The lecture drew on articles I have published in Nature Ecology and Evolution, Nature Plants, and American Journal of Botany. I describe work by others in Nature and Nature Communications. The Origin of Species provided my starting point on Darwin's tree of life simile. The works of Richard Dawkins, especially The Greatest Show on Earth and The God Delusion, provided helpful material in both sections of the lecture. On the Biblical tree of life, I used an argument by Peter J. Williams, (whose research recently featured in Nature) developed in his book Can We Trust the Gospels? I also refer to research by Elizabeth Barnes on inclusion in the biological sciences.
Here is a recording of the lecture, given on 16th November 2022 to a public audience at Queen Mary University of London. I hope you find it interesting.