PALEOBIOLOGY AND ANCIENT LIFE

Dr Simon Conway-Morris is professor of Paleobiology at Cambridge University. He has been a Fellow of the Royal Society for 30 years and is a fellow of St Johns College, Cambridge. He is one of the greatest living evolutionary biologists and one of the minds behind convergent evolution which is a grand unifying theory across biology. He gave the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures in 1996. He is an expert on the Burgess Shale fossils and has travelled the world exploring the fossil record, especially regarding the Cambrian era. His books include Life's Solution, The Runes of Evolution, The Crucible of Creation, and more recently From Extraterrestrials to Animal Minds.

The Polymath World Channel brings you interviews with extraordinary researchers and academics working on the frontiers of their disciplines. Meet and hear from scientists, professors, lecturers, researchers, engineers, philosophers and astronauts.

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#polymathworldchannel #pursueextraordinary #Evolution #Paleobiology #CambrianExplosion #BurgessShale #ConvergentEvolution #SimonConwayMorris #AncientLife #ExtraterrestrialLife #Consciousness #InterdisciplinaryScience #polymathworld #EvolutionaryBiology #ConvergentEvolution #Fossils #FossilRecord

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Polymath World # Episode 10 - Phil Halper

COSMOLOGY

Phil Halper is a popular science communicator whose new book "Battle of the Big Bang", coauthored with Niayesh Afshordi, has just been released through University of Chicago Press. Here we discuss the premise of the book: which model will win out of the competing models for the beginning of the universe? And will the Big Bang survive new advances in astrophysics? We talk about the James Webb telescope, the mysteries of dark energy and dark matter, as well as the recent history of cosmology. Phil is also a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and the creator of the popular YouTube series Before the Big Bang, which has had several million views. He was previously journalist in residence at the Penn State Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos. A popular astrophotographer, his astronomy images have been featured in major media outlets around the world, and he has published in peer-reviewed journals.

Find out more below:

Phil’s new book "Battle of the Big Bang": https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/B/bo244963115.html

Phil's channel: Before the Big Bang series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJ4zAUPI-qqqj2D8eSk7yoa4hnojoCR4m

The Polymath World Channel brings you interviews with extraordinary researchers and academics working on the frontiers of their disciplines. Meet and hear from scientists, professors, lecturers, researchers, engineers, philosophers and astronauts.

Don’t forget to like and subscribe. New episodes every Wednesday.

#polymathworldchannel #pursueextraordinary #BigBang #cosmology #universeorigins #blackholes #multiverse #stringtheory #quantumgravity #cyclicuniverse #astrophysics #sciencecommunication #polymathworld

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INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR SCIENCE AND RELIGION CONFERENCE (ISSR) 2025

Synthetic Biology (SynBio) has the power to transform our engagement with the natural world. With tools like CRISPR-Cas9, "impossible" is an ever diminishing word. As biology accelerates at a rate not seen since the 1950s, what are the biggest questions facing humankind as we try to avert climate disaster and beat disease whilst opening the frontiers of personalized, precision medicine? As a tech optimist, I had the chance to make the positive case at this year's ISSR gathering of scientists engaged with philosophy and theology, whilst also addressing the pessimistic challenges.

This lecture was given in Swindon on July 2nd 2025 at the ISSR Conference.

https://www.issr.org.uk

The Polymath World Channel brings you interviews with extraordinary researchers and academics working on the frontiers of their disciplines. Meet and hear from scientists, professors, lecturers, researchers, engineers, philosophers and astronauts.

Don’t forget to like and subscribe. New episodes every Wednesday.

#polymathworldchannel #pursueextraordinary #syntheticbiology #geneticengineering #climatechange #CRISPR #bioethics #environmentalscience #biotechnology #humanevolution #agriculture #sciencecommunication

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