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b'The bright elastic throats of anole lizards, the Faberg\\xe9 abdomens of peacock spiders and the curling, iridescent and ludicrously long feathers of birds-of-paradise. A number of animal species possess beautifully conspicuous and physically burdensome features.\\n\\nMany biologists have long fit these tasking aesthetic displays into a more utilitarian view of evolution. However, a new generation of biologists have revived a long-ignored theory \\u2014 that aesthetics and survival do not necessarily need to be linked and that animals can appreciate beauty for its own sake.\\n\\nToday on The Sunday Read, a look at how these biologists are rewriting the standard explanation of how beauty evolves and the way we think about evolution itself.'