Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Nelson on September 4, 2011 at 11:35pm

it may take a lot of mutations (and/or transcription errors, etc.) but over billions of years a lot of mutations are a certainty.

no one is surprised when thousands of people play the lottery and someone wins. what would be surprising is if only one person played the lottery and won.

when you have billions of years, the necessity of lots of mutations is no longer a hurdle, it's a certainty.

Permalink Reply by webtuto on September 4, 2011 at 11:48pm

yes i know that but scientists said that those microbes came from cosmets that did hit the earth , is there an exact explation on how a cosmet can create like that?

Permalink Reply by Nelson on September 4, 2011 at 11:54pm

that's not true. recent evidence shows only that the basic amino acid building blocks needed for life are present in comets, not that fully-formed microbes are necessarily present in comets (or were at any time in the past).

anyway, what would be the problem if indeed a comet brought microbes with it to Earth? evolution would still explain how those microbes evolved from a common ancestor.

if the question you're asking is how life arose from non-life then that's not a question that has to do with evolution. evolution explains the diversity of life on Earth from a common ancestor, not where life itself came from. that's a body of different hypotheses called abiogenesis.

Permalink Reply by webtuto on September 5, 2011 at 12:24am

thanks

Permalink Reply by Rev. Chris Pagan on September 4, 2011 at 11:54pm

Here's a great link on evolutionary biology from talkorigins.org.

Talkorigins.org

 

It should explain a bit. Also Talk Origins is a great site for explaining evolution in general. I would also suggest reading something like Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin and Why Evolution is True by Jerry Coyne. Both are fun reads and really help to explain things in terms anyone can understand. 

Permalink Reply by webtuto on September 5, 2011 at 12:24am

thanks my friend , i will sure read them and debates about it soon

Permalink Reply by Jerry on September 5, 2011 at 5:35pm

FYI, it is evolution. Not revolution.

 

A simple diagram can explain the general idea: http://www.thinkatheist.com/photo/this-is-the-best-way-ive-ever

 

The basic idea is that via mutations (additions, subtractions, duplications, movements, and changes in the way genes behave [some areas in the genome help control the way the genes behave, when something occurs to them they can have massive changes in the way cells behave and have been correlated with the major evolutionary advances in history]) occur over time. These build up, one at a time, and over thousands of generations can lead to an organism that looks completely different from what its ancestor's originally looked like.

 

Talkorigins has a massive list of evidences that not only does this (evolution) still occur, but that there is quite a bit of evidence that essentially proves that this occurred in the past.

 

 

The current questions about evolution today are not "does it even happen?" but instead are more like "how does it happen, and what conditions does it require?".

 

Many ideas have been proposed. Darwin's constant change over time. Punctuated equilibrium, long periods of stasis followed by quick periods of change. I am not quite sure what the most accepted version of Darwin's theory is, but I am pretty sure it is something like punctuated equilibrium.

 

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110822154752.htm

This link gives some background on how species change over time, and the requirements for lasting change.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110624111936.htm

This one gives some information on how evolution behaves in regards to mate choice. This is by all accounts not the full story on evolution, just some extra background knowledge.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110818142738.htm

This link is what I was referencing earlier when I talked about the changes in ways genes behave.

 

 

 

I am no biology expert, let alone an evolutionary biologist, so don't take what I have to say to heart. I would read Dawkins "The Greatest Show on Earth" for more information. He is a biologist, and, if I am correct, an evolutionary biologist.