The History of the Earth Told in One Hour

This week we tackle one of the hardest questions that man has ever tried to answer:  How life started on Earth.  Once that is answered, the rest of evolution falls right into place.  Dr. Henry Gee is an evolutionary Biologist, and has chronicled the entire 4.6 billion year timeline of the Earth in his latest book “A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth”.  In it he discusses the explosion of life in the ocean, the several major extinction events that almost wiped out life completely, the monumental importance of the egg, how dinosaurs learned to fly, and why menopause is one of the most advanced traits of the human race.  We also discuss his expertise on Middle Earth science, his work at Nature, and his world class review of Motorhead.

How Humans Will Go Extinct

Henry Gee sits with me for a few more minutes for a lively and upbeat conversation on how the human race will meet its fate.  Will it be over population?  Underpopulation?  Climate change?  Or will we finally succumb to extinction debt.

Why Do Elves Live Forever? and other LOTR Science

The Lord of the Rings trilogy is one of the most beloved fantasy stories of all time.  The magic of Middle-Earth, the longevity of the elves, the power of Gandalf, and the insidious Sauron are all staples in in pop culture.  But the term “magic” bothers some people, in particular Henry Gee, who believes that author J. R. R. Tolkien did not include ANY magic in his works at all.  In fact, the inexplicable things we see are in fact highly advanced bits of technology that are so integrated with nature that they seem like a part of it.  He explains how this works as we walk through his highly touted book “The Science of Middle Earth“, and discuss how elves are able to live so long, why Tolkien didn’t like gizmos, how the One Ring changes people, and how easy it is to create dragon breath (the fiery kind).