He wrote a children's book (as well as other books) and hosts a show on PBS. He's fantastic. I truly hope this exposure lets him reach a wider audience.
@@mikemowr8982 yes, but we affect it, and a theory in science is something well established that has the backing of a majority of the community (along with repeatable peer reviewed observations and studies). Essentially calling it a "theory" in scientific terms means it is accepted as true, but still being built upon as time goes on. Religious people often like to act like theory means "they just don't know". But that's not true. If they were unsure about it, or didn't have proof of it, it would simply be a hypothesis.
I honestly think he could pick up for Richard Attenborough. Sure, the two sound nothing alike, but his ability to talk about zoology in an educated and enthusiastic way without sounding corny would put him above a lot of the other narrators I've heard the BBC and NatGeo using
right? this guy is so great. I remember I had a biology teacher like him in high school, and even "bad students" had good grades, no because he was so mild, but because he really could explain everything so well and in such an interesting manner, that even the bullies listened to him like they were under some kind of a charm or something
The shorter the animal species lifespan is, the faster the rate of their species evolution due to how many generations it can produce in such a short period.
@maso0140 tiny tiny changes one at a time, on the molecular/DNA level. Coelacanths look basically the same as their fossils, but their DNA shows that they've been evolving all along.
How stressful it must be to be an environmental scientist at this time -- knowing that the planet is slipping faster and faster towards another mass extinction event and that normal people just don't understand the severity of it
Wired is really nailing their ability to find really interesting people who LOVE their profession, and it really makes topics like this so interesting to people who previously had no interest, myself included. Rock on 🤟
@@Ligerbee speculative evolution is so interesting. Thinking about other worlds and our own planets future is interesting af. Also what could’ve been if events went down differently.
@@shadowoffire4307 I'm Christian and I find it sad that you must put science to use against religion. I believe in evolution; I also believe in Christianity. Stop using this interesting and informative opportunity for your own agenda attacking Christians.
I’m an engineer, not a scientist, but I know quite a few, and this is how they are. They care about finding the truth of the world around them. Any “scientist” trying to push some agenda has some motive other than truth, and should only be listened to if their claims are verifiable by peer reviewed studies
Here in Texas the brown anole is taking over and the green anole numbers are shrinking. The sheer number of brown anoles is having a major impact on the insect population as well. They are faster, more nimble, more aggressive and less picky about what they eat. All of the green anoles are staying higher in the trees while the brown anoles stay on the ground. Some hybrids exist but are few and far between. During the peak of summer, it's difficult to walk down a sidewalk without stepping on a brown anole. In urban areas, they almost blanket the ground in some areas. The overall size of our local mosquitoes has increased. We have much more snake activity in the spring. Mold is becoming an issue and several unique species of mushrooms are becoming more predominant. Beauty berry bushes are popping up everywhere while wildflowers are dwindling. A couple of weeks ago I almost stepped on a Water Mocassin that was uncomfortably sunbathing IN DECEMBER. That poor snake was starving and confused. It was practically incapable of moving in the 85° heat of winter. Climate change "debunkers" are past the point of forgiveness.
I really need him to have a science show. Just the pure passion you can hear in his voice is so amazing. Had I had him as teacher when I was a kid I might have actually pursued a science career.
The genuine joy this man has for his profession is fantastic and very important in getting people interested about such a dire issue. Wired has been nailing it recently with interesting and enthusiastic people!
This should have diminishing returns in the shir term, right…? They’re only able to make these adaptations because they already had some diversity in their populations, and that diversity decreases when parts of their populations die off. They would need more time to diversify again, and they may not be given that time if they are hit by too many events too quickly.
May depend on whether the aspects were spontaneous mutations during birth on the same gene of multiple families or if the adaptation was limited to a small number of families, increasing the likelihood of inbreeding
@@darkshadowrule2952 I think it cant be a mutation. Because random mutations dont operate base on what is needed, it doesnt have foresight. And the population genetics of the lizards wouldnt have had enough time to propagate that mutation through the lizard populations in such a short time span even if 1, or 2 lizards gained a new mutation that added the benefit of longer toepads, and shorter back legs. Because if they were the result of brand new mutations you have to wait for those lizards to be ready to mate, and reproduce themselves, and you have to have the other longer back legs, and shorter notepads lizards be selected out.
