As the world faces an uncertain future, Britain's leading anthropologist toasts Darwin, born 200 years ago, for identifying adaptability as man's greatest asset Charles Darwin: His observations undermined the traditionally held view of 'stability of species' There is a strange object sitting on my desk as I write. It is a shiny sphere of fossilised, primeval slime. Known technically as stromatolites, this blue-green slime was the original ooze from which all life on this planet evolved. This painfully slow process began about 3,000 million years ago and has led, ultimately, to us, the extraordinary human species. Whenever my gaze happens...