Relatively brief videos have emerged as one of the most dynamic and influential forms of education out there. Think of PragerU, or Khan Academy. Casey Luskin wrote here recently about Khan Academy’s peddling junk science about evolution. That was troubling since students and interested adults alike naturally turn to just such a resource to brush up on their understanding of evolutionary theory.

We could complain about that — or we could do something about it, by offering better alternatives, as we in fact are. Stephen Meyer has a phenomenal series on evolution and intelligent design at PragerU. And now the Center for Science & Culture introduces a very engaging Internet personality, Lukas Ruegger, in an excellent series: Basics of Intelligent Design Biology. It has much the same vibe as Khan Academy — friendly, accessible, brief — but with far better and more up-to-date science. The first episode of Season 1, “Darwin’s Nightmare,” debuts here today:

As Lukas details, the great problem with the fossil record that worried Charles Darwin is not merely as yet unsolved by biologists. On the contrary, it has grown far more serious. Darwin expected that fossils would show countless instances of gradual transition between forms of life. Critics of his theory in his lifetime warned that abrupt appearance, not gradual change, was the rule. Darwin comforted himself with the thought that once more of the fossil record was explored by paleontologists, his “nightmare” would dissipate. The exact opposite has happened. Lukas shows that, as new fossilized organisms are discovered, ones Darwin never knew about, the pattern of abrupt appearances and biological explosions has become ever clearer.

That’s no surprise for the theory of intelligent design. It’s what a design perspective would expect. But it’s highly disturbing for neo-Darwinian theory. Watch this space next week for Episode 2 from Lukkas, “Still NO Fossils?”