A crash course in Evolutionary Biology

Dispel common misconceptions about evolution by clarifying the difference between evolution and natural selection, and explore phylogeny, last common ancestors, and the age of the Earth.

Trace pre-darwinian thinking, from Lamarck and the inheritance of acquired characteristics to Darwin's era, where mutation, natural variation, and survival of the fittest shaped evolution.

Follow Darwin's Beagle voyage and his observations of variation, adaptation, and competition that culminated in natural selection and the origin of species.

Explore how mutation drives variation through DNA structure, genes, and regulatory regions, with transcription and translation shaping evolution by natural selection.

Mutations drive physical appearance, behavior, and metabolism, showing context-dependent effects—from albinism and sickle cell trait to lactose tolerance—that fuel variation essential for evolution.

Explore how competition drives natural selection, including intra- and interspecific competition, sexual selection, abiotic and biotic factors, and Red Queen effect, with the horse's evolutionary story as a case study.

Explore how variation persists through Mendelian inheritance and Hardy-Weinberg principles, then see how selection drives adaptation and fixation across generations.

Explore evidence for evolution from fossils and genetics, highlighting shared ancestry, fossil record nuances, transitional forms like Tiktaalik, and the molecular clock that supports natural selection.

Explore the gene-centered view of evolution, where natural selection acts on genes rather than organisms, defines phenotypes as vehicles, and explains selfish genes and their impact on fitness.

Explore how sexual selection, sometimes opposing natural selection, drives traits via Bateman's principle and Fisher's principle, shaping sex ratios, the sexy sun hypothesis, and honest signals like the handicap principle.

Explore kin selection as the gene-centered explanation for altruism, detailing Hamilton's rule, direct and indirect reciprocity, green beard effects, and kin-based behavior in social insects.

Explore how genetic drift, the random fluctuation of allele frequencies in small populations, can fix or lose alleles independent of natural selection, including bottlenecks and founder effects.

Explore how speciation creates new species through mechanisms like allopatric speciation and polyploidy, driven by Dobzhansky Molla incompatibilities and changing gene flow.

Explore how meiosis creates gametes and crossing over to shuffle variation. Examine imprinting, mating strategies, and examples like the liger and wandering albatross.

Examine adaptive theories of evolution, from natural selection and mutation size to adaptive landscapes and seascapes, highlighting how small and large mutations steer fitness toward peaks.

Whole genome sequencing reframes evolution by showing speciation as a gradual accumulation of differences across genomes, with Dobzhansky-Muller incompatibilities, linkage, divergent hitchhikers, and Neanderthal interbreeding.

Trace Darwin’s voyage and natural selection from Lamarckism to mutation, variation, inheritance, and competition. Evaluate evidence from homology, molecular clocks, selfish gene theory, sexual and kin selection, drift, and speciation.