Following are some great sites related to the Epic of Evolution.

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Epics of Evolution

Following are links to some of the many science-based stoies of the universe told in ways that are meaningful to people’s lives.

  • Big History Project – David Christian and Bill Gates are developing a new online curriculum for teaching Big History. Gates is passionate about this project because it integrates science and humanities in a relevant and fun way.
  • The Great Story – Michael Dowd and Connie Barlow tell the story of evolution in a sacred way that gives “a message of realistic hope and inspiration, grounded in reason, inspired by faith.”
  • Epic of Evolution.info – This site celebrates “the new universal, great, cosmic story for everybody – the mythic narrative used to encapsulate the complete, verifiable chronicle of the process that is the Universe or the sacred unfolding of creation”
  • Epic of Evolution – Wikipedia
  • The Epic of Evolution: Cosmic Resources for Educators, compiled by Ruth Rosenhek for the Rainforest Information Centre
  • Center for the Story of the Universe – Cosmologist Brian Swimme melds the findings of contemporary science – cosmology, geology, biology, and sociology – with the human search for meaning.
  • A Walk Through Time – this innovative traveling exhibit tells the story of life’s five-billion-year evolution. They believe that the knowledge of evolution constitutes a fundamental context for identifying and addressing the most critical issues of the present and future, and for inspiring a grander vision.
  • The New Story – An issue of the Context Institute, which explores and clarifies just what is involved in a humane sustainable culture – and how we can get there.
  • Thomas Berry and the New Story – An introduction to the Work of Thomas Berry by Professor Mary Evelyn Tucker
  • Evolution – PBS companion web site to the 7-part TV series. “A journey into where we’re from and where we’re going.”
  • Cosmic Voyage – “to help others experience the same sense of reverence and emotional attachment to the natural world.” Contains an interactive “Cosmic Clock” timeline.
  • Earth Literacy Companions – Mary Romano “emphasizes the integration of the wonders of the Earth into one’s spiritual tradition, a deep bioregional awareness, and an understanding our origin story or a New Cosmology.”
  • Three Eyes of the Universe – “An Educational Center for Learning and Living the Universe Story”
  • Epic of Evolution – This site
  • Evolutionary Salon – meeting of story tellers in the Epic of Evolution.
  • Evolve – Barbara Marx Hubbard’s Conscious Evolution.
  • Evolutionary Enlightenment – Andrew Cohen’s site web site explains: “Evolutionary Enlightenment is a moral, philosophical, and spiritual framework that makes it possible to live for the highest purpose: the evolution of consciousness itself.”
  • Evolution’s Arrow – According to John Stewart, the universe has a direction, and it is heading toward cooperation and greater evolvability.
  • New Cosmology
  • Cosmic Evolution – at the Wright Center for Science Education at Tufts University
  • History of the Universe – Simple story with images

Science of Evolution

Following are links to the web’s most comprehensive, educational, and user-friendly science-based explanations of evolution.

  • Evolution – “A journey into where we’re from and where we’re going.” PBS companion web site to the outstanding 7-part, in depth TV series.
  • Understanding Evolution – Comprehensive web site created by the University of California Museum of Paleontology.
  • National Center for Science Education – The NCSE contains comprehensive and well organized resources to defend the teaching of evolution in public schools.
  • Geologic Time – The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History has an interactive timeLine that you can click on to find out more information about our evolutionary past.
  • View From the Center of the Universe by Joel R. Primack and Nancy Ellen Abrams. “… we are living at the center of a new universe at a pivotal time.”
  • Tree of Life – presents a modern scientific view of the evolutionary tree that unites all organisms on Earth.
  • Experimental Evolution – The Lenski lab at Michigan State University has observed the evolution of E. coli bacteria for 24,000 generations. “It’s some of the most exciting stuff in evolution,” according to Stephen J. Gould.
  • Exploratour of Evolution – Windows to the Universe Tour of Evolution. This site examines the scientific evidence of biological evolution.
  • Dolan DNA Learning Center – activities to learn about the molecular basis of evolution.
  • Early Evolution – Professor John Stevenson’s outline of Microbial Evolution and Systematics
  • Society for the Study of Evolution –
  • Directed Evolution – David R. Liu Lab, Harvard
  • Our Inner Ape: A Leading Primatologist Explains Why We are Who We Are – Frans de Waal illuminates why humans have become the most compassionate and caring of all creatures. While acknowledging our aggressive tendencies, De Waal shows that we are the Bipolar Ape, as innately capable of kindness as we are of hostility. “Evolution has equipped us with genuinely cooperative impulses and inhibitions against acts that might harm the group on which we depend.”
  • Horizontal Gene Transfer – PNAS paper by Professor Carl Woese that suggests horizontal gene transfer is the principal driving force in early cellular evolution. This is in contrast to Darwin’s theory of descent with modification. ” It is the community as a whole, the ecosystem, which evolves.”
  • Chronos – Resources for geologic time and stratigraphy. Includes downloadable time charts.
  • The Panda’s Thumb – discussion of evolutionary theory, critique the claims of the antievolution movement, defense of the integrity of both science and science education, and place of good conversation.

