…and this is a 
Evolve: Eyes
Category: Entertainment • Evolution
Posted on: July 29, 2008 9:50 PM, by PZ Myers
The warm-up act for this program was a dinosaur program called "Jurassic Fight Club", which was loaded with CGI and lots of gratuitous razzle-dazzle — but I thought it was a hoot. It also had enthusiasatic scientists talking about how they figured out what had happened (although it does bug me that they treated some speculative stuff in the narrative as if it were factual). Most of the show was taken up with glitzy animations, but it was balanced with at least some discussion of the process of science, so I'll give it a thumbs up.
Now to settle in for the story of the evolution of eyes…
Oooh: "the sparks of evolution are tiny, random changes called mutations". I'm pleased that it jumps right in without compromise. It also promptly pushes the timeline back to 600 million years, and describes work done on jellyfish eyes. They show some very cool behavioral studies of how jellies respond to different wavelengths of light, illustrating why even simple animals would find light-sensing organs beneficial.
Teaser before the first commercial: trilobites. It looks they're trying for a chronological approach.
The commercials are really annoying: Kinoki foot pad quackery and bigfoot. Bleh.
Now we get a quick summary of the Cambrian explosion — I saw an anomalocaris swim by. The first fossil eyes are from the Cambrian; compound eyes on arthropods. Modern insects are shown, explained as not descendants of trilobites, but probably share the same genes Good acknowledgment of the successful utility of dragonfly eyes.
Dang. Too little time spent on invertebrates — they're already switching gears to focus on vertebrates.
Pikaia! Cool. Kinda nice that they're setting up the vertebrate eye as an icon of evolution, and a kind of machine — good dig at ID. There's also a nice simple animation of how an eye patch could form an eye cup, then an eye with a lens.
Yeah, they already leap into those sexy, glitzy dinosaurs. A little more time should be spent on those unsexy hagfish and lampreys, more interesting as transitional forms, but OK, most people wouldn't find them as interesting as I would. They show Kent Stevens (UO! Yay!) work on identifying visual fields from dinosaur fossils, and discuss binocularity.
T. rex makes for good visuals, but is it really the best animal for discussing the evolution of vertebrate eyes? The innovations were all in place before the dinosaurs came on the scene!
Next lead-in: we're about to learn about mammals and night vision.
Primitive mammals were largely nocturnal. So what are the special adaptations in the mammalian eye for night vision? Lots of isolated eyes in jars; the answer from comparative anatomy is that the size of the cornea is important. Cool: tarsiers have eyes that are bigger than their brains.
Another strategy: the tapetum, a reflective layer at the back of the eye. Nifty dissection of a big cat's eye to show the structure.
Looks like the last 15 minutes of the program will be about human vision…
We lucky humans have color vision. Mammals radiated into numerous niches after the great extinction at the K/T boundary, and primates moved into the trees. Why did natural selection favor improved color vision in primates? Monkeys are shown to favor the youngest, tenderest leaves…which have color differences from old leaves.
Primates also have binocularity for better depth perception, an adaptation for living in trees. This gives them a narrower field of view, unfortunately. Birds of prey targeted these animals with limited vision, which made group living more advantageous for primates. They suggest that this would promote more social behavior and intelligence.
Summary: Not bad. The title is a bit of a misnomer, though, since only a little bit of it was about the evolution of eyes. A program more true to its title would have spent much more time on invertebrates, would have said more about the molecular underpinnings of vision, and would have concentrated on hagfish, lampreys, and teleosts among the vertebrates.
I know…dinosaurs and people are much more popular creatures, so the show compromised on the science for the sake of visual appeal. That's an unfortunate reality of the conventions of TV programming, but it would have been nice to see them break out of that straitjacket, especially since the early part of the show on jellyfish was arresting and cool, showing that it can be done.
It was unabashedly pro-evolution, too, not giving a second to the silly stories we get from creationists. That's a real plus, too.
