The lack of consensus on what a species is has big implications for how we think about the natural world and for our efforts to conserve it. What’s more, how we define a species has become a question at the very heart of human identity. Image: Mandy_Jansen
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There’s more to Darwin’s finches than meets the eye. Famously, the 14 species found on the Galapagos islands are distinguished from one another largely by differences in beak shape. But the first full genome analysis of the birds shows the approach isn’t foolproof, because some characteristic beak shapes appear to have evolved on two or three separate occasions. Image: David Cook Wildlife Photography
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It was, Charles Darwin wrote in 1879, “an abominable mystery”. Twenty years after the publication of his seminal work The Origin of Species, there were still aspects of evolution that bothered the father of evolutionary biology. Chief among these was the flower problem. Image: Moyan_Brenn
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Was Darwin wrong about the sexual allure of the peacock’s tail? A controversial study has found no evidence for the traditional view – practically enshrined in evolutionary lore – that peahens choose their partners depending on the quality of the peacocks’ tails. Image: lightmatter
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A year shy of its 150th anniversary, is Darwin’s theory of natural selection still fit for survival? Although a century-and-a-half’s study has bolstered the theory’s standing among scientists, some sections of society remain unconvinced and even hostile towards Darwinism, threatening to overshadow next year’s celebrations. Image: alistairmcmillan
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