An example of metaphor in popular science writing:
"…these changes in the properties of new generations combined with the struggle for existence and the survival of the fittest lead to the steady process of evolution of species, and are responsible for the fact that a simple mollusc, who was the king of nature a couple of billion years ago, has developed into a highly intelligent being like yourself…"
George Gamow (1961) One, Two, Three…Infinity. Facts and speculations of science, Revised Edition, Dover Publications, Inc., New York.
Read about metaphor in science
Read about examples of science metaphors
Many examples of science metaphors are listed in 'Creative comparisons: Making science familiar through language. An illustrative catalogue of figurative comparisons and analogies for science concepts'. Free Download.
Note: explaining evolution in terms of the survival of the fittest can be seen as a tautology, as the fittest are defined in terms of evolutionary success, so the key feature here is differential survival and reproduction.
