Does Natural Selection Produce Real Change?
Survival of the fittest, only the strong survive, scientists today still believe, as Darwin did, that natural selection is one of the major mechanisms by which evolution, as least theoretically, occurs. Charles Darwin observed that within a particular animal or plant species, there are various colors, shapes and other traits. Along with this observation, Darwin contended that in nature the weaker varieties of animals and plants are ‘killed off’ by the stronger varieties due to their better ability to compete for
The Myth of Beneficial Mutations
Mutation occurs at a rate of one for every ten million cell duplications. This is an insignificant number when compared to 100 trillion cells in a human body. Thus, the chance of having a couple of cells with a mutated form for every gene is possible without any noticeable effect.
Sickle Cell Anemia: The Poster Child for Beneficial Mutation
Sickle cell disease is one of a group of disorders that affects hemoglobin. This is the molecule in red blood cells that delivers oxygen to cells throughout the body. People with this particular hemoglobinopathy (autosomal recessive) have atypical hemoglobin molecules called hemoglobin S, which can distort red blood cells into a sickle, or crescent, shape that hematologist’s label drepanocytes.
Two Legacies that Changed the World
Both Darwin and Pasteur are two of the most well-known scientists of all time because they have had a profound impact in biological science leaving their imprint on the world. Charles Darwin provided us with his theory of evolution that, without question, rattled the fundamental foundations of the world’s need for a Creator.
Did the Baleen Whales Really Lose their Teeth?
In the world of Darwinian Evolution, every living creature is related. Evolutionary scientists use phylo-genetic trees that are specific types of cladograms (branching diagrams that illustrate patterns of phylogenetic relationships) to infer common ancestry among similar organisms. These family trees (or evolutionary trees) are intended to show inferred evolutionary relationships among various biological species.