I recently came across this fascinating book, Darwin Comes to Town: How the Urban Jungle Drives Evolution, by the biologist Menno Schilthuizen of the Naturalis Biodiversity Center and the University of Leiden. Years ago, probably about when it appeared in 2001, I read Prof. Schilthuizen’s equally fascinating book, Frogs, Flies, and Dandelions, about the origins and definitions of species (indeed, the difficulty of defining species at all). So naturally I snapped up Darwin Comes to Town. The title is a pun, in that the book is about the evolution of organisms that have either adapted to cities or towns, or have adopted cities or towns. I will not review the book, but will pen 3 or 4 paragraphs about chapters that for one reason or another especially interested me. If you want more, read the book!

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The Discovery Institute’s website “Science and Culture” (formerly Evolution News and Views) had a dramatic story of conversion recently. A post entitled “He Taught Darwinism for Decades (Then Changed His Mind)” by Andrew McDiarmid on 30 October 2025. It announced that

For decades, British professor and author Neil Thomas was a card-carrying Darwinist. It wasn’t until after he retired from academia that he had the repose to think about things objectively. Then one day, in a scientific flash of inspiration, he came to the conclusion that the standard Darwinian story was “rubbish.”

The result is that Neil Thomas has written two books, published by the DI’s publishing outfit, Discovery Institute Press: Taking Leave of Darwin: A longtime Agnostic Discovers the Case for Design and False Messiah: Darwinism as The God That Failed. He has also made numbers of posts at Science and Culture since 2021, see them here. He was intervewed in a two-part (part 1 and part 2) series by Jonathan Witt in 2021 and by Andrew McDiarmid in 2025. in the DI’s series “ID The Future”.

Thomas cannot understand how biologists ever believed Darwin’s mechanism of natural selection. So: has someone who has been devoted to teaching biology students about Darwin and natural selection recently changed his mind? If so, should we pay close attention to his arguments?

Well …

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Photograph by Vivian Dullien.

Photograph by Al Denelsbeck.

Photography Contest, Honorable Mention.

I am going to step out of my lane again and tout this video, Something Weird Happens When You Simulate Lifeless Molecules, by Veritasium. What happens is that you get (simulated) life, natural selection, and so on. Professional biologists will no doubt find something to carp about. I did not especially like the term, “survival of the fittest,” when I think he really meant “natural selection.” My first impression was that he may have been conflating origin of life with evolution, though they are certainly closely related. He kind of pushes the selfish gene theory, but also states some criticisms and states flatly that genetic drift can sometimes overcome natural selection. He notes that his model is an oversimplification, but then, as he says, all scientific models are oversimplifications. I will let a real biologist discuss whether evolution takes place at the level of the gene, the individual, or indeed the group. As for me, I thought it was a splendid video which in a half-hour or so gave a clear understanding of how life can develop from non-life and go on to evolve into, well, endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful, several of which make cameo appearances in the video.