As evolutionary biologists we are of course motivated by the desire to gain further insight in to the evolution of natural populations. The main goals of this proposal are to (i) develop theory and methodology that will enable the identification of adaptively evolving genomic regions using polymorphism data, (ii) develop theory and methodology for the estimation of whole-genome rates of adaptive evolution, and (iii) apply the developed theory in two strategic collaborative applications. Capitalizing on recently available and soon-to-be available whole genome polymorphism data across multiple taxa, these approaches are expected to significantly improve the identification and localization of recent selective events, as well as provide long sought after information regarding the genomic distributions of selective effects. Additionally, through these on-going collaborations with empirical and experimental labs, this methodology will allow for specific hypothesis testing that will further illuminate classical examples of adaptation. Together, this proposal seeks to Describe Evolution with Theoretical, Empirical and Computational Tools (DETECT), seeking to accurately describe the very mode and tempo of Darwinian adaptation.