Nerd Pride Radio

Mike, I thought of your various science obsessions . It's so cool that this guy was able to figure out something really groundbreaking, by becoming an expert in a modest and easily-overlooked subject. The whole bag of details is really interesting for its own sake, but beyond that I love the underlying story about science. Even long-standing assumptions can be overturned with new evidence. Even small subjects can yield a wealth of information we want to know about our world. It matters when people develop true expertise. Etc.

So cool. And slightly over my head, but still fascinating.

Thank you.

In my opinion, this seems to go along with the theory of the very first multi-cellular organisms were really just a single cell organism that let itself be engulfed by another single cell organism for protection. Then they started dividing together and suddenly a multi-cellular organism was born. Clearly this is an oversimplification, but the idea that we might just be millions and billions of smaller entities working in symbiosis is fascinating to me. The fact that's what a lichen is!? Amazing!

Yeah, this story works on multiple levels for me. The idea that life, even "simple" life, has more twists and turns than we thought is pretty awesome. But also the idea that long held "facts" in science are being overturned makes me really happy.