Tree of life reprise.
(Science Week - Day 1!)
Well, happy Darwin Day: my main yearly excuse to stop and bask. I didn’t intend any reprises from last year, but it’s difficult to beat this short summary of known evolution – the only thing I think might compete is a very concise explanation of genotypes, phenotypes and the resulting adaptation over deep time.
Of course David Attenborough narrates it, and – though the Flash (or alternate Mac and PC downloadability) feel even more outdated since last year, there’s a wonderful little interactive thing where you can highlight common ancestors of major groups of organisms: http://www.wellcometreeoflife.org/interactive
And for much more detail – a cool fractal implementation of the tree of life, where you can really scrutinize the finer branches: http://www.onezoom.org/
But for now, join me in a quick mental recap of the last while – starting from the earliest and haziest moments in the story of Earth’s beings.