Day 1The Logic of Natural SelectionVariation + heredity + differential reproduction · The three necessary conditions · Debunking “survival of the strongest”
Day 2The Gene's-Eye ViewThe selfish gene is a viewpoint, not a moral claim · Replicators vs vehicles · The extended phenotype
Day 3The Molecular Machinery of HeredityDNA→RNA→protein in brief · Gene expression and regulation · The central dogma and its exceptions
Day 4Where Variation Comes FromMutation, recombination, gene flow · Genetic drift and bottlenecks · Most variation is neutral
Day 5Adaptation and Its LimitsThe adaptationist debate · Spandrels · Path dependence and historical baggage
Day 6Sexual SelectionThe peacock's tail problem · Female choice and costly signals · Sexual conflict
Day 7Kin Selection and AltruismHamilton's rule rb>c · Inclusive fitness · Eusocial insects
Day 8The Evolution of CooperationPrisoner's dilemma and tit-for-tat · Direct and indirect reciprocity · Reputation and punishment
Day 9Evolutionary Game TheoryEvolutionarily stable strategies · Hawk-dove games · Frequency-dependent selection
Day 10The Red QueenArms races · Host-parasite coevolution · Why sex exists
Day 11The Origin of LifeThe RNA world · Metabolism-first vs replication-first · Hydrothermal vent hypotheses
Day 12Endosymbiosis and the Eukaryotic RevolutionWhere mitochondria and chloroplasts came from · Margulis, from heresy to textbook · Energy constraints and complexity
Day 13Major Evolutionary TransitionsFrom replicating molecules to societies · How individuality is forged · Conflict suppression
Day 14The Cambrian ExplosionThe origin of animal body plans · Trigger hypotheses: oxygen, eyes, ecology · Fossils vs molecular clocks
Day 15Mass ExtinctionsThe Big Five · The K-Pg impact evidence · Survival is often not about being better
Day 16Human EvolutionFrom early apes to Homo sapiens · Bipedalism, brain expansion, fire and cooking · A world of many human species
Day 17The Ancient DNA RevolutionOut of Africa, revised · Neanderthals in your genome · A history of migration and admixture
Day 18Evo-DevoHox genes and body plans · Deep homology · Evolution as tinkerer, not engineer
Day 19Epigenetics and the Limits of InheritanceMethylation and histone marks · How strong is the transgenerational evidence · Lamarck has not been resurrected
Day 20Neutral TheoryKimura's challenge · The molecular clock · Selection vs drift today
Day 21Genomic ConflictTransposons and genomic arms races · Meiotic drive · Imprinting and parental conflict
Day 22Microbiome and SymbiosisSymbiosis is a spectrum, not a binary · The holobiont debate · Manipulation vs mutualism
Day 23Viruses and EvolutionWhere viruses come from · Viral fossils in your genome · Horizontal gene transfer
Day 24SpeciationThe species-concept wars · Isolating mechanisms · Ring species and hybrid zones
Day 25Convergent EvolutionThe many independent origins of eyes · Niche constraints · How predictable is evolution
Day 26The Evolution of BehaviorTinbergen's four questions · The false instinct/learning binary · Birdsong and imprinting
Day 27Evolutionary Psychology: Promise and PitfallsThe modular mind hypothesis · The just-so-story critique · What rigorous testing looks like
Day 28The Evolution of LanguageUniquely human or a continuum · Gestural vs vocal origins · The real story of FOXP2
Day 29The Evolution of EmotionsEmotions as adaptive programs · The logic of fear, disgust, attachment · Mismatch with modern environments
Day 30Gene-Culture CoevolutionLactase persistence, the textbook case · Darwinian dynamics of culture · Dual inheritance theory
Day 31The Evolution of AgingMutation accumulation · Antagonistic pleiotropy · The disposable soma
Day 32Evolutionary MedicineFour evolutionary answers to why we get sick · Diseases of mismatch · Is fever a bug or a feature
Day 33Selection Pressures We CreateThe evolutionary logic of antibiotic resistance · Pesticide and herbicide resistance · Rapid evolution in cities
Day 34DomesticationDogs and the domestication syndrome · Crop domestication · The human self-domestication hypothesis
Day 35Evolution and AIGenetic algorithms · Open-ended evolution · Evolution vs gradient descent
Day 36A Century of MisreadingsThe lineage of Social Darwinism · Why teleological language persists · The “evolution = progress” myth
Day 37The Modern Synthesis and Its ExtensionsHow the Synthesis was forged · What the EES debate is really about · Plasticity-first hypotheses
Day 38Replaying Life's TapeGould's contingency argument · The Long-Term Evolution Experiment · Is evolution predictable