@@anthonypolonkay2681 it could be tho that the gene that causes the change of leg sizes and such could be a generally less stable gene that is more subject to mutation, that's kind of the reason so many different people get certain kinds of cancer that are linked to genetics but spread across a wide number of family lines
@@anthonypolonkay2681 random mutations just happen. if they're not DISadvantageous then they'll spread through a population and just exist until selective pressure is applied in one direction or another. For an example of this, look at the amount of diversity that exists in human foot shape. A big one is whether or not your big toe or 2nd toe is the longest toe. Neither mutation is advantageous or disadvantageous, so they both exist within the human population, spread throughout it. If something happened that suddenly killed off all the people with longer big toes, there's an already widespread population of people with longer 2nd toes who would survive to reproduce. That's the situation with the anoles - they already had this mutation existing within their population but hadn't experienced the necessary selection pressure yet to make one configuration advantageous or disadvantageous over the other.
I would say although things are changing quite drastically, it's sort of a consistent slide in one direction. I think maybe diversity would lessen, however I think once conditions are more level and unchanging, diversity will increase again
One thing about the lizard experiment is that it wasn't accurate, lizards aren't holding onto smooth dowels in the wild, they hold onto living trees that have rough bark that gives them much better footholds, the scientist should have used a piece of tree branch similar size to the dowel instead.
doesn't matter, as long as surfaces used in the experiment are identical to each other. it showed that lizards with shorter legs hold onto an identical surface better than lizards with longer legs. if they used a surface that lizards can hold onto better, the only difference would be that they would have to blow the air stronger.
This is both really sad and incredibly fascinating at the same time , just wish these beautiful creatures didn’t have to suffer the consequences of our actions .
@@peachymango_ well there's nothing we can do about it even if everyone went back to living like hunter gathers the damage has already been done in fact most of the damage we caused started when we were hunter gathers wiping out almost all the mega fauna on the planet.
@@maltahighjacker9842 yea your not wrong I just still feel empathy for them they don’t understand why they just know they have to change they have no choice , but we know why and we saw the signs for years and chose not to change until the it’s almost if not already too late . But at the same time birds and many other animals have been known to sense out when natural disasters happen they do have strong instincts they are incredible at adapting better then us humans who think we’re so advanced lmao like I said I do think this is fascinating. I think because I am a vegan I do think we all should care more about animals be conscious about how are action effect and how that actually negatively effects our lives in return
One of my favorite changes is with the polar bear. They have adapted in Canada to hunt beluga whales by going out on rocks in low tide and waiting for the water to rise, which brings in the whales during high tide, and the polar bears jump off of those rocks they waited on and get the whales. I was super anxious about the bears but I’m glad they have adapted.
@@christopherduchesneau3652 that’s amazing! Sending you all the best, just remember imposter syndrome will be real, don’t compare yourself to others, you’re doing just fine and belong in those spaces. Youll get there
@@christopherduchesneau3652 hey, I’m a conservation student right now myself, I know how much I doubt myself. The ability is definitely there, just gotta all believe in ourselves. Glad I could help a little!
Not sure why I got this vibe, but this guy looks like what Ozzy Osbourne would look like if he took a scientific route instead of a musical one lol. Great video nonetheless!
@@ItsNotJustRice Was honestly hoping he'd say something along the lines of "all this observable evolution is really going off the rails, ya know, like a crazy train or something" xD
Great to hear...the ironic thing is even though humans affect climate change the most, we're perhaps the species least about to adapt biologically to all the changes we're making.
This is so interesting. I hope every biology or science teacher is showing this in every high school in the hopes of inspiring future biologists, scientists and activists.
Dr. Thor Hanson’s enthusiasm makes me want to retake that one conservation biology class I had to drop. Then I come back to reality and remember all the essays I never turned in and the feeling is gone. Maybe if he was the professor it’d be a different story. 😂
Measures YOU can take to help combat climate change: * Vote for eco-friendly politicians *Reduce or eliminate consumption of meat, eggs and dairy * Take less flights, travel locally for holidays * Have fewer children * Buy less things, keep things for longer * Save electricity
negationists seeing this will be like: "SEE? CLIMATE CHANGE NOT BAD, WE EVOLVE!" because they're too illiterate to even know what evolution/survival of the fittest means
I'm going to ignore the appeal to ridicule here, and say that I don't think it's as bad as some people seem to believe it is, but it's definitely something that could become something very problematic in the future if we aren't careful, and we can (and should, and are actually in some ways) take steps to address it as a society.
