 Where did humans and all other living things on our planet come from? This problem puzzled humans for centuries, and there have been many different theories through the ages. Then, in the mid-19th century, a long came a naturalist called Charles Darwin. He set off on a five-year voyage with the British Navy on the HMS Beagle to circumnavigate the globe and carry out plant, animal, and geological surveys of the places they visited. During the trip, he visited the Galapagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador in the Pacific Ocean. On his return, Darwin worked closely with ornithologist John Gould to study the varying species of finch he had brought back from the Galapagos. They noticed that the finch species varied in the size and shape of their beaks, and that this variation was based on their diets. Darwin deduced that when the original finches from South America came to the Galapagos, they migrated to different islands and had to adapt to different conditions in order to get food and survive. These adaptations were passed from one generation to the next. He believed that individual members of a species are all slightly different from one another, and that those that are best adapted to their habitat will stand a better chance of surviving to reproduce and pass on their beneficial traits to their offspring. Over time, those beneficial traits become more common, allowing that particular species to evolve. Critically, Darwin felt that it was not the environment that produced the variations, but chance occurrences, which we now know to be genetic mutations that enabled an organism to better exploit its environment. After more than 20 years of experimenting and developing his ideas, Charles Darwin published his theory of evolution in a book called On the Origin of Species, extrapolating the theory of natural selection and combining it with discoveries made by modern genetics allows scientists to assert that all life on our planet came from a common ancestor that existed about 3.5 billion years ago. Through natural selection, new species are formed, some species change, and some are lost through extinction. In this video, you have learned that the voyages and research of Charles Darwin played a pivotal role in developing a theory about the origins of life and its variations on our planet, and that evolution is a process of continual change within a species as a result of chance occurrences. What else can you find out about Darwin? If you liked the video, give it a thumbs up, and don't forget to subscribe, comment below if you have any questions. Why not check out our Fuse school app as well? Until next time.