Evolution is the process by which living things slowly change over many generations, often becoming better adapted to their environment. It explains how different species develop from earlier forms of life.
It comes from Latin 'evolutio', meaning 'unrolling' or 'opening out', from 'evolvere' (to roll out). Before biology, it described the unfolding of something like a scroll or a story.
The word suggests life is like a story slowly unrolling, not a sudden jump from simple to complex. Evolution doesn’t aim at perfection; it just keeps whatever works well enough to survive right now.
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