Bozeman Science
Evolution Continues
Paul Andersen explains how life has evolved and continues to evolve today. A brief discussion of artificial, natural and sexual selection is included. The beak of the finch is used to explain how directional selection is achieved.
SciShow
What Did the First Animal Look Like?
If you trace your way back along the tree of life, eventually you'd come face-to-face with the very first animal. But what exactly would that animal have looked like?
SciShow
Where Did Humans Come From?
Hank tells us about new and confusing discoveries in the field of Human Evolution.
Bozeman Science
Comparing DNA Sequences
Paul Andersen shows you how to compare DNA sequences to understand evolutionary relationships. He starts with a brief introduction to cladograms and evolutionary relationships. He shows you how to classify DNA relationships using a...
MinuteEarth
You Are A Fish
With our current understanding of evolutionary history and our strategy of cladistic naming, if we wanted to have both goldfish and sharks under a single group called "fish", then mammals must also be called fish....
PBS
When Apes Conquered Europe
Today, our closest evolutionary relatives, the apes, live only in small pockets of Africa and Asia. But back in the Miocene epoch, apes occupied all of Europe. Why aren't there wild apes in Europe today?
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Alex Gendler: How languages evolve
Over the course of human history thousands of languages have developed from what was once a much smaller number. How did we end up with so many? And how do we keep track of them all? Alex Gendler explains how linguists group languages...
Crash Course
Human Evolution: Crash Course Big History
In which John Green and Hank Green teach you about how human primates moved out of Africa and turned Earth into a real-life Planet of the Apes. And the apes are people! John and Hank teach you about how humans evolved, and the sort of...
Bozeman Science
Speciation and Extinction
Paul Andersen details the evolutionary processes of speciation and extinction. Stickleback evolution in Lake Loberg is used as example of rapid speciation. Adaptive radiation is illustrated using the Hawaiian honeycreeper. A brief...
PBS
Where Did Viruses Come From?
There are fossils of viruses, of sorts, preserved in the DNA of the hosts that they've infected. Including you. This molecular fossil trail can help us understand where viruses came from, how they evolved and it can even help us tackle...
Bozeman Science
Cladograms
Paul Andersen shows you how to construct a cladogram from a group of organisms using shared characteristics. He also discusses the process of parsimony in cladogram construction. He then explains how modern cladograms are constructed and...
SciShow
Solving the 70 Million Year “Gap” in Flower Evolution
More than 90% of the plants on Earth are angiosperms, flowering plants whose seeds are enclosed inside fruit. And they’re everywhere -- but exactly how and when these plants came to be so ubiquitous is one of the most stubborn questions...
Bozeman Science
Phylogenetics
Paul Andersen discusses the specifics of phylogenetics. The evolutionary relationships of organisms are discovered through both morphological and molecular data. A specific type of phylogenetic tree, the cladogram, is also covered.
PBS
What Was the Ancestor of Everything?
The search for our origins go back to a single common ancestor -- one that remains shrouded in mystery. It's the ancestor of everything we know and today scientists call it the last universal common ancestor, or LUCA.
Be Smart
How Evolution Turned A Possum Into A Wolf
Until the early 20th century, Tasmania was home to a very weird wolf-like creature. Except that it wasn't a wolf. Even though it looked like a wolf. How did that happen? Here's the science of convergent evolution!
Bozeman Science
The Origin of Life - Scientific Evidence
Paul Andersen discusses scientific evidence of the origin of life on our planet. He begins with a brief discussion of the age of the earth and ends with the future of humanity. He includes geologic, chemical and molecular data.
PBS
Your Place in the Primate Family Tree
Purgatorius, a kind of mammal called a plesiadapiform, might've been one of your earliest ancestors. But how did we get from a mouse-sized creature that looked more like a squirrel than a monkey -- to you, a member of Homo sapiens?
Bizarre Beasts
This Furry Potato Is An Evolutionary Mystery
New ReviewHyraxes are furry potatoes that look a lot like rodents, but at the mammal family reunion, you won’t find them sitting by the groundhogs and chinchillas. Instead, their actual cousins are elephants and sea cows…and we’re not sure which...
Bizarre Beasts
Why Do River Dolphins Look… Like That?
New ReviewWhy are there dolphins in rivers, and why do they look... like that? There are a handful of very similar-looking, but somehow unrelated river dolphins around the world. Where did they all come from, and what is it about living in rivers...
Curated Video
How Evolution Works: Debunking Misconceptions with Science
Evolution is inherited change in a population of organisms over time resulting in appearance of new forms, under the influence of pressure from the environment. Note changes are in populations not individual organisms. Another point is...
Curated Video
Five Science "Facts" that Are Widely Believed but Wrong
SUMMARY "Facts" that are not quite correct: 1) There is no gravity in space 2) Nothing can go faster than the speed of light. 3) Bees shouldn’t be able to fly according to physics. I will explain this using Physics 4) Humans evolved from...
Curated Video
Are All Humans Related? The Science of Genetic Connection
Are we all related? Yes, in fact, all life is related. You Are Related to a Tomato! A lot of you know that apes and humans share a common ancestor – so you know you’re related to Bonzo the ape at your local zoo. But did you know that you...
Professor Dave Explains
Invertebrate Chordates Part 2: Subphylum Tunicata (Tunicates)
Continuing with the invertebrate chordates, we arrive at subphylum Tunicata, also known as the tunicates. There are over 3,000 species within this clade, and the creatures are fascinating. The body of a tunicate is enclosed in a thick...
Curated Video
This Animal Is Closely Related to the Elephant!
Trace the connection between these unlikely animal relatives along with San Diego Zoo's Olivia Degn.