Finches on the Galapagos Islands have evolved to exploit almost every possible niche. This diagram shows the range of food sources available on the island and the different beak shapes adapted to exploit each of them.

Explore the ideas and evidence that helped Charles Darwin create his theory of evolution

Becoming Human is an interactive documentary experience that tells the story of human origins. Multimedia, research and scholarship are presented to promote greater understanding of the course of human evolution. This site includes classroom materials, subject-designed exercises, games and activities to help make connections between the concepts that are presented and student learning. PDF versions of the resources may be downloaded from the site.

This video segment from Evolution: "Darwin's Dangerous Idea," together with interviews with Daniel Dennett and James Moore, depicts Darwin struggling with publicizing his revolutionary theory.

This subject offers a broad survey of texts (both literary and philosophical) drawn from the Western tradition and selected to trace the immediate intellectual antecedents and some of the implications of the ideas animating Darwin’s revolutionary On the Origin of Species. Darwin’s text, of course, is about the mechanism that drives the evolution of life on this planet, but the fundamental ideas of the text have implications that range well beyond the scope of natural history, and the assumptions behind Darwin’s arguments challenge ideas that go much further back than the set of ideas that Darwin set himself explicitly to question - ideas of decisive importance when we think about ourselves, the nature of the material universe, the planet that we live upon, and our place in its scheme of life. In establishing his theory of natural selection, Darwin set himself, rather self-consciously, to challenge a whole way of thinking about these things. The main focus of attention will be Darwin’s contribution to the so-called “argument from design” - the notion that innumerable aspects of the world (and most particularly the organisms within it) display features directly analogous to objects of human design and, since design implies a designer, that an intelligent, conscious agency must have been responsible for their organization and creation. Previously, it had been argued that such features must have only one of two ultimate sources - chance or conscious agency. Darwin proposed and elaborated a third source, which he called Natural Selection, an unconscious agency capable of outdoing the most complex feats of human intelligence.
The course of study will not only examine the immediate inspiration for this idea in the work of Adam Smith and Thomas Malthus and place Darwin’s Origin and the theory of Natural Selection in the history of ensuing debate, but it will also touch upon related issues.

Humans are social animals; social demands, both cooperative and competitive, structure our development, our brain and our mind. This course covers social development, social behaviour, social cognition and social neuroscience, in both human and non-human social animals. Topics include altruism, empathy, communication, theory of mind, aggression, power, groups, mating, and morality. Methods include evolutionary biology, neuroscience, cognitive science, social psychology and anthropology.

As part of the University of Nottingham, School of Biology's 200 years of Darwin celebrations,
evolutionary geneticist Professor John Brookfield in full Victorian attire delivered a talk, as Darwin, on the theory of evolution via natural selection.

In this video Professor John Brookfield is interviewed about his experience of being Darwin for a day

Interview took place March 2009

Suitable for Undergraduate study and community education

Professor John Brookfield, Professor of Evolutionary Genetics, School of Biology

Professor John Brookfield has a BA in Zoology, University of Oxford 1976; PhD in Population Genetics, University of London 1980; He has worked as a Research Demonstrator in Genetics, University College of Swansea 1979-1981; Visiting Fellow, Laboratory of Genetics, The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, North Carolina 1981-1983; Lecturer in Genetics, University of Leicester 1983-1986; Lecturer (1987), Reader (1997) and Professor of Evolutionary Genetics (2004) University of Nottingham. He was Managing Editor, Heredity (2000-2003). Vice-President (External Affairs), Genetics Society 2008-, Appointed Fellow of the Institute of Biology, 2009. Member RAE Biological Sciences Panel and Sub-Panel, 2001 and 2008.

As part of the University of Nottingham, School of Biology's 200 years of Darwin celebrations,
evolutionary geneticist Professor John Brookfield in full Victorian attire delivered a talk, as Darwin, on the theory of evolution via natural selection.

