Understanding Evolution

Biology Animations Carnegie Mellon's Office of Technology for Education and Department of Biological Sciences create multimedia materials for teaching and learning Biology. After an analysis of a number of Biology courses was performed to identify when and how shared concepts where taught, a team of biologists, media programmers, and learning experts came together to create animations designed to improve understanding of some of the main concepts taught in Modern Biology and Biochemistry. Phosopholipid Membranes Tutorial page describing the construction and properties of Biological Membranes. Biological Membranes Biological membranes are dynamic structures composed of a diverse set of phospholipid molecules and proteins. Phase Transition This tutorial explains how phospholipids bilayers undergo to a cooperative phase transition or melting that is similar to protein denaturation. back to index Signal Transdaction Serine Protease Uniport - Glucose Transport Symport - Lactose Permease Transporter ATP Synthesis

Evolutionary origins of the nervous system - Neurophilosophy THE human brain is a true marvel of nature. This jelly-like 1.5kg mass inside our skulls, containing hundreds of billions of cells which between them form something like a quadrillion connections, is responsible for our every action, emotion and thought. How did this remarkable and extraordinarily complex structure evolve? This question poses a huge challenge to researchers; brain evolution surely involved thousands of discrete, incremental steps, which occurred in the mists of deep time across hundreds of millions of years, and which we are unlikely to ever fully understand. Nevertheless, a number of studies published in recent years have begun to shed some light on the evolutionary origins of the nervous system, and provide clues to some of the earliest stages in the evolution of the human brain. The simplest nervous systems lack a brain, and instead consist of diffuse networks of nerves. “Such a complex arrangement could not have been invented twice throughout evolution. Related:

Human Evolution: The fossil evidence in 3D Welcome to the UCSB online 3D gallery of modern primate relatives and fossil ancestors of humans. This gallery contains five modern primate crania, and five fossil crania. The crania can be rotated 360 degrees. Each cranium is accompanied by a short description of its relevance to human evolution, and a site map. You will need the Shockwave plugin from Macromedia to view this gallery (most browsers have this installed already). Click here to enter the gallery. Click here for information on the much largerCD-ROM version. Trouble viewing the gallery? The gallery was developed by Phillip Walker and Ed Hagen, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara. This site also hosts the Evolutionary Psychology FAQ

Espace des sciences - DARWin : la théorie de l'évolution et la génétique humaine - Introduction - Conférence - Questions du public A partir d'une approche historique de la façon dont ont été élaborées la théorie de l'évolution et celle de l'hérédité, on explorera les interactions complexes entre la biologie et la société. Home of CELLS alive! Dispatches from the birth of the Universe: sometimes science gets lucky For the generations that grew up with TV before the age of cable, the box in our living room was a time machine, capable of taking us back to just a few hundred thousand years after the birth of the Universe. We just didn't realize it. Nor did the scientists that discovered this, at least at first. But luck seemed to play a large role in one of the biggest discoveries of our lifetime. That may not have been the intended message of the discussion called "Dispatches from the Birth of the Universe," hosted by the World Science Festival on Friday. The panel provided a good picture of our current state of knowledge on the birth of the Universe, and a glimpse at what we'll likely find out next. Lawrence Krauss, who moderated the panel, introduced it by turning on an old TV set on stage. But, even after the birth of television, nobody realized what it was. But the background they detected from Earth was smooth, while we know the Universe is lumpy, filled with complex structures. And Mather?

Why Evolution Is True Evolution MegaLab Make your own cartoons and animations easily. Our tools are free and you don't need to learn Flash. Scientist: Evolution debate will soon be history NEW YORK (AP) — Richard Leakey predicts skepticism over evolution will soon be history. Not that the avowed atheist has any doubts himself. Sometime in the next 15 to 30 years, the Kenyan-born paleoanthropologist expects scientific discoveries will have accelerated to the point that "even the skeptics can accept it." "If you get to the stage where you can persuade people on the evidence, that it's solid, that we are all African, that color is superficial, that stages of development of culture are all interactive," Leakey says, "then I think we have a chance of a world that will respond better to global challenges." Leakey, a professor at Stony Brook University on Long Island, recently spent several weeks in New York promoting the Turkana Basin Institute in Kenya. The institute, where Leakey spends most of his time, welcomes researchers and scientists from around the world dedicated to unearthing the origins of mankind in an area rich with fossils. View gallery

Artificial Selection in Evolution - Free High School Video What Is Artificial Selection? You've likely heard of natural selection, which is often described as the 'survival of the fittest.' This is a bit of a misnomer, because in evolution, individual organisms don't willfully adapt to their environment. Artificial selection is a bit different. Examples Because of the selective process of artificial selection, it is often called 'selective breeding.' Wild mustard has also been extensively selected and bred for certain traits. Animals have also been selected for in many domestic realms. The cows, pigs, and chickens that are eaten in the U.S. also have traits that are selectively bred. Pros and Cons There is no better way to create your 'perfect' organism than through artificial selection. However, in selecting this way you are playing a risky game. For example, let's look at purebred dogs, which are well known for their breed-specific health problems. Lesson Summary Artificial selection has been used by humans for thousands of years.