Life Science
Comments
Posted by: SC | July 29, 2008 10:01 PM
I don't get THC. I'm looking forward to this. Thanks.
Posted by: Lee Picton | July 29, 2008 10:05 PM
So far, so good. It looks like real science.
Posted by: scooter | July 29, 2008 10:06 PM
plenty of squid so far
Posted by: Rheinhard | July 29, 2008 10:11 PM
Oh yeah, when I saw squid mentioned among the eye-specialized organisms, coupled with the cute mini-squid picture, I thought "Oh PZ's gonna be lovin' this!"
Posted by: Anonymous | July 29, 2008 10:13 PM
I'm watching, too. So far so good!
Posted by: ryanm | July 29, 2008 10:13 PM
Science. It works, bitches.
Posted by: Jason Sexton | July 29, 2008 10:13 PM
Sitting here watching it with my 8 year old daughter. She loves science and thought the green light purple light with the Bell Jellyfish was really cool.
Posted by: Amplexus | July 29, 2008 10:14 PM
Did those dinosaurs really have waddels like chickens or is that some darwinist lie :)
Posted by: jfatz | July 29, 2008 10:15 PM
Watching this in HD while babysitting the nephew and tracking your liveblog on the ol' iPhone is quite amusing. ^_^
Posted by: Cletus | July 29, 2008 10:16 PM
They totally misinterpreted that Jellyfish's reaction to light. Either that, or I don't know my Lazer Floyd.
Posted by: Jason Sexton | July 29, 2008 10:16 PM
You know man and dinosaur existed together. They have 1 fossil that proves it with out a doubt. LOL.
Posted by: jfatz | July 29, 2008 10:17 PM
I'm sure glad we evolved a lot of cool technology!
Posted by: scooter | July 29, 2008 10:18 PM
Trilobites had the first contact lenses.
Posted by: BT Murtagh | July 29, 2008 10:19 PM
I was concerned after watching a few minutes of "Jurassic Fight Club" - I guess I'm a bit harsher than PZ, I clicked off with a shudder after I'd verified my setup was recording properly. The "Evolve: Eyes" looks much, much better to me. Pretty cinematography, but the science seems to be front and center. Good viewing! (Intentional.)
Posted by: Jason Sexton | July 29, 2008 10:20 PM
PZ - Was sick this weekend and missed the lunch at the Cucumber. When will you be back in the twin cities for a get together? My daughter was mad at me.
Posted by: Jason Sexton | July 29, 2008 10:22 PM
Love the Caveman Commercial. ROFLMAO
Posted by: simian | July 29, 2008 10:23 PM
I just turned this on about seven minutes ago. So far, I'm happy with what I'm seeing. I hope my co-worker who loves to beat the eye to death in his pro-creation argument is watching. Of course it's not really HIS argument, he's just parroting what notable IDiots have told him in their propaganda.
Posted by: Damian with an a | July 29, 2008 10:24 PM
We have The History Channel in the UK, but this isn't being shown over here at the moment, as far as I'm aware.
I did watch a decent program about the conflict surrounding Homo neanderthalensis, today. I'll be honest, if I'd have been around 40 odd thousand years ago, I would have.
Posted by: chrisD | July 29, 2008 10:24 PM
I wanted to stab my well-evolved eyes out during the caveman commercial. -.-
Posted by: scooter | July 29, 2008 10:25 PM
Caveman scores a hottie
Posted by: andrew | July 29, 2008 10:27 PM
ooo nice a refutation to the ID claim that the eye is IC
Posted by: The Ridger | July 29, 2008 10:28 PM
Commercials must be more or less local - we didn't get Kinoki or bigfoot, either one. Did get the caveman/History, of course.
Posted by: chancelikely | July 29, 2008 10:29 PM
Tyrannosaurs with frickin' laser beams for eyes!
Posted by: simian | July 29, 2008 10:30 PM
The thing about soft tissue not being preserved reminds me of something interesting: Scientists Get Rare Look at Dinosaur Soft Tissue
Posted by: scooter | July 29, 2008 10:31 PM
bah,
t-rex was likely a scavenger, not predator.
