full of such intermediate links? Geology assuredly does not reveal any such finely-graduated organic chain; and...
We dedicate this episode of the podcast to Chapter 9 - Hybridism in Darwin's Origin of Species (OoS). We all agree that this chapter is one of the most challenging chapters to read in OoS. In this chapter Darwin force...
MANY instincts are so wonderful that their development will probably appear to the reader a difficulty sufficient to overthrow my whole theory. [page 317] In this episode of Discovering Darwin we covered Darwin's chapter on Instinct and how Chuck attempted...
In this episode we take a side trip with Dr. Mark Jackson, our colleague from the psychology department, to explore the historical view of instinct behaviors in humans. The next chapter of Darwin's Origin of Species deals specifically with instinct behavior in...
In this episode we decided to break from the standard form of the podcast and discuss two chapters at once instead of the traditional single chapter per episode. Episode 7 covers Chapter VI - Difficulties with the Theory and Chapter...
