Rapid Evolution in the Modern Age

Evolution is like the ultimate slowburn, unfolding over millennia. And in our modern society, where things move so fast, it’s easy to miss this incremental but constant transformation. Not only is evolution happening all around us, in some cases it’s even picking up the pace.

In our season finale, our resident superhero, Ratwoman, returns with a new sidekick: The Bat Whisperer. Join Dr. Kaylee Byers and Dr. Cecelia Sánchez as they team up to explore the marvels of rapid evolution– from bats in the Solomon Islands, to modern dating. We’ll meet cave explorer and mammal detective Dr. Tyrone Lavery along with paleontologist and evolutionary biologist Dr. Nick Longrich to unlock predictions for the future, by looking into the past.

With unprecedented access to genomic information, we can now remix evolution like never before. But just because we can, does it mean we should?

Learn-a-Long: https://bit.ly/4jgbFI2

Highlights

(5:57) Into the bat cave: tracking evolution in the Solomon Islands with Dr. Lavery

(11:18) The peppered moth survival story

(20:18) Dr. Longrich explains how humans are evolving in the modern age

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Resources:

1. Charles Darwin: History’s most famous biologist - Natural History Museum

2. Bat Beauty Contest: Vote Now To Crown The Best-Looking Bat Of Them All - Forbes

3. Parallel evolution in an island archipelago revealed by genomic sequencing of Hipposideros leaf-nosed bats - Oxford Academic

4. Bats Are Going Through a Rare Evolutionary Phenomenon - Newsweek

5. The Peppered Moth - Age of Revolution

6. A continuous fish fossil record reveals key insights into adaptive radiation - Nature

7. Study of 17,000 years of fish fossils reveals rapid evolution - Science.org

8. How long does evolution take? It happens on two different timescales- New Scientist

9. Future evolution: from looks to brains and personality, how will humans change in the next 10,000 years? - The Conversation

10. Ancient Urbanization Predicts Genetic Resistance To Tuberculosis - Oxford Academic