He's just an attention whore, like Paris Hilton
Posted by: brad | July 29, 2008 10:32 PM
Interesting, it seems after this program is program about Noah's flood.
Posted by: megan | July 29, 2008 10:33 PM
Still don't understand why this is on the history channel though...
Posted by: andrew | July 29, 2008 10:33 PM
i dont like how they keep saying things like "Trex evolved eyes to be a better predator" (something to that effect). it seems like theyre giving the impression that the animal has control over how they evolve
Posted by: Dreadneck | July 29, 2008 10:34 PM
When are they going to get to the evolution of the Jesus Eye™? You know - the one that lets religious people 'see' God. LOL
Posted by: The Ridger | July 29, 2008 10:35 PM
Spoke too soon ... just saw the bigfoot commercial.
Posted by: Jason Sexton | July 29, 2008 10:36 PM
They'll get to the jesus eye, right after they show big foot.
Posted by: ellindsey | July 29, 2008 10:36 PM
How long until the Discovery Institute releases a statement attempting to refute everything in this special?
Posted by: Orlor | July 29, 2008 10:37 PM
Anyone notice the shots of the alligators attacking came from the BBC series "Planet Earth"?
Posted by: chrisD | July 29, 2008 10:38 PM
brad @ 26
Yeah, you know they just HAVE to give both theories an equal amount of time. Or maybe they scheduled it as a juxtaposition to the evolution-based program to show how ridiculous the flood story really is. But I'm still going to go with the notion that the HC didn't want to alienate the folks who butter their bread.
Posted by: Rol | July 29, 2008 10:38 PM
There was a Gieco commercial that was long and hilarious. Caveman was giving a tour of a museum and the people were like, "Hey, those cavemen look like you, did you have to club your stuff like they did?" He was like, "No, I do my shopping at an organic foods store, but you should be thanking these guys. They invented INVENTING, because of them, you are wearing clothes right now."
Then some chick thanks him because she didn't know that and they all leave. He and her flirt on their way out.
Posted by: Big City | July 29, 2008 10:39 PM
Where the hell did the dinosaurs come from? It didn't show anything leading up to them.
Posted by: ryanm | July 29, 2008 10:39 PM
It's really sad that a commercial for MonsterQuest followed that segment. Oh, well, the History Channel. bleh.
Posted by: WithoutSol | July 29, 2008 10:39 PM
This is like an awesome viewing party. Thx for watching with us P.Z.!
Posted by: Amplexus | July 29, 2008 10:39 PM
If its the flood documentary i've seen before it's not actually about the flood myth but about a Mediterranean sea tsunami
Posted by: SC | July 29, 2008 10:39 PM
I wonder if that funny eclipse/eye dude from the other day is watching...
Posted by: megan | July 29, 2008 10:40 PM
wow, and the history channel's website for 'evolve' includes an ad to buy the movie 10,000 B.C. in their store; they should be embarrassed.
Posted by: simian | July 29, 2008 10:41 PM
Megan, obviously you haven't seen THC's other series "The Universe." At least this series takes place in the last three billion years! I agree with your point... "history" generally refers to the last 10,000 years of (agricultural revolution and post-agricultural revolution) HUMAN history. Still, I appreciate that the channel is broaden its scope to include prehistory.
Posted by: Jason Sexton | July 29, 2008 10:43 PM
But then they screw up and mention biblical cryptozoological stuff to keep the IDiots watching.
Posted by: Aerik | July 29, 2008 10:46 PM
There's no nice way to say it. When I first heard about jelly fish eyes, it was fucking awesome.
So we've got the evolution of mammalian eyes, jelly fish eyes, squid eyes...
Can't wait for dembski, davescot, and luskin to start a pissing match over this special, eh?
Posted by: Dreadneck | July 29, 2008 10:46 PM
Interesting bit about the tarsier(sp?). It's eyes are too large for its eye sockets and need extra connective tissue to keep them from falling out. Doesn't exactly speak in favor of ID.
