A litany on Science 2.0 is that when something comes up that might be about fish, call Neil Shubin - because he can make anything about fish.
That's because we can make almost anything about fish. He has told the story before, and recounts in his new television show, that students in an anatomy class he taught likely wanted a refund when he explained he was a fish biologist, until he showed them what we all had in common.
Tiktaalik roseae, a 375-million-year-old Devonian period specimen, is one of the great examples of multi-disciplinary science collaboration; biology predicted it, geology predicted how to find it and paleontology predicted where to look. Then they found it.
Writing in Slate, Chris Mooney says this was not simply a science issue; the lunatic fringe of religion - young Earth creationists, who believe the Earth is only a few thousand years old - believe it is instead...well, what they believe is unclear. A prank by God? A test of faith? Nothing that makes any sense.
But Shubin is a happy guy, he loves what he does, and he seeks to change hearts and minds talking about his work with a smile on his face. Anti-science efforts to deny evolution will always work with some, just like anti-science efforts to deny genetics works with food fundamentalists, but most people are pretty reasonable. They respond to evidence.
The Real Darwin Fish by Chris Mooney, Slate
