What has Evolution ever Done for Us?

 Title inspired by the Monty Python sketch. 

People often ask, "what use is evolutionary science?"

Adapted from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-good-new-born-baby-shubham-rawat,
"It was during the winter of 1840. One of the greatest scientists of all time, Michael Faraday, was invited to give a lecture about his recent discovery in the field of electro-magnetism at one of the most prestigious universities in England. He was about to show a simple mechanism that would change how humans will live forever. He illustrated, when a magnet was placed inside a spiral coil, it resulted in generation of electric current. The charge wasn’t big enough to light a bulb, or help in any practical way at the time. However, it was there. After the presentation, someone came up to Faraday and said “Sir, I like the concept but what good is it in a practical world?“ to which he replied with a smile, “What good is a new born baby?” Faraday later developed the electric generator by using that same principle. That same principle is used today to generate huge amounts of electricity in our modern world, without which, our lives would be unimaginable. We, today, are still surrounded by people who still want to know what good is a new born baby.

Leaving aside the consideration that accumulating knowledge for its own sake is a natural human (and adaptive) drive, nobody can predict what use any given piece of new knowledge may be in the future. 

But evolution is not a new born baby. The basic principles of it were published in 1859. However, its development has been retarded by certain opponents in backward corners of the world for pseudo-religio-politial reasons. 

Here, we have an article describing the advances in medicine that molecular evolution has contributed to.

Frontiers in Molecular Evolutionary Medicine https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00239-019-09893-5.pdf

Abstract

"This paper surveys some of the important insights that molecular evolution has contributed to evolutionary medicine; they include phage therapy, cancer biology, helminth manipulation of the host immune system, quality control of gametes, and pathogen outbreaks. Molecular evolution has helped to revolutionize our understanding of cancer, of autoimmune disease, and of the origin, spread, and pathogenesis of emerging diseases, where it has suggested new therapies, illuminated mechanisms, and revealed historical processes: all have practical therapeutic implications. While much has been accomplished, much remains to be done."

See also, Talk Origins' answer to creationist claim CA215: "The theory of evolution is useless, without practical application". https://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CA/CA215.html

And https://www.truthfulorigins.info/post/evolutionary-medicine-is-it-important?