Natural selection is one of the simplest ideas in all of science and one of the most misunderstood. We build it up from three plain facts about living things, show how those facts together make change not just possible but inevitable, and clear away the common confusions — that evolution is "just a theory," that it works for the good of the species, or that it's aiming at anything at all.

You'll come away understanding the three ingredients that drive natural selection, what "fitness" actually means, how deep time turns small changes into new forms of life, and why evolution is one of the best-supported ideas in all of science.

Talking Science is sponsored by Kinsoft. Visit www.kinsoft.com.au

Further reading: Darwin's On the Origin of Species; the Un ...