Why Some Scientists Are Rethinking Darwin’s Theory of Evolution

For decades now, we’ve been told the biggest questions of how life and our universe came to be were settled. But what if they’re not? Stephen Meyer has spent his career digging into the deepest mysteries of our existence. A philosopher of science, he is the founder of the Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture and the author of the New York Times bestseller Darwin’s Doubt and Return of the God Hypothesis.

“Many leading evolutionary biologists today are calling for a new theory of evolution, because they recognize that the mutation-natural selection mechanism has limited creative power,” Meyer says. While Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution and natural selection can explain small-scale variations — for instance, finch beak size changes, moth wing color changes, or bacteria developing antibiotic resistance — it cannot explain the origins of new species or new body plans, Meyer contends.

Now, in a new film, The Story of Everything, coming to theaters April 30, Meyer lays out a case that could reshape how we think about life itself. “The scientific discoveries of the last one hundred years and right up to the present are pointing in a very different direction than people thought in the late 19th century,” Meyer says.