Labels:text | font | screenshot | paper | document OCR: Some people believe that all living things were specially created, and that each species always stays the same, but most scientists take a different view. They believe that living things slowly change as one generation succeeds another - a process known as evolution. DARWIN AND WALLACE English biologists Charles Darwin (1809-82) and Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913) studied hundreds of different plants and animals. They noticed that there were variations within each species, with some more successful than others. They observed that individuals whose variations helped them to thrive in a competitive environment produced more offspring that survived. As a result, their successful characteristics were passed on to future generations. Equally, those individuals that were less well suited to their environment slowly disappeared because they failed to survive. Darwin and Wallace called this natural selection. Modern research into genetics (the link between successive generations of living things) has supported Darwin's and Wallace's ideas. FOSSIL RECORD Fossils are the remains of living things that have been preserved, usually by being largely mineralized (turned into rock). Over millions of years, the Earth's crust has accumulated thick layers of rock, with the oldest at the bottom and the newest on the top. By comparing fossils preserved in rocks of different ages, scientists can see how species have gradually changed throughout the ages. Some species from millions of years ago (MYA) still thrive today, but many other species have become extinct. Extinction is the permanent disappearance of a species.
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