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Taxonomy Orders Biodiversity
- Taxonomy organizes life into nested ranks like domain, kingdom, class, order, family, genus, species.
- Carl Linnaeus formalized using genus and species names though the idea predated him.
How McCormack Got Hooked On Evolution
- John McCormack recalls early readings in high school and an evolution class with Nancy Moran that sparked his interest.
- Those courses introduced mutation, natural selection, and genetic drift as core processes.
Genetic Drift Is Evolutionary Chance
- Genetic drift describes random changes in gene frequencies across generations, like a small random draw from an M&M bowl.
- Drift can produce large evolutionary shifts independent of natural selection.