DarkHorse Podcast Was Darwin wrong? The 305th Evolutionary Lens with Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying
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Dec 17, 2025 Dive into the debate on evolution, exploring major transitions like amphibians to whales and the missing links within the fossil record. The hosts discuss lab-grown pork fat combined with plants, pondering its health risks. Predictions suggest potential carcinogenicity linked to its production methods. They also tackle the side effects of GLP-1 drugs, such as reduced libido and motivation, questioning the pharmaceutical industry's priorities. Plus, there's a thought-provoking look at how food and health innovations may be reshaping our biology and culture.
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Why Big Fossil Gaps Aren't Fatal
- Major morphological gaps in the fossil record are expected and topic-specific rather than fatal to evolution.
- Bret Weinstein argues population dynamics and rapid refinement make transitional fossils rare and hard to find.
Whale Transition Mocked Then Found
- Intelligent-design critics once mocked whale evolution until paleontologists found transitional fossils like Pakicetus and Ambulocetus.
- Bret uses the whale fossil discoveries to show hypotheses can be validated by later finds.
Liminal Niches Drive Major Shifts
- Transitional habitats (shorelines or crepuscular periods) create strong selective pulls and analogous patterns across space and time.
- Heather Heying highlights temporal 'shores' like dawn/dusk as niches analogous to ecological boundaries.