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- Up one level
- *David Christian - The history of our world in 18 minutes (TED)
Backed by stunning illustrations, David Christian narrates a complete history of the universe, from the Big Bang to the Internet, in a riveting 18 minutes. This is "Big History": an enlightening, wide-angle look at complexity, life and humanity, set against our slim share of the cosmic timeline. TED2011 · 17:40 · Filmed Mar 2011
Transcript: http://www.ted.com/talks/david_christian_big_history/transcript?language=en
Reading list: http://www.ted.com/talks/david_christian_big_history/recommendations
- 1. TED Radio Hour - How It All Began (Guy Raz)
In this hour, TED speakers explore our origins as a species — who we are, where we come from, where we're headed — and how we're connected to everything that came before us. Broadcast October 24, 2014
- A Scientist Who Found Her Faith In Physics: Meet Katie Mack, AKA AstroKatie (48 min)
Frank Stasio interviews astrophysicist Katy Mack, The State of Things, July 9, 2018, rebroadcast July 8, 2019
Mack met Stephen Hawking, who inspired her to become a cosmologist. She also followed in the footsteps of her own grandfather, who had worked on the Apollo 11 mission and attended Caltech. Mack also sought answers to life’s biggest questions through religious practice. She spent time in theology school and always hoped to find faith but eventually realized that route was not quite the one for her. Mack continued on with her study of science, and now is a professor in the physics department at North Carolina State University, where she focuses on understanding the universe from beginning to end.
- Juan Enriquez: Will our kids be a different species? (TED)
Throughout human evolution, multiple versions of humans co-existed. Could we be mid-upgrade now? At TEDxSummit, Juan Enriquez sweeps across time and space to bring us to the present moment — and shows how technology is revealing evidence that suggests rapid evolution may be under way. TEDxSummit · 16:48 · Filmed Apr 2012
Transcript: http://www.ted.com/talks/juan_enriquez_will_our_kids_be_a_different_species/transcript?language=en
- Louise Leakey: A dig for humanity's origins (TED)
Louise Leakey asks, "Who are we?" The question takes her to the Rift Valley in Eastern Africa, where she digs for the evolutionary origins of humankind — and suggests a stunning new vision of our competing ancestors. TED2008 · 15:36 · Filmed Feb 2008
Transcript: http://www.ted.com/talks/louise_leakey_digs_for_humanity_s_origins/transcript?language=en
- National Academies Pressences - Books on Evolution
Includes:
In the Light of Evolution: Volume I: Adaptation and Complex Design (2007)
In the Light of Evolution: Volume II: Biodiversity and Extinction (2008)
In the Light of Evolution: Volume III: Two Centuries of Darwin (2009)
In the Light of Evolution: Volume IV: The Human Condition (2010)
In the Light of Evolution: Volume V: Cooperation and Conflict (2012)
In the Light of Evolution: Volume VI: Brain and Behavior (2013)
In the Light of Evolution: Volume VII: The Human Mental Machinery (2014)
- Richard Dawkins - The Selfish Gene
30th Anniversary Edition
- Robert Sapolsky: The uniqueness of humans (TED)
At Stanford University, primatologist Robert Sapolsky offers a fascinating and funny look at human behaviors which the rest of the animal kingdom would consider bizarre. Stanford University · 37:26 · Filmed Sep 2009
- Walter Alvarez - A Most Improbable Journey: A Big History of Our Planet and Ourselves
Famed geologist Walter Alvarez expands our view of human history by revealing the cosmic, geologic, and evolutionary forces that have shaped us. One in a million doesn’t even come close. Not when we’re talking about the odds that you would happen to be alive today, on this particular planet, hurtling through space. Almost fourteen billion years of cosmic history, over four billion years of Earth history, a couple million years of human history, the rise and fall of nations, the unbroken string of generations necessary to lead to you—it’s staggering to consider. Yet behind everything in our world, from the phone in your pocket to even the force of gravity itself, lies a similarly grand procession of highly improbable events. This panoramic viewpoint has captured the imagination of historians and scientists alike, and together they’ve created a new field—Big History—that integrates traditional historical scholarship with scientific insights to study the full sweep of our universe and its past. Famed geologist Walter Alvarez—best known for the impact theory explaining dinosaur extinction—has championed a science-first approach to Big History, and A Most Improbable Journey is one of the first Big History books to be written by a scientist rather than a historian. Alvarez brings his unique expertise and infectious curiosity to give us a new appreciation for the incredible occurrences—from the Big Bang to the formation of supercontinents, the dawn of the Bronze Age, and beyond—that have led to our improbable place in the universe.