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Menu. Main navigation. Work. Updating Darwin. Weismann & Inheritance. Darwin’s theory of natural selection is critical for the modern study of evolution. However, as important as its central idea is, The Origin of Species is not the 'bible' of

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Case Studies. Flowers. When Darwin first proposed his theory of evolution by natural selection many people collected orchids. Their complicated and delicate flowers were held up by some as an example of nature’s beauty

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Case Studies. Mimicry. When one species looks very similar to another we say they mimic one another. You’ll be familiar with some common mimics, for example many bee, wasp and hoverfly species mimic each other all

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Evolution. Speciation: The Origin Of Species. Darwin’s great book is titled On the Origin of Species, but some have said this is misleading. Darwin discusses evolution, common descent and natural selection at great

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Case Studies. Hox Genes & Animal Body Plans. Animals have very different body plans. Compare, for example, a centipede to a bird, or a mouse to a fly, and it’s easy to see the differences. How has evolution produced

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Applications. Evolving Drug Design. Humans are the product of evolution. Many of the diseases we have to put up with are also either the product, or by-product of evolution. Can we turn this on its head and use

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Evolution. Sexual Selection. In order to leave an evolutionary legacy survival is not enough. Individuals must also reproduce. Over 90% of species reproduce sexually, meaning two individuals from each sex must mate in

It was his first lesson in gradualism. He didn’t wait long to put it into practice either.

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Updating Darwin. The Eclipse Of Darwin. Like many revolutionary scientific theories, Darwin's ideas were not accepted immediately. His theory suggested that the origins of life are both cruel and blind - relying on death

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Darwin & Cambridge Today. Cambridge Then & Now. The University of Cambridge celebrates the 800th anniversary of its foundation in 2009. Since Darwin became an undergraduate in 1827 the university has changed rapidly from

Menu. Main navigation. Intelligent Design. Life is complicated. How have the many varied and complex beings come into existence? Why are they so good at scratching out a life in their own particular way? In the eighteenth century William Paley

Menu. Main navigation. Life. Work. Typical Students. Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, Darwin was never really a model student and he didn’t particularly enjoy his university studies, either at Edinburgh or Cambridge. At Edinburgh he spent more time

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Updating Darwin. Life's Orgins. ‘Probably all the organic beings which have ever lived on this earth have descended from some primordial form, into which life was first breathed’. This is all Darwin says in The

Menu. Main navigation. Darwin, Literature & Language. Darwin’s work quickly captured the minds of many writers. More recently, evolutionary ideas have been used to explore how texts and even languages change over time. Darwin’s work captivated

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Case Studies. Finches & Fishes. Evolution can be a very slow process. Too slow to observe within a human life time? Darwin seemed to think so, but actually we now have numerous examples where long term studies of

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Updating Darwin. The Modern Synthesis. The Modern Evolutionary Synthesis is the name given to the school of thought which is now broadly accepted by evolutionary scientists around the world. Formal amalgamation

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Applications. Evolution & Conservation. Life on earth is currently undergoing one of the largest mass extinctions our planet has seen. Human activities affect the natural world in a number of ways; we destroy natural

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Darwin & Cambridge Today. Darwin's time in Cambridge was very important for him. It was here that he met Henslow and Sedgwick, two great scientists, who saw the potential in the young beetle collector and encouraged him

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Applications. Viruses & Vaccines. All of us have experienced an illness caused by a virus at sometime in our life, from flu to verrucas to much worse. Understanding how these viruses evolve is key if we are to be able to

Menu. Main navigation. Work. For Kids. How Do We Know? Darwin’s ideas have been about for 150 years, and they haven’t always been popular. At first scientists played around with several different ideas. But scientists are picky people who love