Hi, I'm Prosanta, and I'm excited to answer all the questions you have about evolution (but have been afraid to ask). I think the science of evolution remains controversial among the general public (not among scientists) because the topic hasn't been explained very well and the facts are often misunderstood. After moving to Louisiana from New York City, where I grew up, the Governor of my adopted state, Bobby Jindal, passed a law that allowed public school teachers to introduce non-science (including religious) perspectives as alternatives when teaching evolution and other scientific topics. That's when I started to write my new book Explaining Life Through Evolution.

With the teaching of evolution being recently removed or banned from places like India and Türkiye (formally known as Turkey), and with more and more people learning about their ancestry from DNA tests, and with new gene editing tools like CRISPR becoming available, I think it is more important than ever that everyone understand evolution. The consequences of not understanding evolution have led to the promotion of racism and eugenics that are not in line with the science.

I'm here from (2-4pm ET, 18-20 UT) so ask me about evolutionary misconception that just won't go extinct or about why we are more fish than monkey or about the roots of our 'Tree Of Life'. AMA!

Username: /u/the_mit_press