Thread by @HeatherEHeying

Announcing Natural Selections – my brand new newsletter, hosted by Substack.

If it evolved, it’s fair game.
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Join me here for my very first post: Fact Checkers Aren’t Scientists – Too Often, They’re Censors. 2/
naturalselections.substack.com

From hummingbirds to humans, octopi to orchids, vipers to viruses, all of us, and all that we do, are the products of evolution. Natural Selections will explore form and function, behavior and culture, sex and science, all through an evolutionary lens. 3/

We are born curious, & ask questions soon after learning to talk. Where do babies come from? Why are there no more dinosaurs? Why do people get sick?

As an adult, you probably still have questions. Why does sex exist? What should I be eating? What is up with vampire bats? 4/

And then there are the questions you may not have thought to ask: Among the millions of species on Earth, which ones are monogamous, and why? What do dolphins, elephants, crows, parrots and apes have in common? How about lipstick and fast cars? 5/

I will not flinch from difficult topics, or ones about which there is disagreement among scientists. Science is messy. It’s inefficient and glorious and maddening and fun. Many people have been convinced that they’re not good at science,… 6/

…but nearly all of us have scientific capabilities. And every one of us deserves to be treated as if we can think for ourselves, rather than served up pre-digested pap by authorities who may or may not have our best interests at heart. 7/

Subscribe to get free posts right to your inbox—every Tuesday, and sometimes more often than that. (Tune in tomorrow, Fri, July 30, for a special post.) And paid subscribers will get access to additional benefits, including audio reads of the Tuesday posts. 8/

Everyone can engage the world scientifically, despite what you may have been told in school. Embracing science is about keeping your eyes and your mind open, and learning to recognize pattern. 9/

Science requires that we leave all possible explanations—hypotheses—for a given observation or trend on the table, and learn to sort the hypotheses based on evidence. Science is necessary, but science is also fun. 10/

I will be talking about beavers and handedness, relationships and the virus we now know as SARS-CoV2. Also parrots and elephants, the Amazon rainforest and coral reefs, brains and sex and love and parenting and childhood and food and more. If it evolved, it’s fair game. /end