Posted by: samu | July 29, 2008 10:48 PM
So far I'm really liking it. Other than a few minor nitpicks, I don't have serious objections.
Posted by: Jason Sexton | July 29, 2008 10:48 PM
@ 45, That's why god developed Duct Tape. Fixes anything. LOL
Posted by: Bert Chadick | July 29, 2008 10:49 PM
Lemurs! Cute Cute Cute!
Posted by: Orlor | July 29, 2008 10:50 PM
Could've done without the eye surgery pieces. Yuck!
Those ads that keep popping up at the bottom of the screen piss me off. They take up a quarter of the screen!
Posted by: Sean | July 29, 2008 10:51 PM
Wheres the cephalopod eye!
Posted by: ryanm | July 29, 2008 10:51 PM
Those tarsirs are just too damn cute with their oversized eyes. Supercool explanation of the evolution of eye-shine
Posted by: Jfatz | July 29, 2008 10:51 PM
Mmm... Guts.
Posted by: simian | July 29, 2008 10:51 PM
Oh boy, GUTS! Can't effing wait for next week. That is going to be such a good episode, I can already tell. Just had to get this one out of the way first for the IDiots.
Seems like they ought to go into depth on hawk eyes...
Posted by: mikebok | July 29, 2008 10:54 PM
Was there at least a quick flash of a mantis shrimp at some point?
Posted by: Jason Sexton | July 29, 2008 11:00 PM
Can't wait for next week. Who's ordering the pizza?
Posted by: Dreadneck | July 29, 2008 11:00 PM
Interesting link between binocular vision in primates and the evolution of group living! Never occurred to me before that not having eyes in the back of your head - figuratively speaking - could necessitate the need for living in groups for mutual defense. Neat!
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp | July 29, 2008 11:00 PM
I like it so far but one nitpick..
The phrasing that makes it sound like the adaptations are choices of the animal under discussion is a bit annoying.
Looking forward to guts next week.
Posted by: jfatz | July 29, 2008 11:00 PM
You know... It's not very scientific, but almost all the animals shown are SO FRIGGIN CUTE!
Posted by: Tatarize | July 29, 2008 11:01 PM
I'm still going to chalk this up to the observer effect. I think they yanked it a bit back because P.Z. commented on it and reworked it to not be an absolute farce. The History Channel is an absolute nightmare to watch. The most traumatic hour I've had in years was when I watched Discovery Kids and was blown away with something feeding that crap to kids. I'm talking Atlantian Power Crystals are to blame for the Bermuda Triangle by sucking people into alternate dimensions. You'd be better off having a pedophile babysit your kids than the TV if it's tuned to that channel. It was so very very bad.
Oh, and the reason "History" begins about 6000 years ago in the mideast is because that's where the Bible was set. When people started to realize there's no history there they simply scrapped the whole Eden, flood, bible part of the story and replaced it with the civilization that actually were there. In reality there are some amazing civilizations all over the world even 15k years ago.
Posted by: samu | July 29, 2008 11:01 PM
Very interesting. I really liked it. Two thumbs up :)
Posted by: chancelikely | July 29, 2008 11:02 PM
Jeez... from evolution to a Noah's Flood program that calls water an element. Kind of a drop-off in quality there, History Channel.
Posted by: Marc Anderson | July 29, 2008 11:03 PM
Well done!
The Noah's Flood program started immediately afterward. Hopefully the pro-science programming continues...
Posted by: DavidH | July 29, 2008 11:03 PM
An hour well spent. Good stuff.
Posted by: Sir Jebbington | July 29, 2008 11:04 PM
OH MY JEBBLES DID YOU SEE THAT BUNNY
Now we wait for Guts.
Posted by: Steve | July 29, 2008 11:06 PM
Sometimes I wish I didn't know most of that stuff so I could relearn it and relive that amazement again.
