Sunday, February 12, 2023

PBS Eons on barnacles, 'Darwin's Greatest Enemy,' on Darwin Day

Happy Darwin Day! I'm continuing my tradition of featuring PBS videos and particularly PBS Eons videos for this day with These Creatures Were Darwin's Greatest Enemy.

They may not look like much, but beneath that shell lies an evolutionary mystery - one that stumped the biggest names in natural history for over a hundred years.
I remember one of my M.S. Geology thesis advisors telling me about Darwin and his barnacles and that it took him a long time, but I never heard the story in such detail. While I can relate to being frustrated with my study organisms, I never got so frustrated with them as Darwin. I think I was lucky. Also, I didn't have the luxury of so many years. Still, I'm glad Darwin figured out where barnacles belonged in the tree of animal life and that it helped him learn so much about evolution.

Enough of this science holiday. Stay tuned for the Sunday entertainment feature.

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