Episode 34 - Mutation, Natural Selection, and Evolution - a podcast by Mike McHargue

from 2015-09-07T04:01

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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
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Science, faith, and life - Ask Science Mike.

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