Evolution

This afternoon, Austin was bored, so I suggested he watch an educational video. He countered that he's already watched all the educational DVDs we have, and he can't think of anything on the internet.

While I'm sure there's a wealth of educational shorts on the internet, I was too occupied with my work to spend time surfing with Austin, potentially hitting a few duds. So, I dug out another video from the HHMI (Howard Hughes Medical Institute) series we ordered a few months ago. We received more than a dozen videos for free, from a US-based educational institution!! Austin observed that the DVD was still encased in plastic, so this would be the first time we've seen it.

Skye and I have already watched a very engaging, entertaining and thought-provoking video on the genetics of obesity, but we hadn't watched any others.

Since Austin is a theorist, and has always found evolution fascinating, I chose the first Evolution video for today. We watched the video called Fossils, Genes, and Mousetraps, facilitated by Ken Miller, a biologist and award-winning educator.

Ken Miller is a Professor of Biology at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island (which happens to be the setting of the next Hamish X book - we're now about 8 chapters into the second of a trilogy by Canadian comedian and author, Sean Cullen).

I had invited Keon Ho to join us for the video. He hesitated, when I told him it is an educational video, but he came down to give it a try, anyway. About 15 minutes into the programming, Keon Ho asked how long it would be (after yawning a few times). I told him it would be about an hour, he stayed for another 5 minutes, then retreated back to his book (Dragonology). Keon Ho is more interested in Geography than Biology, and I'm sure it's challenging to follow a lecturer in English, when one is new to the language.

Ken Miller was lecturing to high school students about the theory of evolution. He's a very engaging speaker, and he launched right in to the fact that the study of evolution is a controversial subject, particularly in the southern United States. Austin is always drawn in to a good debate and was amazed to conclude that whichever interest group holds power at the School Board level, determines what will be taught in schools. Ken Miller explained that the defining groups have historically been the pro-evolution and anti-evolution (or Creationism) groups.

He played a clip from a short interview with him on The Colbert Report January 12, 2006. The clip was his 30-second definition of "Evolution." I invite you to watch this 6-minute interview - quite entertaining.

The lecture went on to describe what we learn from fossils, and examples of evolution that are taking place right now, in our midst and before our eyes. Ken Miller is a huge fan of Darwin's Origin of Species, and feels this is a book that everyone should read. It's foundational, in my opinion. We have a biography of Charles Darwin, we have taken The Origin of Species out of the library once (but didn't get through the whole book), and I have been drawn, recently, to a couple of children's adaptations of Darwin's theories.

As gripped as I was, by what I was hearing, I had to return to my office after watching for about 1/2 an hour. Austin stayed for another hour, to watch the full 90-minute program.

I asked him what he thought of it, and he said it was pretty good. He was interested in the coverage of Basilosaurus (a sea-dwelling mammal with tiny vestigial/degenerate hind limbs, that was once thought to be a prehistoric marine reptile), considered to be an ancestor to modern-day cetaceans.