Evolutionary biologists: constrained by the data
On the January 14 Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert interviewed Neil Shubin. He’s an evolutionary biologist and one of the discoverers of Tiktaalik, that fish with legs that crawled out of the ocean 375 million years ago.
Stephen Colbert: Your book has a provocative title. It’s called Your Inner Fish: A Journey Into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body. Now what the hell does that mean! I do not have a fish inside me.
Neil Shubin: Actually your body is organized a lot like a fish.
Stephen Colbert: What is it with evolutionary biologists that they just can’t let people think what they want about themselves?
Neil Shubin: Well, we’re constrained by the data!
Shubin has also published a thoughtful guest post on Pharyngula discussing his experience going on national TV.