Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation

by Bill Nye

As I learned more about evolution, I realized that from nature’s point of view, you and I ain’t such a big deal. Humans are just another species on this planet trying to make a go of it, trying to pass our genes into the future, just like chrysanthemums, muskrats, sea jellies, poison ivy … and bumblebees.

Evolution is also not random; it’s the opposite of random. One of Darwin’s most important insights is that natural selection is a means by which small changes can add complexity to an organism. With each generation of offspring, the beneficial modifications can be retained. Each mutation that doesn’t work as well in nature either dies off with the organism directly, or gets outcompeted by others of its kind in succeeding generations of offspring. It’s by the process of evolution that beneficial changes are added up and up and up.

reproduction-worthy genes that drives it, is the opposite of random. It is a sieve that living things have to pass through successfully, or we never see them again.

Atoms are made of protons, neutrons, and electrons. Protons and neutrons are, in turn, made of quarks. Energy can come and go, carried by photons and neutrinos, and so on.