Posted by: WithoutSol | July 29, 2008 11:07 PM
Great show especially from a network that brought you "Modern Marvels: Pig".
When I was younger I would call the History Channel "The Hitler Channel" because every time I saw my dad watching it the subject would almost always be WWII... Germany in particular. I like this change.
Posted by: megan | July 29, 2008 11:07 PM
Simian - yeah, i actually don't have a TV, so I've been out of touch with THC for a few years. And I'm cool with human evolution and prehistory, but it does seem like that should be the focus of these shows, not just the last 5 minutes. Still, if the Discovery Channel isn't going to do it right, I guess someone ought to.
Posted by: simian | July 29, 2008 11:08 PM
Tatarize... what are you qualifying as civilizations? Which are you referring to? I mean to ask in a non-confrontational way, if it's not clear.
Posted by: Sean | July 29, 2008 11:09 PM
Dont worry everyone they are only talking about LOCAL floods. Even when i was a fundy i rolled my eyes when they talked about local floods.
Posted by: WithoutSol | July 29, 2008 11:11 PM
Now for some bible-era stuff to assuage the creationists with wild speculation...
Posted by: Bert Chadick | July 29, 2008 11:15 PM
Four stars!
I think my favorite line when they referred to the ancestor of the apes as a "monkey like animal". A fine point I know, but is what I will call our ancestors in arguments with my creotard relatives from now on.
Posted by: Kerry Maxwell | July 29, 2008 11:15 PM
Sorry, but I'd much prefer my kids watching programs about Atlantis, The Bermuda Triangle, Unicorns, etc, than getting buggered by Uncle Ernie.
Oh, and Hooray Evolve: Eyes!
Posted by: PZ Myers | July 29, 2008 11:16 PM
I'll give the program a thumbs up, but yeesh, the commercials. They just had one for homeopathic joint pain relief for dogs. Please.
Posted by: simian | July 29, 2008 11:16 PM
I wish I were a mega-rich, mega-powerful media mogul with the power to fund a suite of broadcast and cable channels featuring 24-hour, commercial-free highly entertaining AND properly educational science and humanities programming. Since I'm not, I guess I can take a little comfort in the fact that The History Channel managed to avoid royally fuc*!ng this show up.
Posted by: ndt | July 29, 2008 11:18 PM
I get quite a lot of THC, but this is neither the time nor the place to discuss it.
I thought the program was very good, almost, but not quite, PBS or BBC quality. I'm looking forward to "Guts" next week, but I think I'll make sure to eat ahead of time.
Posted by: Graculus | July 29, 2008 11:20 PM
History Channel is hit and miss, but up here they throw in some interesting stuff.. earlier today they had a documentary on François Villon.
Posted by: Matt | July 29, 2008 11:20 PM
History Channel's been having some really great shows lately, like this Evolve one, and The Universe. They also had a good "How Life Began" and "How the Earth was Formed" couple of one-offs. Then they have like, 9 straight hours of UFOs and Bigfoot. It seems like the man running the channel has split personality disorder. That being said, it really seems like the History Channel is usurping the science shows from the Discovery (Read: Deadliest Catch) Channel. Well, Discovery still has Mythbusters, but that's about it nowadays. Go History Channel!
Posted by: simian | July 29, 2008 11:21 PM
PZ, must be the local programming again - I didn't get the homeopathy ad. Was it for "Dr. Frank's Pain Spray"? I have been fuming over that ever since I saw it months ago on CNN. That's a perfect example of how homeopathic medicine can contribute to suffering. Those pets need REAL veterinary care, not a twenty-dollar bottle of water! I've been meaning to write a good post tearing that snake-oil apart...
Posted by: Bert Chadick | July 29, 2008 11:23 PM
Does anyone here remember back when PBS would produce this sort of series? Now it's all bushy bearded frauds, Tupak Shakra, and Feng Shui. Sigh......
Posted by: Amanda | July 29, 2008 11:27 PM
I tried live-blogging this, too. It's a lot harder to do than I thought!
