#602 Sean Carroll - A Series of Fortunate Events: Chance and the Making of the Planet, Life, and You
RECORDED ON DECEMBER 8th 2021.
Dr. Sean Carroll is Balo-Simon Professor and Endowed Chair of Biology at the University of Maryland. He is also Professor Emeritus of Genetics and Molecular Biology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Dr. Carroll was an HHMI investigator from 1990 to 2010. In September 2010, he became vice president for science education at HHMI. He is the author of several books, including A Series of Fortunate Events: Chance and the Making of the Planet, Life, and You.
In this episode, we focus on A Series of Fortunate Events. Topics include: chance and contingency; life as an improbable event; factors behind geological transitions; resilience in hominin evolution; mutation, natural selection, and their relative contribution to invention; speciation, and how species evolve; chance in human reproduction; cancer; and the philosophical and theological implications of chance.
Time Links:
Intro
Chance and contingency
Life as an improbable event
Geological transitions
Hominin evolution
Mutation, natural selection, and invention
How do species form?
Chance in human reproduction
Cancer
The philosophical implications of chance
Follow Dr. Carroll’s work!
Follow Dr. Carroll’s work:
Faculty page: https://bit.ly/3F7ahSQ
Website: https://bit.ly/3shKHFI
A Series of Fortunate Events: https://amzn.to/2VMZ6y1
Twitter handle: @SeanBiolCarroll