tale of two voyages

in 1831, a young naturalist named charles darwin boarded the h.m.s. Beagle for a five-year voyage, during which he would circumnavigate the earth, explore the Galápagos islands and bring back specimens of 1,500 species—including 14 finches—making observations that would form the basis of his theory of evolution. in 2004, J. craig Venter set off on a two-year circumnavigation of the globe aboard his 100-foot sailboat, Sorcerer II, exploring the Galápagos islands and identifying thousands of new species of microbes and millions of previously undiscovered genes.