jojo1067.gif (2226 bytes) An Introduction to Evolution

These readings will give you the background needed for the discussions in class. Many are available at http://www.talkorigins.org/ Just click on the link to the left to view all the articles available or just click on the assignments listed below. There are also many useful links at this site.

  1. Evolution of the Cosmos Slide Show. (Alternative Format)
  2. "Without Miracles" by Gary Cziko
  3. "The Things We Do" again by Gary Cziko
  4. DarwinsHammer.gif (4971 bytes) View Darwin's Hammer Movie
  5. A series of evolution lectures by Tim Benton
  6. Cambridge Cosmology: The Big Bang and other questions.
  7. Ned Wright's Cosmology Tutorial
  8. Galaxies, Black Holes, and other pix.
  9. Evolution of Early Life Slide Show.   (Alternative Format)
  10. See the Origin of Life for an introduction to early evolution.
  11. Early Life Thrived Despite Earthly Travails.
  12. Eucaryotic Evolution: The Symbiogenisis Theory. (Alternative Format)
  13. The Road to Multicellular Life
  14. Going Beyond Appearances to Find Life's Early History.
  15. Life: What Exactly is it?
  16. The Origin of Life.
  17. Talk Origins Archive: Home Page.
  18. Scientists Find Smallest Form of Life, if It Lives More on nanobes is here. The original paper with more pix is here.
  19. An Illustrated Guide to the Origin of Species. From the BBC.
  20. Introduction: What is evolution, and what is needed?
  21. Introduction to Evolutionary Biology: Read this carefully. It presents the major concepts of evolutionary biology.
  22. What is Evolution?: This will be helpful in later discussions.
  23. Selection Filmstrip.
  24. Darwin's Finches!
  25. Evolution is a Fact and a Theory: What exactly is a theory in the sciences?
  26. Geological Time Scale: We can't discuss evolutionary mechanisms without this.
  27. Evolution and Chance: The role of chance and randomness in evolutionary processes is discussed here.
  28. Where it all began: A website devoted to the Galapagos Islands. Jump to beak pix.
  29. Visit the Evolvovision site (don't forget to click on the TV).
  30. Richard Dawkins home page. Lots of useful evolution links.
  31. Teaching about evolution. Intended as lesson plans for high school teachers, but the chapters are good references. You can safely ignore the teaching references.
  32. Listen to a lecture by Richard Dawkins.
  33. Does Evolutionary History Take Million-Year Breaks?
  34. Covergent evolution. Read a short discussion here.
  35. Hear a reconstructed simulation of a dinosaur roar.
  36. Modes of Speciation.
  37. If interested, read The Voyage of the Beagle (NOTE: This is not an assignment!). The entire text, by Charles Darwin.
  38. Pre-Darwinian Evolutionary Theories
  39. Evolutionary Threads
  40. Strange Science: The Rocky Road to Modern Paleontology and Biology. Oops.