I was actually impressed. I mean, after seeing that Jurassic Fight Club commercial, I didn't expect much. I was pleasantly surprised.
I'm really glad they included so much research. Sometimes it helps to understand how we know what we know...I think programs like this often ignore that.
Posted by: megan | July 29, 2008 11:28 PM
Simian - you might like the archaeology channel, which is a website with short, well done, educational programming about archaeology.
http://www.archaeologychannel.org
Posted by: ndt | July 29, 2008 11:29 PM
By the way, "Miracle Planet" is on Science channel right now; it's a pretty good episode.
Posted by: Crazyharp81602 | July 29, 2008 11:31 PM
Awesome dinosaur program! The fight scenes were tremendous!
Posted by: Jeremy | July 29, 2008 11:32 PM
Megan@27:
I initially found it odd that the History Channel started showing a number of things outside the realm of recorded human history (How Life Began, How the Earth Was Made, The Universe, Evolve, etc.). I realize that it's still "history", so it can be considered appropriate.
I think the bigger issue, though, is due to the Discovery channels moving away from science-oriented programming to "reality" shows. TLC is especially bad for this now. It's sort of left a gap to fill, and the History Channel has made an attempt to do so.
THC still has some "reality" shows of their own (Ice Road Truckers, Ax Men) but they mix it up with actual history (Battle 360, Modern Marvels) and now science-oriented shows. It's a pretty good mix, now I just wish they'd ditch the pseudoscientific crap (Monster Quest, UFO Hunters).
Posted by: IBY | July 29, 2008 11:34 PM
Darn, I missed it because I really wanted to watch the final two episodes of "When We Left Earth." I only caught a glimpse or two during commercials.
Posted by: IBY | July 29, 2008 11:38 PM
@jeremy
All the sciency stuff has been moved to the Science Channel. Unfortunately, it doesn't have any variety, and most of the time, it is "Modern Marvels" or "How it is Made."
Posted by: JD | July 29, 2008 11:38 PM
Predators, with very few if any exceptions, are also scavengers. Pretty much every predatory animal from sharks to eagles to lions to grizzly bears scavenge.
It's extremely unlikely t-rex was only scavenger. It's too bad one wasn't around so that I could put that hypothesis to the test with those who say they weren't killer predators.
Posted by: paul fcd | July 29, 2008 11:43 PM
I'm watching it now. Basically a survey of eye anatomy, and how some animals see.
Not a good explanation of eye evolution at all, but what would you expect from the History Channel?
Posted by: Michael | July 29, 2008 11:43 PM
The Flood program is not bad. I watched it earlier today. They say that hundreds of mythologies have a flood story. Researchers use the mythology stories to triangulate a possible impact of a comet in the Indian ocean. They found a possible crater.
In conclusion: They do not support anything close to a literal biblical account. They treat it as a mythology with a source in a real event. Christianity gets no special treatment.
Posted by: Dreadneck | July 29, 2008 11:44 PM
@70 - Actually, I can't see the Mega Disasters episode on 'Noah's Great Flood' doing much to assuage the creationists. It's not supporting the biblical account of the flood, but rather looking for evidence of a natural disaster that could have given rise to the myth we know as Noah's Flood.
Posted by: Pareto | July 29, 2008 11:44 PM
Who/what did they cite when talking about the advantageousness of living in groups for primates? I've never heard that before but it's intriguing.
Posted by: Dreadneck | July 29, 2008 11:50 PM
@91 - They cited pressure placed on primates due to predation by raptors. Primates developing binocular vision came with the cost of not being able to see what was sneaking up on them from behind. They postulated that group living was advantageous in that several sets of eyes looking in many directions allowed for warning of an approaching predator, thus increasing the likelihood of survival for members of the group.
Posted by: Jeremy | July 29, 2008 11:53 PM
IBY@86:
Thanks for the heads-up. I don't have the satellite package with the Science Channel. I just know that Discovery and TLC have been massively disappointing in the last few years (the few exceptions being major shows like "Planet Earth"). At the same time, THC is getting a lot better.
