In evolutionary terms, that means we asked for it.

I am quite sure that our views on evolution would be very different had biologists studied genetics and natural selection before and not after most of them were convinced that evolution had occurred.

A four-letter alphabet called DNA.

We are survival machines – robot vehicles blindly programmed to preserve the selfish molecules known as genes. This is a truth which still fills me with astonishment.

By the end of the day, we were just numb. We lost a lot of good genetics, calves that died in the fire. That was pretty traumatic, to lose some of our well-established cow families.

I am quite sure that our views on evolution would be very different had biologists studied genetics and natural selection before and not after most of them were convinced that evolution had occurred.