Facts and Fossils | The Light of Evolution - Episode 2

Forrest is a biologist and an educator who specializes in evolutionary biology and bioanthropology. In this series, he shares his love of evolution by teaching the basics of this extraordinary science! Be sure to subscribe and stay tuned for Episode 3 where we'll cover genetics and how change happens over multiple generations!

Thanks to Dr. Pete White from Michigan State University for helping out with this video!

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Have an awesome day and never stop learning!

[wrestlinglists]

This series is coming out at the perfect time for me. My science education was at an extremely conservative Mennonite school where we were forbidden to talk about evolution or the fact the universe is older then 6, 000 years and I’m now getting curious about the real history of the universe

[coloradokid]

What a pleasure it would have been to have had Forrest as a teacher 45 years ago! Super grateful to have someone that can share science so brilliantly! How long will it be before Forrest gains the notiriety he rightfully deserves??

[lukeanderson]

At several points I ran to my wife to tell her about something you described. If I didn't have a full day already, I would be in a nerd spiral on the experiments.

Learning about evolution makes me feel connected in ways that religion never did.

[chrissighful]

One minor (I think) thing that I would love for you to add for this series, is that when you mention a scientific concept, the name of a thing/method etc. Could you put at the bottom of the screen that in writing? Partially it would obviously help with looking into the thing deeper, but I and I expect many others remember things a lot better if they see the things in writing as well. Not sure why I do so, but I do. And I would loooove to remember more of the stuff you talk about <3

[shakeelali]

Everything about Forrest is just so wholesome and easy to digest. His demeanor, the way he breaks down super complex scientific concepts, and his sense of humour make him the best Science Communicator in the whole YouTube community in my opinion.

As someone who religiously 😜 watches your videos, please keep up the great work for those of us who can't teach as well as you can. Your videos are a small yet vital way to lift humanity out of our ignorance about our beautiful universe.

[nmitsthefish]

This series needs to be added to the curriculum around the world. Thank you so much for what you do!

[JacktheRah]

I love how you can literally see how Forrest sincerely is super excited to teach you about evolution and it's great! When someone is super excited to teach you about something you're so much more excited to learn!

[BrunoBsso]

"You've got history written all over your body" gave my goosebumps, and it's amazingly true. What an amazing teacher you must be, I'd love to have had one like you in school.
Excellent video!

[matthewturpin]

Your sheer DELIGHT on display about the trumpet dinosaurs is just wonderful!

[tashannoc]

I'm trained as a biologist and I'm absolutely loving this series, and still learning new things. Keep up the fantastic work!

[seanrolph]

My parents could watch this whole video, and still be like "Nah, I don't think so"

[BeheadedKamikaze]

Forrest, I can't imagine how many comments you must get everyday, so the chances of you reading this one are slim. However I'd like you to know that your positive enthusiastic attitude towards teaching science not only makes your videos so engaging, but they also inspire a sense of awe and noticeably uplift my mood whenever I watch them. I imagine this effect is close to what you set out to accomplish, but I hope that hearing about it brightens *your* mood. Thank you so, so much. ❤

[catherinecox]

Forrest, I just wanna say thank you!!! from everyone who grew up like I did.
I was homeschooled YEC and didn't start learning uncensored science until my 20s, your content has been a wonderful step in my journey to learn what I missed out on as a kid 💕

[monkeyboy]

I genuinely feel a deep sadness that there are people who's family, education, or what have you, failed them in giving them the ability to understand the absolute beauty of evolution and all of its wonderfully messy complexity. I hope you continue this series so hopefully some new people can find that same beauty.

[phoenixkingtheo]

This series, even 2 episodes in is amazing! The parasaurolophus sound is incredible!

[ChrisPhillipsMusic]

As someone who is aged way beyond my school years at this point, and I'm not as old as that probably makes me sound, I love that Forrest is doing this series. I've done a few things I've loved in my life so far. I've done stage performing, I've played music to at least a couple hundred people on an instrument I had to play my first show after only a few weeks to learn that then turned into over 5 years of the most fun I've ever had in my life (granted these performances were religion based so I can't do them anymore). Music has really been the one constant in my life. I got out of school in 2010, granted that was high school and I never even attempted college. Back in school, after being raised in the Church of Christ and then later as a Southern Baptist, I had given up on young Earth creationism. I kept that quiet for around 15 years before I revealed my atheism, which was about 2 years after I truly understood I was an atheist, but I had already given up in school about learning much. I had no interest in biology, evolution, math, civics, even history which was always my best classes. Basically I was willing to memorize what I had to. Beyond that, there was no point in the effort in my eyes because everything was dull, pointless and a waste of my time when I could be doing basically anything else.


To make a way to large block of text end in a more succinct way, at 30 years old, I'm infinitely more interested in learning how I came to be solely on the back of the energy, care and love that Forrest has for all these things I should've given a chance around 15 years ago. So, on behalf of us high school slackers, college non-goers and people that just didn't have the ability to care about learning at the time, here's my thanks for showing me I can still find things I want to learn about even if it isn't my first chance.

[thelostone]

I headed out with my dogs for a little exploration and camping out in Wyoming a couple of weeks ago. Since we had been driving for a couple hours, and because my dogs needed a potty break, I randomly pulled off on some dirt road I had never been on, but knew it was on public lands. As my knucklehead dogs ran around, I noticed a grouping of rocks with one that looked like a knot in a tree. And wouldn’t you know it? It was a large grouping of petrified wood!! I’ve never been a rockhounder, but that was a quite the find! Turns out, the area I was in use to be a sub tropical rain forrest @55 million years ago and a tree from then fossilized. And by a completely random event…because my dogs needed a bathroom break…I found some ancient petrified wood!
I love this stuff Forrest! Keep it coming!

[Raz.C]

I'm really glad to see someone like Forrest in TAE these days. If there was anyone who could take up the mantle left by Matt, I'm glad it's this guy.

[ClarenceThompkins]

Thanks! I really do hope my cousins actually follow this series as much as the follow "the word of god" don't worry I told them to not just take your word but to go and research and learn! Seriously thank you buddy for this educational soon to be masterpiece!

[MommyOfZoeAndLiam]

I love watching you Forrest. You remind me a lot of my Uncle Bobby, not him now, but my memories of him from when I was a little kid (I'm 43, so he's in his 60s now) but when I was a kid and he was in his 20s (he was my mom's "baby brother"). We would only see him once a year or less and he was always excited like this when he would take us out into the woods or on his boat and show us something about nature that was so cool. We lived in the Las Vegas desert, but when we would visit my mom's parents in Maryland he would come do something fun with us that was so different from what we were used to at home. Boating, fishing, visiting rivers in the woods. A few summers he worked as a camp counselor in the woods in Virginia. He ended up becoming a teacher as well and he has all kinds of stuff in his basement like a fossilized pufferfish puffed up and little trilobites and stuff. And he still gets like this when I bring my kids to Maryland and he shows them something cool. You remind me a lot of him with the curly hair and the "how cool is that". My mom was less into science, she was the one who would read us books and any time we asked her how to spell something or what a word meant she would take us to the big dictionary (this thing is like a 12 by 12 book, 3 inches thick with vellum pages and even though it was printed like 50 years ago, I have yet to find a word that isn't in it, although I haven't looked up internet or sexting lol). As a teacher now a days, I reallize how different my life was as a kid than most people, my family was all about learning all the time.