Olivia Judson has an thoughtful piece in the NYT on the optimism of evolution. Why we need to teach and learn about it to understand not only the past but what's happening in our environment all around, right now.
"But for me, the most important thing about studying evolution is something less tangible. It’s that the endeavor contains a profound optimism. It means that when we encounter something in nature that is complicated or mysterious, such as the flagellum of a bacteria or the light made by a firefly, we don’t have to shrug our shoulders in bewilderment."
