And so we arrive at the inevitable riddle awaiting any earnest seeker of Truth through science — and, ideally, plain English. (Seriously: have you ever heard a paleontologist describe the tympanic part of the temporal bone?) All aboard — and take a deep breath — as we dive headlong into Darwin’s deep-sea rabbit hole. Within its murky depths lie purported transitional fossils that supposedly vindicate the random evolution of whales. But is this narrative really the slam dunk it’s made out to be? Let’s find out.