Do those dry evolutionary genetics formulae fail to leap off the page? If so, then EvoTutor — a free online resource for interactive simulations of evolutionary processes — might be a site that you'll greet with open arms.
By clicking on 1 of 12 evolutionary processes, such as drift or adaptation, you can access a selection of subtopics, which provide background information on the process and explanations of its associated formulae. Alternatively, you can go straight from a subtopic to an interactive simulation of a process. To illustrate gene flow, for example, individuals in two starting populations are depicted as coloured dots; by altering the rate of migration between populations and the strength of selection against migrants and hybrids, you can watch the make-up of the populations change as the coloured dots intermingle.
Although you won't become an evolutionary genetics buff just by visiting this site (having a textbook to hand might help), the simulations do help bring to life what formulae and your imagination might not. Stay tuned for PhyloTutor and GenTutor, sister sites that are now under construction.
If you're after a broader picture, then make the Evolution web site — linked to a US PBS television miniseries — your first stop. In seven episodes, the series explored evolution from the life of Darwin to the struggle between science and religion. Going beyond the series, the site offers video previews of each programme, links to hundreds of online sites and movies, a glossary, and courses and manuals for teaching. The Evolution project's goal is to heighten public understanding of evolution, and how it works. In this respect, it certainly makes the grade.
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Tanita, C. Interactive evolution. Nat Rev Genet 2, 832 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35098522
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/35098522
