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Show 4: The Evolutionary Arms Race |
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57 minutes, 8 DVD chapters |
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Chapter 1. Prologue (2:23) |
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Introduction to the show's theme: the "arms race" between predator and prey as a driving force in evolution.
- Example where a microbe is predator, humans are prey
- Russian prisons have spawned a deadly microbe
- If we harness evolution, can we reach a truce with this enemy?
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Chapter 2. Newts, Snakes, and Co-Evolution (7:33) |
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Biological forces driving species' evolution
- Why is the rough-skinned newt so poisonous?
- Garter snakes' high resistance to toxicity and the evolutionary benefits and costs
- Predators evolving to defeat prey, and prey evolving to evade predators
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Chapter 3. Microscopic Predators (3:02) |
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Infectious diseases and the invention of antibiotics
- Disease-causing microorganisms are modern humans' only predator
- The development of antibiotics in the early 20th century
- The mistaken belief that science had defeated infectious diseases
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Chapter 4. The Tuberculosis Epidemic (13:57) |
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The rise of drug-resistant tuberculosis in Russia
- Overcrowded Russian prisons: ground zero for a new tuberculosis (TB) epidemic
- What is tuberculosis? How is it contracted?
- Two personal stories of TB: a prisoner and a young medical student
- The evolution of drug-resistant TB strains and scientists' efforts to fight back
- Are we prepared for an epidemic? Using DNA "fingerprints" to track the global spread of TB
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Chapter 5. Domesticating Germs (5:24) |
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Understanding and harnessing the power of microbe evolution
- Can we drive microbes to evolve in ways that benefit us?
- The connection between a microbe's harmfulness and its transmission
- South America's cholera epidemic: an example of evolution in action
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Chapter 6. Survival of the Wild Cats (6:52) |
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Studying resistance to Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV) and parallels to HIV
- Domestic cats suffer from FIV
- Virus-resistant mutations and why wild cats are safe from FIV
- Are there humans with HIV-resistant mutations? Resistance and the bubonic plague
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Chapter 7. Symbiosis and Leafcutter Ants (10:11) |
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Cooperation as a driving factor in evolution
- Definition and examples of mutualistic symbiosis
- Symbiosis in the rainforest: leafcutter ants and their cultivated fungus
- Parallels between ant and human agriculture and pest management
- Microbes: the base of the world's complex ecosystems
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Chapter 8. Good Germs (7:08) |
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Microbes helping, not harming, humans
- Are too-clean environments harming our immune systems?
- Humans evolved surrounded, and supported, by microbes
- Humans, the only species aware of evolution and its history
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Buy the DVD |
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