In this video Professor John Brookfield is interviewed about his experience of being Darwin for a day

Interview took place March 2009

Suitable for Undergraduate study and community education

Professor John Brookfield, Professor of Evolutionary Genetics, School of Biology

Professor John Brookfield has a BA in Zoology, University of Oxford 1976; PhD in Population Genetics, University of London 1980; He has worked as a Research Demonstrator in Genetics, University College of Swansea 1979-1981; Visiting Fellow, Laboratory of Genetics, The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, North Carolina 1981-1983; Lecturer in Genetics, University of Leicester 1983-1986; Lecturer (1987), Reader (1997) and Professor of Evolutionary Genetics (2004) University of Nottingham. He was Managing Editor, Heredity (2000-2003). Vice-President (External Affairs), Genetics Society 2008-, Appointed Fellow of the Institute of Biology, 2009. Member RAE Biological Sciences Panel and Sub-Panel, 2001 and 2008.

In this unit, we describe the theory of evolution by natural selection as proposed by Charles Darwin in his book, first published in 1859, On The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. We will look at natural selection as Darwin did, taking inheritance for granted, but ignoring the mechanisms underlying it.

This course provides a broad conceptual and historical introduction to scientific theories of evolution and their place in the wider culture. It embraces historical, scientific and anthropological/cultural perspectives grounded in relevant developments in the biological sciences since 1800 that are largely responsible for the development of the modern theory of evolution by natural selection. Students read key texts, analyze key debates (e.g. Darwinian debates in the 19th century, and the creation controversies in the 20th century) and give class presentations.

This video segment from Evolution: "Darwin's Dangerous Idea" illustrates the remarkable camouflage of a praying mantis against its leafy backdrop.

This video from Evolution highlights Charles Darwin's personal struggle to bring to light his theory of evolution through natural selection.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Exotic species are a big problem worldwide. While the mechanisms of invasion vary from one exotic species to the next, researchers can tease out patterns that are useful for understanding and ultimately managing invasion. A new study published in the Journal of Biogeography reveals how one team has applied an emerging method known as the phylogenetic field approach to do just that for exotic plants in Japan. The results offer critical insight into how ecology and evolution influence the dynamics of invasion. Darwin’s On the Origin of Species marked the first time biological invasion had been addressed using the principles of evolutionary ecology. But followed to their logical end, these principles yielded two contradictory hypotheses. The pre-adaptation hypothesis states that exotic species successfully colonize assemblages with native species that are ecologically similar because both require the same set of environmental conditions to thrive..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This course explores recent historical and anthropological approaches to the study of medicine and biology. Topics might include interaction of disease and society; science, colonialism, and international health; impact of new technologies on medicine and the life sciences; neuroscience and psychiatry; race, biology and medicine. Specific emphasis varies from year to year.

This course offers an introduction to the history and historiography of science from ancient Greece to the present. It is designed to serve as an introduction for those who have no prior background in the field and to deepen the knowledge of those who already do. We will consider how the history of science has responded to its encounters with philosophy, sociology, economics, and anthropology. Our readings and discussions will focus on determining what makes particular works effective, understanding major contemporary trends and debates in the history of science, and establishing resources for further research.

This course covers the political, social and cultural history of Europe from 1815 to 1900, including the history of each major European nation.

Psychology is designed to meet scope and sequence requirements for the single-semester introduction to psychology course. The book offers a comprehensive treatment of core concepts, grounded in both classic studies and current and emerging research. The text also includes coverage of the DSM-5 in examinations of psychological disorders. Psychology incorporates discussions that reflect the diversity within the discipline, as well as the diversity of cultures and communities across the globe.Senior Contributing AuthorsRose M. Spielman, Formerly of Quinnipiac UniversityContributing AuthorsKathryn Dumper, Bainbridge State CollegeWilliam Jenkins, Mercer UniversityArlene Lacombe, Saint Joseph's UniversityMarilyn Lovett, Livingstone CollegeMarion Perlmutter, University of Michigan

By the end of this section, you will be able to:Explain the basic principles of the theory of evolution by natural selectionDescribe the differences between genotype and phenotypeDiscuss how gene-environment interactions are critical for expression of physical and psychological characteristics