Nothing in the natural world makes sense - except when seen in the light of evolution
Interpretation
This quote suggests that understanding evolution provides clarity to the complexities of the natural world.
David Attenborough's quote emphasizes the importance of evolutionary theory in making sense of the vast and often perplexing natural phenomena we observe. It implies that without the lens of evolution to guide us, many aspects of nature can seem chaotic and meaningless, but when viewed through the context of evolutionary development, a coherent narrative emerges, highlighting the interconnectedness of all living things.
In practice
In a lecture about environmental science, one might quote this to emphasize the significance of evolution in understanding biodiversity.
I don't think we are going to become extinct. We're very clever and extremely resourceful - and we will find ways of preserving ourselves, of that I'm sure. But whether our lives will be as rich as they are now is another question.
I'm against this huge globalisation on the basis of economic advantage.
I would be absolutely astounded if population growth and industrialisation and all the stuff we are pumping into the atmosphere hadn't changed the climatic balance. Of course it has. There is no valid argument for denial.
There's a small worm called Loa Loa Filariasis. This parasite can survive in one environment exclusively- namely, underneath the skin and inside the eyes of human beings. Children and the elderly in tropical regions (usually the poorest) are the most widely affected. A painful, slow death is virtually certain. The worm can actually live in the host for 17 years before the host finally dies.
The fundamental issue is the moral issue.
It is vital that there is a narrator figure whom people believe. That's why I never do commercials. If I started saying that margarine was the same as motherhood, people would think I was a liar.
I have found far greater enthusiasm for science in America than here in Britain. There is more enthusiasm for everything in America.
Certein bodies... become luminous when heated. Their luminosity disappears after some time, but the capacity of becoming luminous afresh through heat is restored to them by the action of a spark, and also by the action of radium.
Our role is to develop techniques that allow us to provide emergency life-saving procedures to injured patients in an extreme, remote environment without the presence of a physician.
I dug things up. I was curious. I liked to draw what I found.
It is baffling, I must say, that in our modern world we have such blind trust in science and technology that we all accept what science tells us about everything - until, that is, it comes to climate science.
Who would not have been laughed at if he had said in 1800 that metals could be extracted from their ores by electricity or that portraits could be drawn by chemistry.
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