In this 248th in a series of live discussions with Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying (both PhDs in Biology), we talk about the state of the world through an evolutionary lens.

In this week’s episode, we begin and end by geeking out on biology: why there tend to be so many molecules in organisms that humans find useful (see: turmeric and ginger), why you can’t be both the fastest and the most agile anything, and new research that finds that some Atlantic fish with leg-like appendages can taste the ground with those “legs.” In between all that: an analysis of American political parties—where they’ve been, where they are now, and what might happen next. Also: self-indulgent whining from the Southern hemisphere.

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Mentioned in this episode:

The Atlantic on Trump: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/10/trump-authoritarian-rhetoric-hitler-mussolini/680296/

Season’s mis-greetings: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03245-0

Fish “legs” that taste the ground: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03117-7

Original research (Allard et al 2024): https://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822(24)01126-6

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