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We receive quite a lot of questions from layman in evolutionary biology in this site that are sometimes difficult to answer just because there is way too much to say. Why don't human keep evolving? is a perfect example. I often want to give some pieces of information and link to a good source of information for them to get introductory knowledge in evolutionary biology.

Obviously nobody that ask a question on a Stack website want to read an answer of the kind You should read that book!. It is often not really pleasant to read a book, it takes time and the OP that get this answer will likely just forget about their question.

What are the best online resources that offer a very introductory understanding in evolutionary biology?

Either a written course of videos such as Khan Academy videos would do (I haven't watched the evolutionary biology section of Khan Academy though and can't really judge of how good it is).

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At least online, I think the single best introductory evolution resource is the Evolution 101 tutorial at UC Berkeley's Understanding Evolution project. The site has been designed by some of the top evolutionary biologists and evolution educators in the country, and does a very good job presenting a basic overview of how evolution works.

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  • $\begingroup$ Thank you +1 I updated my answer there following your recommendations. $\endgroup$
    – Remi.b
    Commented May 11, 2015 at 5:06
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    $\begingroup$ Perhaps an even bigger problem is that evolution questions provoke lots of answers from people who think they understand evolution but do not. Worse still, these answers sometimes get upvoted by people who share similar misperceptions. In a perfect world we might be able to move toward the norm established on other SE sites: people don't simply make things up if they don't know enough to answer authoritatively. In the meantime, I'm not sure quite what to do beyond posting educational links in response to answers as well as to questions. $\endgroup$
    – Corvus
    Commented May 11, 2015 at 6:00
  • $\begingroup$ I like this resource very much. Frankly, I'm not knowledgeable about evolution (although it seems many questioners here have an even foggier image than I do) so I'm reading it for myself and finding it valuable. Now that the site has graduated, I think we should make it a community ad. $\endgroup$
    – rumtscho
    Commented May 21, 2015 at 11:15
  • $\begingroup$ @rumtscho What a great idea! Do you want to start a meta thread about it? $\endgroup$
    – Corvus
    Commented May 21, 2015 at 14:24
  • $\begingroup$ @Corvus there is a thread for community ads, but I don't have the time right now to design one. Will see if I can do it when I come back from vacation. $\endgroup$
    – rumtscho
    Commented May 21, 2015 at 14:31

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