Natural selection is an important component of evolution. Natural selection occurs when some members of a population are better fit for survival and reproduction than the others in that population (Phelan 284-85, 2011). The environment in which organisms live plays a part in natural selection as well. Depending on the conditions of the environment, the organisms may pass down selected traits to their offspring. These selected traits will allow for the next generation to better adapt and survive longer. One example of evolution that has occurred in the past ten years is that of hypolimnas bolina, or the blue moon butterfly. The blue moon butterfly evolved through the process of natural selection in order to survive. The male blue moon …show more content…
Over the years, the male population of the blue moon butterfly has increased to nearly forty percent and this is all due to evolution. (Sherriff 2007).
Human beings are still very much evolving. According to recent studies, genetic changes in women over the years have decreased the age at which they birthed their first child. In one study the age decreased as much as four years from age 26 down to age 22 (Allen 2011). Another concurrent study looked at women’s physical appearance in correlation with the number of children they had. The resulting data revealed that, “stout, slightly plump” women had more children. Researchers found that these characteristics are passed on from mothers to their offspring and so forth (Harrell 2009). Therefore, as these traits are passed from generation to generation, the population grows and these characteristics become more prominent in the population. All of these findings confirm that the evolution of human beings is still very much an ongoing process.
Intelligent design is not an alternative theory to evolution. Intelligent design is the belief that organisms or other things did not evolve, but were created just as they are now. In the video, the science teachers of Dover High School refuse to read a one minute statement to their classes explaining that intelligent design is an alternative theory to Darwin’s theory of evolution. Their refuting argument were as follows,
The purpose of the lab was to see what color bead bug would survive the longest in the environment. By performing the experiment, natural selection was being tested. Natural selection is when organisms that are most suited to the environment survive and reproduce more successfully. Certain colored bead bugs would survive longer, because they blended in. The bead bugs that are a more prominent color stood out more and were eaten right away. This experiment displays how the population of bead bugs changes over the generations, due to the amount being eaten and the amount of bead bugs that were reproduced.
Some reasons why beaks were thought to be so useful for testing Darwin’s theory of natural selection was because it seemed that the more favorable variations in their beaks will be passed down. Another reason was because there were more variations in the beaks depending what the finches ate so he could study a variety of beaks.
Human evolution: the study of how and why our human ancestors changed over millions of years.
Intelligent Design. Should the school teach about a universe created on the concept of evolution, or one created beyond explanation? Darwin’s theory states that species develop through the idea behind natural selection. He also mentions that because of species ability to survive and reproduce throughout time, humans and apes are connected. Intelligent Design is formed around the idea that the world is to complex to be considered a scientific creation.
Darwin’s theory of natural selection permits adaptation by natural means instead of divine intervention. The Theory of Intelligent Design uses methods used by other sciences to explain that the universe and living things were created by an intelligent cause, not a random process such as natural selection. As Wilson (2005) stated “Many, who accept the fact of evolution cannot, however, on religious grounds, accept the operation of blind chance and the absence of divine
Ever since Darwin published his “On the Origin of Species” in 1859, creationists have been struggling find new ways to justify their stance on the creation of the universe. One of the most recently formed branches of creationism is called Intelligent Design. The proponents of Intelligent Design claim to believe in evolutionary theory but think that evolution is simply a process set in motion by some intelligent force. They do not believe that an undirected force, such as natural selection, could have led to the complex lifeforms we see today. Unfortunately though this theory seems to prima facie use scientific principles to disprove evolution using natural selection, like the argument from improbability or irreducible complexity, it is simply
Without evolution, and the constant ever changing environment, the complexity of living organisms would not be as it is. Evolution is defined as a process that results in heritable changes in a population spread over many generations (8).Scientists believe in the theory of evolution. This belief is based on scientific evidence that corroborates the theory of evolution. In Figure 1 the pictures of the skulls depict the sequence of the evolution of Homo-sapiens. As the figure shows, man has evolved from our common ancestor that is shared by homo-sapiens. The change of diet of homo-sapiens over time has thought to contribute to the change in jaw structure and overall skull shape.
Darwin theory, he first started talking about an organism, his theory was that in a population shows a difference in traits. The following theory was survival of the fittest, it is when one appears to look like their parents and they are comfortable in their environment, and has the possible to live longer and might reproduce being relaxed in their environment. Beneficial Traits is to increase in frequency over time in a population since individuals with traits are more likely to produce and will pass on the gene to the next generation. It is not important to be a perfect specimen, but important to produce more babies. In addition, Darwin theory was based on the
Darwin's theory of sexual selection is an intriguing one because it offers an explanation of human striving and cultural value systems. The theory is that humans who are more sexually desirable will have more offspring and thus their traits will be passed on to future generations to a greater extent than those of less sexually desirable humans. As opposed to Darwin's other theory, natural selection, those who are the best adapted to their environment will be more likely to pass on their genes, or, "survival of the fittest", you might call sexual selection "survival of the sexiest." The theory is intended to in part explain why, when humans diverged from other primates, the human brain tripled in size
Since both theories have not been proven as scientific fact, it is best to teach both intelligent design and macroevolution in public high schools. Macroevolution is currently taught as fact in schools and has many flaws that most students in high school never learn about such as irreducible complexity, gaps in the fossil record, and the fossil record explosion. Many students believe that since macroevolution is taught as fact it has been proven with many studies of current evolution between species. But in reality there has been no current evidence which supports macroevolution. For example, dog breeders have cross bred dogs for generations but with all of the generations a dog has never changed species. Although there are many different breeds of dogs today, a dog has never turned into a different animal as a result of breeding. Many macroevolution supporters refute this saying that it takes thousands of years and reproductions to show the changes between species. So fruit flies were examined over the course of 600 generations (equivalent to 12,000 years of human evolution) by University of California Irvine researcher Molly Burke to test this wording, and few changes were found within the species and no species to species change was observed. Even with the findings of the fruit
The debate between the Design Argument and The Theory of Evolution has garnered endless disputes. The Design Argument, DA, is the argument that a higher entity exists and that he designed all life sources with a purpose in mind. Charles conceived the Theory of Evolution, TE. His theory was not assembled to explain the origin of life; it was to explain the origin of species. The fine-tuning argument is a rebuttal that I will also be discussing thoroughly.
The theory of intelligent design states that there are some organisms that are too complex to have evolved into their current state. This theory is a thinly veiled jab at the theory of evolution, which is the most commonly known theory of how life today came to exist. While some people would like to see the theory of intelligent design integrated into schools, it has no place in a classroom.
Understanding human evolutions is important for identifying the stages of humanity and for understanding how our societies have developed. When most of us think about human
This means they were eaten by predators more often and thus could not produce as often. The black moths on the other hand could blend in easier and survive to reproduce more often. Overtime, the majority of the black moths had turned black. This is evidence to Darwin’s theory because it shows how species constantly change and adapt to meet the needs of their environment (Reece, 2011).
Charles Darwin broached the theory of natural selection in his book the Origin of Species, which has been considered the basis of evolutionary biology to this day. Natural selection is when populations of a species evolve over the course of many generations. Darwin believed that species were not created separately, but instead, species were derived from one another. In other words, the evolution of species creates many variations among creatures, and this is because all of those species came from a common ancestor, and characteristics changed to increase the species chance of survival.