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Sonic the Hedgehog Is Why You Have Thumbs!

The human hand, with its multi-talented thumb, might be man's greatest tool. But did you know we can trace that thumb, and the hand and arm it's connected to, all the way back to a 375 million-year-old fish named Tiktaalik? This week I sit down with paleontologist and geneticist Dr. Neil Shubin to learn what a fish, and a little blue hedgehog, can teach us about the evolution of thumbs
Season 2 Episode 26 Length 06:08 Premiere: 04/07/14

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Season 2 Episodes

The Physics of Space Battles
S2 E55 Length 05:13 Premiere Date 10/22/14

How to See Time Travel!!!
S2 E54 Length 03:38 Premiere Date 10/20/14

Why Does The Earth Have Layers?
S2 E53 Length 04:31 Premiere Date 10/13/14

Why Do Clouds Stay Up?
S2 E52 Length 05:13 Premiere Date 10/06/14

A Slice of Pizza Science!
S2 E51 Length 03:32 Premiere Date 10/02/14

The Real "Doctor Frankenstein"
S2 E48 Length 06:12 Premiere Date 09/02/14

The Science of Goats!
S2 E47 Length 03:35 Premiere Date 08/27/14

Where Does the Smell of Rain Come From?
S2 E45 Length 02:39 Premiere Date 08/18/14

What If There Were No Sharks?
S2 E44 Length 04:33 Premiere Date 08/11/14

The Oldest Living Things In The World
S2 E43 Length 05:40 Premiere Date 08/04/14

Sunburn, Sweat and the Science of Summer!
S2 E42 Length 04:16 Premiere Date 07/28/14

The Sun Is A Magnet!
S2 E41 Length 01:36 Premiere Date 07/21/14

How Your Body Knows Left From Right
S2 E40 Length 04:30 Premiere Date 07/18/14

You Are An Upside-Down Lobster
S2 E39 Length 04:13 Premiere Date 07/16/14

Why Is Your Brain Is In Your Head
S2 E38 Length 04:12 Premiere Date 07/14/14

The Delicious Science of Cheese
S2 E37 Length 05:36 Premiere Date 07/07/14

Why Did We Blow On Nintendo Games?
S2 E36 Length 05:10 Premiere Date 06/30/14

Carbon and Oxygen and You: Explained
S2 E35 Length 01:28 Premiere Date 06/16/14

Why Does Time Go Forward?
S2 E34 Length 02:44 Premiere Date 06/09/14

The Science of BBQ!!!
S2 E33 Length 07:27 Premiere Date 06/02/14

The Science of Game of Thrones
S2 E31 Length 07:31 Premiere Date 05/19/14

Your Mom is LITERALLY Part Of You!
S2 E30 Length 02:55 Premiere Date 05/11/14

The Far Future of the Universe
S2 E29 Length 04:58 Premiere Date 05/07/14

Could We Clone Ourselves?
S2 E28 Length 05:31 Premiere Date 05/04/14

The Amazing Science of DUST?
S2 E27 Length 05:19 Premiere Date 04/14/14

Sonic the Hedgehog Is Why You Have Thumbs!
S2 E26 Length 06:08 Premiere Date 04/07/14

There Was No First Human
S2 E24 Length 03:44 Premiere Date 03/24/14

Science of Marathon Running
S2 E23 Length 07:17 Premiere Date 03/17/14

How The Elements Got Their Names
S2 E22 Length 03:31 Premiere Date 03/03/14

What Are The Most Important Science Images Ever?
S2 E21 Length 06:23 Premiere Date 02/25/14

When Science Fiction Becomes Science Fact
S2 E20 Length 07:36 Premiere Date 02/19/14

The Science of Kissing
S2 E19 Length 05:25 Premiere Date 02/10/14

The Scale of the Universe
S2 E18 Length 04:06 Premiere Date 02/03/14

How Science Defines A Year
S2 E17 Length 04:45 Premiere Date 01/27/14

Claude Monet Was Half Honeybee
S2 E16 Length 04:26 Premiere Date 01/20/14

The Science of Snowflakes
S2 E14 Length 05:34 Premiere Date 03/31/16

The Universe in a Glass of Wine (Richard Feynman Remixed)
S2 E13 Length 02:30 Premiere Date 12/30/13

Why Do We Cook?
S2 E12 Length 05:34 Premiere Date 12/23/13

How to Read Science News
S2 E11 Length 07:30 Premiere Date 12/19/13

Is There Intelligent Life Beyond Earth?
S2 E10 Length 07:51 Premiere Date 12/09/13

Exoplanets: Are There Other Earths?
S2 E9 Length 04:20 Premiere Date 12/02/13

Ghosts of Evolution
S2 E8 Length 04:30 Premiere Date 11/25/13

Do the Nobel Prizes Still Make Sense in the 21st Century?
S2 E6 Length 07:08 Premiere Date 11/04/13

Why Do Things Sound Scary?
S2 E5 Length 05:46 Premiere Date 10/28/13

Why Do We Go to Space?
S2 E4 Length 02:53 Premiere Date 09/23/13

There Are Millions of Skeletons Hidden In Washington, DC
S2 E3 Length 03:19 Premiere Date 09/09/13

Nature's Most Amazing Animal Superpowers
S2 E2 Length 08:05 Premiere Date 08/07/13

How Big is the Solar System?
S2 E1 Length 07:07 Premiere Date 07/15/13

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