Evolution in action

Investigating the evidence

In the 1950s, Bernard Kettlewell provided experimental evidence to support one of the clearest examples of evolution in action. This evidence supported Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. Professor of science communication Adam Hart tells the story of Kettlewell’s studies of the peppered moth, how his work was subsequently criticised and then, more recently, vindicated

In 1858, the Linnean Society of London published On the Tendency of Species to Form Varieties; and on the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection, by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace. This paper introduced the world to evolution by natural selection. A year later Darwin published On the Origin of Species, a best seller at the time, and never out of print since. He did not know about genes or DNA but he did know a great deal about natural variation and about inheritance from parents to offspring.

Creationists People who believe in the Bible’s interpretation of how life began.