Evolution Resources
Here are additional resources to learn about evolution. Some provide further explanation and examples to help you get more comfortable with class concepts. Others give information on issues we don’t have time to discuss in class and allow you to dig deeper to answer questions you might have.
Please use the right sidebar or search bar to quickly find relevant resources. If you have any suggestions for additions to these resources, please send me a link.
Evolution—Is it really true?
- Evolution: It’s a Thing 🡕
- Evolution observed: The Longest-Running Evolution Experiment 🡕 (17 min)
- Myths and misconceptions about evolution 🡕
- Richard Dawkins: Show me the intermediate fossils! 🡕
- Richard Dawkins: Why are there still Chimpanzees? 🡕
- Why are there still monkeys? 🡕
- Have we ever seen evolution happen? 🡕
- Can evolution make an eye? 🡕
- Have we ever seen a new species arise? 🡕
- Does evolution violate the 2nd law of thermodynamics? 🡕
Isn’t Evolution just a theory, not a fact?
- When speaking formally, science uses the word “theory” differently than in common usage. There is the “germ theory of disease”, but no one says, “aren’t germs just a theory, not a fact?”
- a good written explanation of what “theory” and “law” mean in science vs. ordinary language
- “Why Science is Not ‘Just a Theory’” 🡕
- Why You Should Never Say “It’s Just A Theory” 🡕
How are new species created?
- COSMOS - Evolution 🡕
- This is a poetic animated description of how species repeatedly branched off from earlier species, eventually leading to humans.
- Speciation: Of Ligers & Men 🡕
- Evolution of dogs explained by Neil deGrasse Tyson - Excerpt from Cosmos A space time Odyssey 🡕
- Speciation of dogs from wolves based, in part, on human intervention
When was the first chicken/dog/bird/human?
- There Was No First Human 🡕
- This discussion of the first human helps explain the concept of speciation and species more broadly
- Which Came First - The Chicken or the Egg? 🡕
- “It has perplexed humanity from as early as the Ancient Greeks. So which came first, the chicken or the egg? We take a crack at this curious conundrum.”
Natural selection
Explainers: DNA, genes, chromosomes, alleles
- How DNA, genes, and chromosomes differ: What is a Chromosome? 🡕
- Simple introduction on how DNA works: What is DNA and How Does it Work? 🡕
- How genes and genetically modified organisms work: What is a gene? 🡕
- DNA Doesn’t Look Like What You Think! 🡕
- What is an Allele? Quick Definition 🡕 (3 min)
- How early microbes evolved new genes: Where do genes come from? 🡕
Simulating evolution
- Simulating Natural Selection 🡕
- Simulating Competition and Logistic Growth 🡕
- Simulating the Evolution of Aggression 🡕
- Simulating Green Beard Altruism 🡕
- this video relates to both altruism and cooperation
- Simulating the Evolution of Sacrificing for Family 🡕
Common ancestry
- Proof of Evolution Is Hiding in Your DNA 🡕
- DNA Evidence That Humans & Chimps Share A Common Ancestor: Endogenous Retroviruses 🡕 (13 min)
- This fairly technical video provides compelling evidence that humans and chimps share a common ancestor.
How do mutations create new traits?
- Part 1: How Does New Genetic Information Evolve? Point Mutations 🡕
- Part 2: How Does New Genetic Information Evolve? Gene Duplications 🡕
Sexual selection
- Mechanisms of Natural Selection Part 1: Types of Sexual Selection 🡕
- ‘Flaunting It’—Sexual Selection and the Art of Courtship 🡕
- This one is a bit challenging to process but it has many important ideas in it.
- Sexual Selection vs Natural Selection 🡕 (3 min)
- Darwin Day Special! What is Sexual Selection? 🡕
- Useful wikipedia pages:
Sexual selection examples
Imperfect “design”
Birds are dinosaurs
Altruism, Symbiosis, and Cooperation
- What is Symbiosis? 🡕
- Richard Dawkins on Altruism and The Selfish Gene 🡕
- Simulating the Evolution of Sacrificing for Family 🡕
- Cooperation between species (not among members of a species): How Does Cooperation Evolve? 🡕
- The flip side of cooperation: Mechanisms of Natural Selection Part 2: Conflict, Spite, and Reciprocity 🡕
- How Does Cooperation Evolve? 🡕
- Altruism 🡕
Nature/nurture
Epigenitics
Human evolution
- Seven Million Years of Human Evolution 🡕
- Where Did Humans Come From? 🡕
- Why Are We The Only Humans Left? 🡕
- Are We All Related? 🡕
- This Face TOTALLY Changes the Human Story 🡕
Human sexual selection
- Are Short Men at a Disadvantage in Romance? 🡕 - The bit at the very end that is hard to hear is a woman saying “I guess the only thing you could say is that the other four are criminals [or something like that].” You can then hear in the background another woman saying “psychotic”!
- Will Dancing Get You Laid? 🡕
The Wason selection task
Are humans still evolving?
- Are Humans Still Evolving? 🡕
- Genetic engineering: CRISPR and the Future of Human Evolution 🡕
Innate (genetic) aspects of psychology
Other
- Why do we reproduce through sex rather than cloning or other methods? Why Is Sex a Thing? 🡕
- Simulating Green Beard Altruism 🡕
- this video relates to both altruism and cooperation
- Can your genes turn against you? Genetic conflict & the Parliament of genes! 🡕 (17 min)
- Where Did Music Come From? 🡕
- Evolutionarily Stable Strategies ft. Richard Dawkins 🡕
Useful YouTube channels
- Stated Clearly 🡕
- Genetics & Evolution Stated Casually 🡕 — more content from the “Stated Clearly” creator
- Be Smart 🡕 — general science channel with many videos relevant to evolution
- The channel Primer 🡕 has a good playlist about evolution 🡕 with a focus on demonstrating principles using computer simulations; these are more mathematically complex than the other channels but are valuable even if you don’t follow the equations.
- Understanding genetics 🡕 — TedEd playlist covering many interesting topics in genetics
Evolution-related websites
- EvoS Journal | Welcome to the EvoS Consortium! 🡕 — produces a journal that publishes undergraduate student papers