How Evolution Actually Works: The Great Transitions in the History of Life | Neil Shubin

I had the incredible honour of speaking with Neil Shubin — a great evolutionary biologist, paleontologist, author, and science communicator who has led fossil-hunting expeditions around the world. Among his pioneering discoveries is the 375-million-year-old Tiktaalik roseae, an important transitional form between fish and land animals. Tiktaalik was the focus of his bestselling book Your Inner Fish (2008), later adapted into an Emmy Award-winning PBS series, as well as The Universe Within: The Deep History of the Human Body (2013). He is also the author of Some Assembly Required: Decoding Four Billion Years of Life from Ancient Fossils to DNA (2020), and most recently Ends of the Earth: Journeys to the Polar Regions in Search of Life, the Cosmos, and Our Future (2025).

If you’re curious about how evolution actually works, life’s great transitions, or how scientists piece together the deep history of our planet, I think you’ll enjoy this conversation. And yes, I couldn't help mentioning Darwin a couple of times — he was such a remarkable person, and any discussion about evolution that doesn't mention him feels incomplete.