JD@87:
I agree, predators are generally opportunistic, and won't pass up an easy meal.
It doesn't make sense to me that a t-rex, with a massive body, long legs, a large head, binocular vision, and foot-long teeth would exclusively subsist on carrion. It's built like a killing machine.
Posted by: Autumn | July 30, 2008 12:05 AM
To defend the Discovery Channel, the When We Left Earth mini-series was very cool (I know that it was probably not produced by TDC, but showing it was a good move). No new information, but watching HD films of shuttle launches was just awe-inspiring.
Posted by: Dreadneck | July 30, 2008 12:20 AM
@94 - If you want 'awe inspiring' try watching film of a shuttle launch in an omnivision theater. The screen is parabolic and takes up your entire field of vision, the seats are set so that your feet are above the head of the person in front of you so that nothing impedes your field of vision, and they use a 12,000 watt sound system. It's mind blowing! Omnivision films can fool the senses so well they are known for inducing motion sickness in some viewers.
Posted by: ElfPirateMonarch | July 30, 2008 12:23 AM
After watching this my one conclusion is that if they wanted to be really thorough the show would have probably had to be 2 hours long. Considering the time constraints a potentially long term series has in this regard its probably forgivable that they bypassed a great deal of the more wonky science for "cool" stuff like dinosaurs. I mean honestly, if this series gets one kid or parent to look at science in general and evolutionary biology in particular as cool that will help inspire a new generation of scientists. Honestly, as much as the fundies are insane, science needs to start fighting their propaganda with facts that are more appealing to the masses; it does you no good to be right if no one believes you (just ask Cassandra)
Posted by: Chris Tucker | July 30, 2008 12:23 AM
Who needs cable or satellite TV if you have a fast DSL line?
BitTorrent is your friend. As is a decent BitTorrent client. (google if you have no idea what I'm talking about.)
Posted by: Paula Helm Murray | July 30, 2008 12:26 AM
The kinoki foot pad commercals bug the hell out of me too. It's so full of woo that it's intolerable.
Posted by: BobC | July 30, 2008 12:26 AM
I watched Evolve. This afternoon I watched How The Earth Was Made on the History channel, which also talked about evolution a little bit. I learned quite a bit from both shows. I'm looking forward to the next 12 Tuesday nights.
I wonder if any creationists watched Evolve. I doubt it. They don't seem too interested in educating themselves.
Posted by: Alan Conwell | July 30, 2008 12:27 AM
Sean et al: I also thought "where are the cephalopod eyes" throughout?
I agree with PZ; the producers had to "sex it up" to appeal (as they think necessary) to the audience ... perhaps.
Yes, Orlor, I also noticed the alligator attack from "Planet Earth".
If nothing else, this show got my son to agree to try to read "Making of the Fittest". His take on my objections (really, I thought more omissions that would have made the story so much better by SHOWING the known steps in evolution to develop primate tri-color vision, right from chapters in Carroll's book; it was called "Evolve", wasn't it?). He thinks that an intelligent novice has no chance understanding that book without the other reading I've done. I disagreed; I think this is a book that is easily understood (one can skip some of the technical details without loss), and that it is one of the wonderful books that should be required reading before someone objects to evolution. (And no, I'm pushing for Sean's book for any gain, he's just become a personal hero of mine, kinda like PZ and RD!).
Posted by: Monado | July 30, 2008 12:28 AM
I keep hoping they'll go beyond mammalcentricity and explain why turtles have better colour vision than we do and some shrimps have the best colour vision of all.
Posted by: Amplexus | July 30, 2008 12:32 AM
Interesting fact about eyes from my favorite order of organisms.
When I was a kid I raised frogs and toads for fun/knowledge. The order of anurans i've inspected use their eyes for a strange and novel purpose:
Get this.... Frog and toads SWALLOW WITH THEIR EYES.
They use their blinking set of muscles to use the physical orb of the eye to cram food down their thr