Lives on Earth

evolution

  • Survivors and the Terminator

    The story of evolution recounts the ways that plants and animals have changed over time as small bodily variations have improved their odds for survival. But what about those species that fitted so successfully early on into stable environments that… Continue reading

  • Plants as Aliens

    Plants are so familiar to us that we don’t notice or appreciate some of their characteristics. We see them mostly according to how we use them—for food and beauty. For a fresher perspective, I’ll describe plants as strangers from another… Continue reading

  • Steven Pinker on Disgust, Sex, and Happiness

    Hearts and brains. Mind and body. We are quite sure that our thoughts take place in our heads. But what about our emotions? Sometimes we locate them in our hearts, sometimes vaguely in our bodies. But Stephen Pinker in his… Continue reading

  • Darwin’s Dark Vision: “Ten Thousand Sharp Wedges”

    Darwin has gotten to me. The third chapter of On the Origin of Species has changed how I look at nature. The name of the chapter sounds quaint at first: The Struggle for Existence. But it is an apt name… Continue reading

  • My Million-Year-Old Back Yard

    Our back yard is filled with ancient plants and animals. It’s a mysterious garden of life forms that have mutated and evolved seemingly beyond recognition over eons. In imagining their origins I look into a Past that, like a god,… Continue reading

  • Self-Deception: Why We Fool Ourselves

    Self-deception takes place when we know that a certain thing is the case but we convince ourselves that something else is true. We know that we’ve deceived ourselves this way when, for example, a romantic relationship goes sour and we… Continue reading

  • Human Evolution, Backward and Forward

    From Dutch graphic designer Jurian Möller, here’s a striking one-minute video that shows the evolution of humans from the present backwards and then forward again. At the bottom, the video tracks the number of years in the past along with… Continue reading