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Permalink Reply by archaeopteryx on February 9, 2012 at 10:29am

Stuart - As we know, evolution occurs via miniscule genetic mutations that either add to an organism's survival rate, or do not. When they do not, the altered organism usually doesn't live long enough to pass on his mutation. When the mutation is advantageous, the mutation is more likely to be passed on. This process takes place over millions of years, and we know it as natural selection.

BUT, there's also artificial selection, that takes place far more quickly, quickly enough that we can actually see the results. The most perfect example would be that of the evolution of a timber wolf 13-15,000 years ago, into today's tea-cup chihuahua, orchestrated, not by Nature (or "god"), but by Man. Nature works the same way, it just takes longer.

See what your creationist has to say about that.

pax vobiscum,
archaeopteryx
www.in-His-own-image.com

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Permalink Reply by archaeopteryx on February 9, 2012 at 12:51pm

Well, at least I spelled my name right - or did I?

pax vobiscum,
archaeopteryx
www.in-His-own-image.com

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Permalink Reply by B Davis on February 9, 2012 at 6:17pm

Acting as if humanity could witness evolution happening right in front of their eyes is nuts.  First and foremost, evolution is defined as the variation of allelic(gene trait) frequencies in a population over time, not a singular organism.  What people tend to forget, or actually never learn or comprehend, is that evolution has no end goal, no plan, no desire to be better than the prior generation.  Because of this specific reason, it would be an impossibility to act as if one could observe some visible mutation as a direct result of evolution.  Natural selection does not choose the best genetic traits for a population, instead it chooses good enough for whatever function being performed.  However, if you choose to do some research, look up horizontal gene transfers in bacteria.  There are quite a few examples of punctuated equilibrium and what can cause the pace of evolution to vary.  Remember people, Earth is roughly 4.6 billion years old, evolution is literally in NO HURRY!

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Permalink Reply by Dave G on February 9, 2012 at 6:30pm

Actually, we can observe evolution in a human lifetime. Maybe not measured in minutes and seccnds, but definitely measured in years and decades. A perfect example is the bacteria that evolved to metabolize citrates. It took a couple decades to happoen, but it was observed, recorded and tracked. They even kept samples of different generations over the years which allowed them to go back and roughly place when the various mutations necessary first appeared.

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