Like all species, humans have been inadvertently shaping the genomes of other species – predators and prey – throughout our history. And with the development of agriculture, we began to specifically, deliberately alter plants and animals through selective breeding. But in the second half of the 20th century, that ability has taken on a new form. Not only do we have a far more precise understanding of how selection and heredity interact in agriculture, but the invention of genetic engineering in the 1970s has changed things completely.
We can now change species at will. Not only has this transformed the pharmaceutical industry – allowing the cheap manufacture of drugs like insulin – it has also altered agriculture and now, in the 21st century, threatens to change ecosystems and even humanity itself.
Evolution appears to be under our control, but – as the molecular biologist Leslie Orgel warned us – evolution is smarter than we are. Looking at the past, present, and future of genetics, we can glimpse both the promises and perils that await us.
In this 2026 Darwin Day Lecture, Matthew Cobb will confront the shadow cast by our own ingenuity. Tracing the path from simple selective breeding to the ignition of a biological revolution, he will explore a modern Promethean moment where the power to reshape life is no longer theoretical – but operational.
As the pace of discovery accelerates into a competitive sprint, we're challenged to consider whether we have merely stolen the fire of evolution, or if we have sparked a chain reaction that we can no longer extinguish.
About Professor Matthew Cobb
Matthew Cobb is Professor Emeritus at the University of Manchester. His recent books include Crick: A Mind in Motion, from DNA to the Brain and The Genetic Age: Our Perilous Quest to Edit Life. He was the presenter of the BBC Radio series Genetic Dreams, Genetic Nightmares. In 2024 he won the Royal Society's Wilkins-Bernal-Medawar Medal, and in 2021 was awarded the J. B. S. Haldane Lecture by the Genetics Society.
About the Darwin Day Lecture series
The Darwin Day Lecture explores humanism and humanist thought as related to science and evolution, Charles Darwin, or his works. The Darwin medallist has made a significant contribution in one of these fields.
The lecture and medal are named and held to mark the annual global celebration of the birth of Charles Darwin, held every 12 February.
