Arrival of the Fittest: Natural Selection as an Incantation

In 1904, genetics pioneer Hugo de Vries quipped that "natural selection may explain the survival of the fittest, but it cannot explain the arrival of the fittest." In 2014, Andreas Wagner thinks it can. His new book, reviewed by Mark Pagel in Nature, is titled Arrival of the Fittest: Solving Evolution's Greatest Puzzle. What is that "greatest puzzle"? The ability to work miracles. That's right: Pagel begins his review:

You inhabit something of a miracle, in engineering terms. Your body consi...