Darwin's Biggest Doubts: What Happened Next?

Darwin named the problems. Later science had to answer them. What did Charles Darwin really write about missing fossils, the human eye and the living cell? We open On the Origin of Species, examine the next paragraph, and follow the discoveries that Darwin never lived to see: Tiktaalik, modern eye research, genetics and experimental evolution. Original lecture excerpts feature Melina Hale, Neil Shubin, Dan-Eric Nilsson and Hopi Hoekstra. Their recorded words are distinguished from our narration. Models are identified as models, and unresolved details remain unresolved. Which question deserves another documentary: fossils, eyes or inheritance? Tell us below, like the video and subscribe to Minds That Moved. CHAPTERS 00:00 Darwin's theory on trial 00:41 The voyage that changed the question 01:45 A notebook, Wallace and the Origin 02:55 The missing pages of the fossil record 03:55 Discoveries that could test an idea 04:55 What Tiktaalik actually shows 06:05 Darwin and the eye 07:11 Useful before perfect 08:14 What an eye model can tell us 09:22 Did Darwin think cells were simple? 10:30 The inheritance problem 11:35 Evolution in the laboratory 12:42 Why Darwin is not the final test 13:49 The ideas that outlived him RESEARCH Darwin, Origin (1859), especially pp. 186–189 and 280: https://darwin-online.org.uk/converte... Darwin's reply to Delpino (1869): https://darwin-online.org.uk/converte... Darwin's life, notebooks and correspondence: https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/ Tiktaalik: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature04639 Eye model: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1994.0048 Vision research: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles... Mendel's experiments: https://www-archiv.fdm.uni-hamburg.de... Citrate-use experiments: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0803151105 and https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11514 LECTURE / ARCHIVE CREDITS Melina Hale / iBiology: https://www.ibiology.org/evolution/ne... Neil Shubin / iBiology: https://www.ibiology.org/evolution/ti... Hopi Hoekstra / iBiology: https://www.ibiology.org/ecology/phen... Dan-Eric Nilsson / Darwin College:    • Evolution of the Eye by Dan E. Nilsson   Richard Lenski / Michigan State University, WKAR: https://player.pbs.org/viralplayer/30... Brief lecture, research-page and archival quotations accompany analysis; their owners retain their rights. VISUAL CREDITS Vladislav Sanikovich, CC BY 3.0:    • 2020 🍁 SOMEWHERE IN BELARUS 4K   Cimadom et al. (2016), finches, CC BY 4.0: https://doi.org/10.1038/srep34559 Barord et al. (2014), Nautilus, CC BY: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.... Greg Shine / BLM Oregon & Washington, Fossil Lake, public domain: https://www.flickr.com/photos/blmoregon/ Erika Reiter / US Forest Service, genetics laboratory, public domain: https://www.dvidshub.net/video/1000828/ Ben Sale, moth, CC BY 2.0: https://www.flickr.com/photos/3339888... Matt Ming, iris, CC BY 2.0: https://www.flickr.com/photos/matianm... Richard Mortel, Archaeopteryx, CC BY 2.0: https://www.flickr.com/photos/prof_ri... James St. John, Tiktaalik casts, CC BY 2.0: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jsjgeol... and https://www.flickr.com/photos/jsjgeol... British Library, Martens/Landseer, CC0: https://www.flickr.com/photos/british... Public-domain book illustrations: Internet Archive Book Images, Life and Letters of Charles Darwin (1896); Davenport & Davenport, Introduction to Zoology (1900). Darwin notebook: Cambridge University Library, MS-DAR-00121, pp. 35–36: https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-DA... Wellcome Collection: historic Darwin/Wallace portraits, Mendel, Gould's finches, Darwin's study and microscope, Pisum and Evans's Archaeopteryx paper. Public domain or CC BY 4.0, per catalogue: https://wellcomecollection.org/ Judith Sleeman, cell nucleus, CC BY 4.0: https://wellcomecollection.org/works/... Matthew Daniels, human cell, CC BY 4.0: https://wellcomecollection.org/works/... Catherine Nobes & Alan Hall, fibroblasts, CC0: https://wellcomecollection.org/works/... Images are fitted without cropping; footage excerpts are selected and muted except for identified lecture quotations. English captions and source credits are added. Licenses: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Original score: The Unfinished Branch — Minds That Moved. #CharlesDarwin #Evolution #NaturalSelection #Darwin #Science #Documentary #Fossils #Genetics #HistoryOfScience #MindsThatMoved