Evolution for Kids

  • Universe Stories – Web site of Jennifer Morgan, storyteller and author of Born with a Bang and From Lava to Life. These illustrated stories tell the Epic of Evolution.
  • Bill Nye the Science Guy – check out what Bill has to say about evolution. It may, dare he say it, change the world.

Human Evolution

  • Becoming Human – beautiful web documentary tells the story of human origins.
  • Genetic Origins.com – about mitochondria??
  • National Geographic genomics project
  • Adam and Eve – by National Geographic
  • Norm Thompson

Evolution, Religion and Spirituality

Integration of Science and Spirit

  • What is Enlightenment: Redefining Spirituality for an Evolving World – Web pages and journal for the movement to intergrate
  • Neale Donald Walsh – “The world is in serious trouble, if what humans choose is to continue their present lifestyle on this planet. There is a way out of this trouble, but the solution to the world’s problems is not political, it is not economic, and it is not military. The solution is spiritual, because the problem is spiritual. That is, it has to do with what human beings believe. Beliefs, the books tell us, create behaviors. You cannot change behaviors over the long run without altering the beliefs that underlie them. The one-word solution is Education. In two words, Spiritual Education. In four words, A New Cultural Story. We have to tell a new story to ourselves about ourselves. We have to tell a new story to ourselves about each other. And we have to tell a new story to ourselves about God.”
  • Comprehensive Compassion – Interview in WIE with Brian Swimme about the Universe Story
  • Institute on Religion in an Age of Science (IRAS) – “Working for a dynamic and positive relationship between religion and science.”
  • Evolve – web site for Barbara Marx Hubbard and Conscious Evolution.
  • Integral Institute – both science and or spirituality are necessary for complete understanding of humans and the universe.
  • Institute of Noetic Sciences –
  • Science and Spirit – Journal and web site explores how science and religion can work together to address the vital issues of our time. Looking at them through the lenses of both science and religion offers insight neither discipline provides alone. The October 2005 issue was about Evolution.
  • Science and Theology News – International newspaper reporting the latest research findings, funding opportunities and discussions on the relationship among religion, science and health.
  • John Templeton Foundation – they pursue new insights at the boundary between theology and science through a rigorous, open-minded and empirically focused methodology, drawing together talented representatives from a wide spectrum of fields of expertise.
  • California Institute of Integral Studies
  • Meaning of Life TV – Robert Wright interviews scientists about the meaning of life.
  • Foundation for Global Community –
  • Meta-Religion – their goal is “..to promote a multidisciplinary view of the religious, spiritual and esoteric phenomena.” They have thousands of links to religions, cults, and science sites.
  • LifeWeb: Biophilosophy by Elisabet Sahtouris – web site of the author of “Earthdance: Living Systems in Evolution.”
  • The New Divinity – by Julian Huxley. In this essay, Huxley advocates religion based not on God, but rather on new understanding of the evolving Divine.
  • Process New Thought – This philosophy is born from the insights of evolutionary science.

Future of Evolution

  • Awakening Earth – Building a sustainable and compassionate future with your host Duane Elgin
  • Astrobiology – Did life evolve elsewhere in the universe? Is it in our future to discover this life? Check out the Search for Extraterrestrial Life web site (SETI) to find out more.
  • New Heaven New Earth – “News, information, and a home on the Net for people all over the world who are seeking to heal the Earth and unravel the fundamental mysteries of life.”
  • Evolution’s Arrow
  • The Long Now – “The point is to explore whatever may be helpful for thinking, understanding, and acting responsibly over long periods of time.”
  • The US Peace Government established on July 4, 2003, to bring prevention-oriented, problem-free administration to America. Its mission is to prevent social violence, terrorism and war, and to promote peace and harmony throughout the world.
  • The Evolving Self: a Psychology for the Third Millennium by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
  • One: The Campaign to Make Povery History – This Generation’s Moon Shot. Singer and activist Bono proposes the end of crushing poverty and the elimination of treatable diseases.
  • Peter Russell – The principal interest of this scientist and mathematician is the deeper, spiritual significance of the times we are passing through.
  • Patriots are Green – Thomas Friedman’s declaration of oil independence.
  • Talk Origins: Exploring the Evolution Creation Controversy –
  • Synthetic Biology – The goal of synthetic biologists, according to their web site is to “Reverse engineer and re-design a ‘simple’ natural bacterium.” Using nucleotides in a test tube, they will synthesize DNA with a machine which in turn will encode a living organism. Truly human directed evolution. Humans have synthesized DNA in the laboratory – Harvard’s Church has synthesized the first bacterial virus in vitro. Now, there are plans to create a bacterium from scratch.
  • Spiral Dynamics –
  • World Futures: The Journal of General Evolution “is dedicated to the study of irreversible, nonlinear, system-structuring–that is, evolutionary–change in nature and society.. . . The journal’s aim is to promote the transfer of evolutionary models, theories and approaches within and among the natural and the social sciences; and to encourage the development of evolutionary models, theories, and approaches to concrete and urgent problems of human and social interest.” ~ from their description.

Evolution and Cooperation

Cooperation is a powerful, and often overlooked, mechanism for evolution.

Resources for Teaching Epic of Evolution

Fossils