A linguist's view of evolutionary biology

Why are life-forms as they are?

Among the many issues which biology deals with, the one which attracts the greatest interest beyond the boundaries of the biological community itself is the general question why living organisms are as they are. It has always intrigued people for various rather obvious reasons. First, we are living organisms ourselves, and why we are here is a rather obvious question to ask. Secondly, all species seem to be extremely well designed for the lives they are born into, and capable of amazing things: spiders spin webs out of a material that is so elastic and shock absorbent that attempts have been made to synthesise it for the production of bullet proof vests. Plants have the capacity to convert sunlight and water into storable energy: a feat which centuries of human research has not managed to achieve. Fish have perfectly streamlined shapes, which allows them to move efficiently and effectively in water, their natural habitat. And humans have central nervous systems so sophisticated that they admit of rational thought, language and culture. So complex and functional are the designs of nature that for a long time it was inconceivable that they could exist at all unless they had been designed and created by a supernatural artisan.