2025-04-25
38 分钟Welcome to Intelligence Squared, where great minds meet.
I'm producer Mia Sorrenti.
Understanding how the diversity of life on Earth came to be is one of the greatest puzzles in biology.
In his new book, The Tree of Life,
Professor Max Telford charts a four billion year journey through the evolution of our planet,
from humans, fish and butterflies, to oak trees, mushrooms and bacteria.
On today's episode...
Professor Telford sheds light on an epic history of the family tree that records the relationships between every living thing,
from Darwin's early sketches to the vast computer-generated diagrams scientists are building today.
Professor Max Telford is an evolutionary biologist and the Jodrell Chair of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy at University College London,
where he founded the Centre for Life's Origins and Evolution and the Telford Lab.
Joining Telford to discuss the book is Ganesh Taylor,
fellow at the Centre for Reproductive Health and Science Communicator.
Let's join Ganesh now with more.
Welcome to Intelligence Squared.
I'm Ganesh Taylor.
Our guest today is Max Telford.
Max is an evolutionary biologist and the Jodrell-Trair of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy at University College London,
where he founded the Centre of Life's Origins and Evolution and of course the eponymous Telford Lab.
He has spent the last three decades researching the shape of the Tree of Life,