Safeguarding Sound Science, Evolution Edition
The second season of Safeguarding Sound Science examines the everyday impacts of evolution, the grand theory that informs our understanding of all life on this planet. Host Mat Kaplan talks with scientists, researchers, and other experts as they dispel common misconceptions about evolution, discuss its sometimes invisible importance in our day-to-day lives, and marvel at the wonders of ongoing scientific discovery that help us piece together more of the evolutionary puzzle.
Episode 3: What Darwin Got Wrong ... and Very Right!
October 15, 2025
Charles Darwin is one of the most recognizable names in science. His On the Origin of Species is considered to be the foundation of evolutionary biology. In this episode of Safeguarding Sound Science, we speak with three experts who marvel at Darwin's innovations while also surfacing what Darwin may have gotten wrong and was unable to consider due to the limitations of his era. Joseph L. Graves Jr. is an evolutionary biologist and a professor of biological science at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. Agustin Fuentes is a biological anthropologist and primatologist at Princeton University. And Holly Dunsworth is a biological anthropologist at the University of Rhode Island. Together, in conversation with host Mat Kaplan, they discuss how our understanding of Darwin and evolutionary biology has itself evolved over time, along with related critical issues such as race, virology, and ideological attacks on evolution. "We need to take evolutionary thinking seriously because it literally could mean the future or non-future of our species," Graves states.
Additional Info:
- Race, Monogamy, and Other Lies They Told You: Busting Myths About Human Nature, by Agustin Fuentes
- Racism, Not Race: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions, by Joseph L. Graves Jr. and Alan H. Goodman