Curated category
Evolutionary biology
- AbiogenesisIn 1676, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek drew and described microorganisms that he called animalcules. He used a simple microscope to observe protozoa and bacteria…
- PaleontologyIn 1796, Georges Cuvier published a paper titled On the species of living and fossil elephants that changed how scientists viewed life on Earth.
- Genetic driftImagine a jar holding twenty marbles. Ten are red and ten are blue, representing two versions of a single gene within a population of organisms.
- Hybrid (biology)A mule is a sterile hybrid of a male donkey and a female horse. This creature stands smaller than horses but stronger than donkeys, making it useful as pack…
- EvolutionIn 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick described the double helix structure of DNA. This molecule encodes genetic information in a sequence of four bases…
- ExtinctionThe thylacine, also known as the Tasmanian tiger, died in Hobart Zoo in Tasmania on the 7th of September 1936. This single death marked the end of a species…
- Natural selectionEmpedocles, a Greek philosopher from the 5th century BCE, proposed that nature produces a huge variety of creatures randomly.
- History of lifeThe Earth formed about 4.54 billion years ago, a date derived from the oldest meteorite fragments found on our planet and ancient lead deposits.