skeptv:

What is Evolution?

via jtotheizzoe:

Excellent video from Stated Clearly explaining just what evolution is … using great illustrations from Rosemary Mosco’s Bird and Moon comics.

This is a great video to share with friends/enemies/confused relatives that might have trouble accepting evolution and how simple it can be to understand. 

I’d like to add one thing to this video. Single amoebas, pairs of parents and a few children are used in these evolution illustrations to simplify the concept of evolution, but it’s important to remember that evolution is something that happens to populations, not individuals. The changes within a generation are random. It’s only after those changes have been passed on for several generations that a survival advantage or disadvantage (followed by either more or less individuals carrying the trait) occurs. That’s where evolution happens, it’s not in the change itself. And sometimes even harmful traits can become frequent in a population, like we see in diseases that are prevalent among isolated ethnic groups.

Bonus: I’d also recommend Understanding Evolution’s “Common Misconceptions” FAQ for those who want to dig deeper.

deconversionmovement:

What is Natural Selection?

Natural Selection is one of the main concepts found within the theory of evolution. It was discovered by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace though Darwin championed the idea in his book “On the Origin of Species”.

Natural selection can be defined as the process by which random evolutionary changes are selected for by nature in a consistent, orderly, non-random way.

When coupled with descent with modification, Natural Selection can cause a population to evolve for fitness within a given environment over multiple generations.

Natural Selection is an observable fact. By carefully observing populations of living things with short life cycles you can actually watch it happen.

Want to learn more? Check out our notes for this video. Included are links to three examples of natural selection witnessed by researchers. There are many more as well.

THIS IS WATER

” In 2005, author David Foster Wallace was asked to give the commencement address to the 2005 graduating class of Kenyon College. However, the resulting speech didn’t become widely known until 3 years later, after his tragic death. It is, without a doubt, some of the best life advice we’ve ever come across, and perhaps the most simple and elegant explanation of the real value of education.

This video was built around an abridged version of the original audio recording, with the hopes that the core message of the speech could reach a wider audience who might not have otherwise been interested. However, we encourage everyone to seek out the full speech (because, in this case, the book is definitely better than the movie).”

-The Glossary

discoverynews:

Space Oddity: Astronaut Ends Mission With Music Video

Wonderful tribute to a Bowie classic. Have a safe trip home, Hadfield, Marshburn and Romanenko!

skeptv:

Your Mass is NOT from Higgs Boson

The Higgs Boson is awesome but it’s NOT responsible for most of your mass!

The Higgs mechanism is meant to account for the mass of everything, right? Well no, only the fundamental particles, which means that electrons derive their mass entirely from the Higgs interaction but protons and neutrons, made of quarks, do not. In fact the quark masses are so small that they only make up about 1% of the mass of the proton (and a similar fraction of the neutron). The rest of the mass comes from the energy in the gluon field. Gluons are massless, but there is so much energy in the field that by E=mc^2 there is a significant amount of mass there. This is where most of your mass comes from and the mass of virtually everything around you.

Thanks to Professor Derek Leinweber for his great images, animations and explanations. Check out his site to find out more: http://bit.ly/ZZTKFP

Thanks to audible.com for supporting this episode: http://bit.ly/ZJ5Q6z

via Veritasium.

Baloney Detection Kit - it’s always good to review this 10 point system to evaluating a claim. Also remember, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

Michelle “Batshit” Bachmann - 9/11 and Benghazi Were God’s Judgment

TYT - Belief in Biblical End Times Stops Climate Change Action

George Carlin on MAD TV - Touched by an Atheist

skeptv:

Making sense of how life fits together - Bobbi Seleski

From something as miniscule as a cell to the biosphere we all call home, living things fit together in numerous interesting ways. Bobbi Seleski catalogs biology from our body and beyond, tracking how unicellular organisms, tissues, organs, organ systems, organisms, populations, communities, ecosystems, and our biosphere build off of each other and work together.

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/making-sense-of-how-life-fits-together-bobbi-seleski

Lesson by Bobbi Seleski, animation by Alan Foreman.

via TED Education.

skeptv:

Jason Silva on Fear

Brain Games host, Jason Silva, delves deep into the origins of fear.

via National Geographic.

christiantheatheist:

A Boy And His Atom: The World’s Smallest Movie

(via darwinsminion)

jtotheizzoe:

Beau Lotto: Optical illusions show how we see

One of the best TED talks I’ve seen in recent memory. Sit down and prepare to get a bit of a brain cramp as you are taken through a series of truly awesome optical illusions.

In the process, you will learn a bit about how we perceive the world. In a sense, these tricks show us how our eyes work, but more accurately it shows us how our brains make sense of all that visual information.

You begin with particular wavelengths of light, the purely physical thingness of things. You end with a perception of your surroundings, tricks and all. All the between bits are where the fun lives.

What IS an illusion???

(Source: youtube.com)

lampfaced:

shrineart:

TUMBLR CAN WE JUST TAKE A MOMENT TO TALK ABOUT HOW THERE IS A GIANT TERRESTRIAL HERMIT CRAB THAT EATS NUTS AND FRUITS, HAS LUNGS, GETS HUGE, AND GENERALLY DOESN’T BOTHER NOBODY?

LOOK HOW CUTE THEY ARE:

They come in different colors

They get really big

But all they wanna do is hang out on trees

And eat things like coconuts.

The coconut crab everybody.

Aren’t they just the sweetest babies?

But they are omnivores and like to eat things like carrion, other crabs, members of their own species, human remains, baby tortoises, and other small animals. But most of their diet is fruits and other plant materials.

Incredible! And only slightly unsettling.

(via sharkchunks)

hatefulatheist:

Atheist Music Video Stirs Controversy: “That Doesn’t Make Sense”

Comedy music video “That Doesn’t Make Sense” debuted yesterday. It’s a catchy song about well-meaning parents trying to answer their daughter’s religion question; its adorable blasphemy ends up nowhere near where you’d expect.

Some interesting discussion is happening in the comments regarding whether faith *should* make sense and whether it’s videos like this — or religions themselves — that are dangerous. 

My comment: Thank you for the submission. I wouldn’t normally look to YouTube comments for insightful commentary about religion but something that gets people talking is a good thing. I actually liked this video quite a bit, make sure you watch until the end, it is worth it.