Artificial selection turned the wolf into the shepherd, and the wild grasses into wheat and corn. In fact, almost every plant and animal that we eat today was bred from a wild, less edible ancestor. If artificial selection can work such profound changes in only ten or fifteen thousand years, what can natural selection do operating over billions of years? The answer is all the beauty and diversity of life.
Interpretation
Artificial selection showcases human influence on species, while natural selection shapes life over much longer periods.
In this quote, Neil Degrasse Tyson illustrates the power of both artificial and natural selection in shaping life on Earth. He emphasizes that artificial selection has already led to significant transformations in domesticated plants and animals in a relatively short span of time, and he poses a thought-provoking question about the potential for natural selection to create even greater diversity and beauty in life over billions of years.
In practice
This quote could be used in a biology class to discuss the differences between artificial and natural selection.
The problem is that many people operate on the assumption that NASA should go to Congress every year with hat in hand and justify it every year. Well, I see it as the greatest economic driver that there ever was. Economic drivers don't need justification.
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One of my great laments is that education today seems to have... be less about passion and more about process, more about tactic or technique.
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Although the elusive 'cure' may be a distant dream, understanding the true nature of cancer will enable it to be better controlled and less menacing.
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The moment I saw the model and heard about the complementing base pairs I realized that it was the key to understanding all the problems in biology we had found intractable - it was the birth of molecular biology.
That which is measured improves. That which is measured and reported improves exponentially.
When I test I never go right to the limit. Only because when you are below the limit you can go at the same speed all day, and that's the only way you can be absolutely sure about what you are testing.
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