In their second episode of Shelf Life, the American Museum of Natural History taps curator Darrel Frost to talk about taxonomy and the science of classification.
From humanity’s earliest days, we’ve been pretty intent on naming and classifying things. After all, without words like “banana” or “tiger,” it would be difficult to ask important survival questions like “Are bananas good to eat?” and “Can a tiger outrun me?” But after we moved on from hunting, gathering, and escaping large carnivores, names became the lexicon that allowed more complicated investigations. To understand things, we have to name them and group them—and then we get to start asking questions about the world.
Read more about this episode and the history of taxonomy in the full article.
via AMNH
Matt Coneybeare
Editor in Chief
Matt enjoys exploring the City's with his partner and son. He is an avid marathon runner, and spends most of his time eating, running, and working on cool stuff.
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