The term evolution first came to prominence when Charles Darwin used it in his book The Origin of Species. He showed that minute changes to an organism that make it better adapted to its environment increases the likelihood of the organism living to have offspring with the same adaptation. Strictly this adaptation process occurs at the gene level. Put bluntly, the ones that do not adapt die off. Over vast periods of time all sorts of improbable animals and plants can develop, all the way from peacocks to Venus fly traps.

Now the term is used in other fields:

• Atomic Evolution

  In stars, nuclear fusion creates many different elements from a ball of Hydrogen gas.

• Biological Evolution

  Classic Darwinian plant and animal evolution.

• Mankind Evolution

  Ideas pass from human to human via air, pages, and h2g2, and are developed by thinking about them.