Current Events

  • Atmospheric CO2 Level Tops 400 ppm
    During the week of May 13th, the CO2 level at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii topped 400 ppm rep...Read more

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    Atmospheric CO2 Level Tops 400 ppm

    During the week of May 13th, the CO2 level at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii topped 400 ppm repeatedly. Daily levels of CO2 can vary due to weather, and there are seasonal trends as well. The level of atmospheric greenhouse gases continues to increase, now over 120 ppm since the Industrial Revolution began. For more on the Keeling Curve, see http://keelingcurve.ucsd.edu/. Find out more about greenhouse gases and warming.
  • Massive Tornado Outbreak on Tornado Alley
    The week of May 19 brings dozens of tornadoes to Tornado Alley in the states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Io...Read more

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    Massive Tornado Outbreak on Tornado Alley

    The week of May 19 brings dozens of tornadoes to Tornado Alley in the states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa, Illinois and Missouri. On May 20th, a massive tornado struck Moore, Oklahoma, devastating communities - destroying over 100 homes and hitting two elementary schools and a hospital - with many casualties and deaths. Our thoughts are with our friends and colleagues suffering from these storms. For more on the May 20th storms, see the NOAA Storm Prediction Center Storm Report.
  • Kansas Legislator Proposes Bill to Outlaw Sustainability Education
    A bill has been introduced in the Kansas legislature this week that would prohibit the promotion of ...Read more

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    Kansas Legislator Proposes Bill to Outlaw Sustainability Education

    A bill has been introduced in the Kansas legislature this week that would prohibit the promotion of sustainability. Here is a link to the one-page bill: http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2013_14/measures/documents/hb2366_00_0000.pdf. See report on Bloomberg News.
The evolution of dogs is described in this evolutionary tree. Time is represented horizontally on the tree. Dogs that are more closely related, like domestic dogs and gray wolves, are closer on the tree. Scientists at the University of California developed this evolutionary tree based on fossil evidence, comparison of modern dogs, and genetic analysis of DNA and proteins.
Click on image for full size
National Biological Information Infrastructure

Evolution

Evolution is the process of change through time. Many things evolve. Language evolves so that English spoken four hundred years ago during the time of playwright Shakespeare was very different than English spoken today. Technology evolves over time as new things are invented and modified. Scientific theories evolve as more data are collected and analyses are done. Life evolves over very long timescales as species change over many, many generations. This is called biological evolution. Evolution is the foundation for the modern sciences of paleontology (the study of fossils and the history of life), ecology (the study of ecosystems), and biology (the study of life) including medical science.

The links below hightlight resources on Windows to the Universe that are about biological evolution and related topics.

Evidence of Evolution

The Evidence of Evolution Exploratour examines the scientific evidence of biological evolution. Take the tour to travel through 10 web pages about the scientific theory that explains how and why living things change over many generations. Take the whole tour or explore individual topics listed below. Topics include:

Evolution in the News

Podcasts about Evolution

  • Evolution Revolution - A new study suggests human evolution has been supercharged the past 40,000 years. (1 min. 30 sec.) from NSF
  • Distant Whaletive - A research team has discovered the missing link between whales and their four-footed ancestors. (1 min. 30 sec.) from NSF
  • Got Mica? - Earth's first life may have formed inside a primordial soup that was sandwiched between the many layers of the mineral mica. (1 min. 30 sec.) from NSF

Video

Scientists who Researched Evolution

  • Charles Darwin was the first scientist to publish a comprehensive theory of evolution in the19th century.
  • Stephen Jay Gould expanded Darwin's theory with his own concept of punctuated equilibrium in the 20th century.
  • Leonardo da Vinci did a little bit of everything! When he was not painting the Mona Lisa, he was a scientist and discovered how sedimentary rocks and fossils are formed.

Related Resources

Last modified October 15, 2011 by Jennifer Bergman.

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Evidence of Evolution

This Windows to the Universe Exploratour examines the scientific evidence of biological evolution. Take the tour to travel through 10 web pages about the scientific theory that explains how and why living...more

Evidence of Evolution

Leonardo Da Vinci, 15th century Italian artist, scientist and inventor, was one of the first to document the types of fossils he found and noticed that different fossils were found in different rocks....more

Evidence of Evolution

Scientists use the word theory differently than nonscientists. "It’s just a theory," you hear people say. When speaking casually, people often use the word "theory" to mean a "guess" or a "feeling". In...more

Evidence of Evolution

A species of moth in England called the peppered moth is found in two varieties: light gray and dark gray. The light gray version used to be far more common, but researchers observed that between 1848...more

Evidence of Evolution

Examples of natural selection processes are well documented in life forms that have very rapid life cycles such as bacteria. Bacteria (domain Eubacteria) are tiny, single-celled prokaryotic organisms....more

Evidence of Evolution

Molecular evolution is the process of how genes in populations of organisms change over time. Techniques to explore genes and chromosomes, such as electrophoresis and DNA and RNA sequencing, allow scientists...more

Genetic Sequencing of Protein from T. rex Bone Confirms Dinosaurs' Link to Birds

Scientists have put more meat on the theory that dinosaurs' closest living relatives are modern-day birds. Molecular analysis, or genetic sequencing, of a 68-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex protein...more

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