In Depth:  Paul Garner

2009 is of course a significant milestone. It marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, and the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection.

The evolutionary establishment is celebrating with Darwin-themed events throughout the year and the media are actively promoting the anniversaries too.

In November 2005, the iconic figure of Sir David Attenborough returned to our television screens to present yet another ground-breaking natural history series.

‘Life in the Undergrowth’ is a dazzling tour through the world of the land-living invertebrates — insects, bugs, spiders and worms. As we have come to expect from previous Life series, it is a visual treat. Miniature cameras no larger than a seed allow us to view the world from the perspective of the creatures being observed.

Dr. Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum made a striking comment when he appeared in the recent BBC TV series, Ape-Man: adventures in human evolution.

Referring to an occasion when some key human fossils were being assembled for a scientific conference, he said: 'There had to be tremendous security. The fossils had to be escorted in convoy from the airport. There also had to be special exhibition cases which were bullet-proof and even bomb-proof, against attacks by terrorists or creationists.'