I’ve just finished reading Richard Dawkin’s classic book on Evolution, The Blind Watchmaker. I was stunned by the program ‘Biomorph’ that he wrote for the book, very ahead of its time for the mid 80′s.

Mark Jones of Cambridge Uni has written up a version of the original algorithm that you can play:

http://www.phy.syr.edu/courses/mirror/biomorph/

Life starts as just a single pixel and just as on early Earth, it takes a while to get going. Each generation will show 12 mutant offspring of the generation before it, essentially copying the ‘random’ mutation that occurs in nature.
Biomorph allows you to ‘play’ god, or if you prefer, the role of natural selection.
As you choose forms that appeal from each generation, the forms become increasingly complex.

I hope I can find time at some point next year to work on an experimental animation and try some of these techniques in contemporary 3D. MEL script in Maya would work pretty well to create some cool looking visuals.