"Understanding how evolution works allows us to learn about our origins and biological nature and to appreciate the value of biodiversity as source information about the history of life on Earth, which is also our own history." This was stated by Gregorio Sánchez, PhD student the School of Science at the University of Navarra, in the discussion paper Evolution: What Happens to Our Lives?" presented as part of the university’s Science Week celebrations.

The researcher highlighted that, being evolution the mechanism that gives rise to biodiversity, "understanding it is fundamental to interpret how life originated and why it has come to diversify in the way it has. Thus, knowing the evolutionary history is core topic to develop more effective measures to ensure the conservation of species," he added.

He also explained how sometimes the evolution of a population can end in its own destruction if the environment in which it lives becomes hostile too quickly for it to adapt. "This has happened many times and that is why extinctions occur." Despite this, we still talk about "evolution" since, for example, without the extinction of the dinosaurs, the success of mammals, including humans, would have been impossible.