@@melusine826 That is not true, it is the fittest in terms of adaptations. There can be a single species with different variations. This is can continue until a new species is formed.
@@HappyMatt12345 I mean, just the social/societal problems alone are already here. Some people will go "Oh see, we'll adapt!", but do they realize that means an acceleration in human migration? Are we...doing anything to prepare for that, and see climate refugees as human? Or are the conservative types going to treat them as animals or peasants worthy only of disdain? We say we'll be fine... But are we really prepared for the suffering? I don't think we are.
I do similar experiments to children in my neighbourhood, I capture them on parks and road sides and do experiments on them ! None of them take any serious harm and they're returned weeks later after I've done whatever I want to do :)
Weird thing is that all species have learned to evolve overtime. Even when the forests would burn all day and night and places would flood. Weird that this has been happening since the big bang....
Then again, it makes sense that the most extreme example of natural selection would appear to have an equally extreme instance of adaptation. In reality, those surviving species may have reached these advantageous traits through a slow process. What we see could simply be an illusion of rapid change that is better described as rapid elimination.
I clicked on this video because it sounded similar to a book I'm reading "Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid" turns out the author is the man in this video! Awesome!
The difference between someone who talks about climate change as an expert and those who talk about it on either side of the conversation in social media or the news. The expert talks about facts and in not dire terms that things always change, and those who adapt survive, and how we use our research to make intelligent decisions going forward. Social media experts will freak everyone about the world ending because of climate change (because clicks), and climate change deniers will act like its not a thing and humans didn't cause it. "We didn't" technically. Climate's change, but humans took a process that can take thousands of years to occur naturally and did it in a little over 100 years with our industries and continue to since all of our industries grossly pollute the world.
It is a worry because while animals can adapt to this selective pressure, plants will find it a lot more difficult as they remain mostly uniform between species, so no mutation for a lot longer. This may reduce food sources for species. Also extinction occurring at 100x the rate it usually has, we can't really afford to let climate change continue as soon enough heat levels will rise at a rate that even animals can't spread the adaptation within a population to ensure survival.
This video contributed to the human climate change you're arguing about. Do you know how much power was used to shoot, edit and distribute this video? 😂
I see your point and you’re partly correct to be sure but science does need to take a side as well and generally does, just the facts stay stated as factd
Global sea level has risen by 8-9 inches since 1880. This has had little to no effect over that period of time, but the problem is how future rising of the sea level will impact habitats. There is a lot of studies on this, you just have to actually look outside of facebook.
"If a tiny lizard can evolve to climate change, than it stands to reason that we can evolve to change some of the behaviors that bring it about." Stands to reason being the key words here. I hope we can.
The climate has been"changing" for 4 billion years. Hurricanes , typhoons, etc. Are not any stronger or more frequent than the past . It rained for 2 million years without stopping at one point. The average temperature was much hotter 150 million years ago than it is today.
This is so interesting to watch. Can anyone suggest more videos like this in connection to biology ? As a zoology student I want to learn more this way.
Here are several of my go-to biology-related channels!: Interesting evolutionary stories across all life: PBS Eons, Moth Light Media General animal biology/ecology/evolution: Deep Look, Animalogic, Natural World Facts, TierZoo Climate/Biology Intersection: PBS Terra Microbiology: Journey to the Microcosmos, Jam's Germs Miscellaneous biology and more general science topics: It's Okay to be Smart, Real Science
i know none were harmed, but it still made me so sad seeing those lizards fighting so hard to stay on the stick and then eventually flying away :( im a scientist and understand the importance of experiments like that, i just wish there were ways to research things like this without stressing animals out
I just love how he talks about this. Somethinn about how he presents is just really atention grabbing. Awesome video! Gonna savour this nee bit of knowledge :d
the anole is in hawaii and its changed alot sense i was a kid they used to be the typical color now they come in all colors and are on the the ground instead of trees and plants
Love the optimism at the end! Such doom and gloom normally (I’m guilty of excessive pragmatism myself) but the truth is we CAN shift things, if we don’t accept that change is up to each of us individually we are both destined to fail and relegated to a victim narrative, we relinquish all control.
