"One Voice in the Cosmic Fugue"

.......


Sagan discusses the story of the Heike crab and artificial selection of crabs resembling samurai warriors, as an opening into a larger discussion of evolution through natural selection (and the pitfalls of intelligent design). Among the topics are the development of life on the Cosmic Calendar and the Cambrian explosion; the function of DNA in growth; genetic replication, repairs, and mutation; the common biochemistry of terrestrial organisms; the creation of the molecules of life in the Miller–Urey experiment; and speculation on alien life (such as life in Jupiter's clouds). In the Cosmos Update ten years later, Sagan remarks on RNA also controlling chemical reactions and reproducing itself and the different roles of comets (potentially carrying organic molecules or causing the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event).


Cosmos Episode 2 Worksheet                            Name:___________________

Directions: Answer the questions as you watch episode 2 of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey

1.  What are two of the things human ancestors used the sky for?



2.  What caused the wolf to NOT come and get the bone from Neil deGrasse Tyson?



3.  How many years ago did wolves begin to evolve into dogs?