For this week's Ask Science Mike, we address the following questions: How many humans are needed to populate the Earth? How can random mutation create diverse species? How could evolution create an eye? How do we know macroevolution occurs? Does evolution have a goal?

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Here are some resources on each answer if you'd like to dig deeper.

How many humans are needed to populate the Earth?

Minimum Viable Population

Population Bottleneck

Easy Human Population Size

Magic Number for Space Pioneers

How can random mutation create diverse species?

Mutations 101

Natural Selection

How could evolution create an eye?

Scientific American on the Evolution of the Eye.

How do we know macroevolution occurs?

Evolution at different scales: micro to macro

Does evolution have a goal?

Evolutionary Convergence

Ask Science Mike is produced by Gregg Nordin.

The Ask Science Mike theme song was written, performed, and recorded by Jeb Bodiford. If you need original podcast music, he's your guy.

You've got questions, he's got answers.

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You've got problems, he won't solve them,

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Science, faith, and life - Ask Science Mike.