The fossil record does not show the transitional forms of an organism gradually changing into something new. Some of the examples, such as the horse, Australopithecus and Archaeopteryx have problems associated with them. Do some research into one of these (or another intermediate link). Write a few paragraphs explaining why they are considered transitions between two groups of organisms and what problems occur in that interpretation (don’t forget to indicate your sources of information).
2007-01-22 04:57:51 · 10 answers · asked by WEHA 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
I know that one celled organisms mutate into new strains everyday. Some of the disease strains have mutated so far that the human equivalent would be growing six arms, gills, and wings in the course of a year. You have a new species as soon as a mutation results in an organism that can't mate with the original species. Single celled organisms just divide, so, I'm not sure if these new mutated "freaks" count as new species.
2007-01-22 05:09:41 · answer #1 · answered by Kender_fury 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
If you have an hour and a half to spare ( ! ) I urge you to watch the video featuring scientist Ken Miller below. There is a section on "Transitional Fossils", including how some are so "transitional" that it is virtually impossible to say whether they belong to say a"mammal like reptile" or a "reptile like mammal". The programme also de-bunks the "Intelligent Design" theory.
By the way, a wonderful fossil has been found recently in Canada. Tiktaalik represents beautifully the transition between fish and amphibians, in fact, it has been dubbed "The Creationists worst Nightmare"
2007-01-22 13:26:19 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Almost nothing that dies leaves fossil remains so the gaps in time between one fossil and its successor are usually millions of years.
Also, No species, Including humans, evolved in a straight line from one form to another. Every species splits off into multiple sub-species which either fails or succeeds. This makes the job of determining which fossil is which fossils ancestor much more difficult.
The best evidence of this is alive today. Dogs and cats have the same remote ancestor so where does the fox fit in? Believe it or not the fox is more closely related to a cat than a dog. The same goes for hyenas.
2007-01-22 13:46:42 · answer #3 · answered by katz149 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Another sign that this is not science or rational thought is that you form the conclusion first and then look for “evidence” to support it. Usually, the so called evidence has to be twisted and battered to fit the conclusions.
The collected fossil evidence is the weakest support for modern evolution theory. However, even if every fossil ever found were to disappear, that would not be a problem because of the evidence from molecular biology and genetics is so powerful that the conclusion is obvious: evolution by natural selection is what drives all the processes of life.
2007-01-22 13:30:03 · answer #4 · answered by Nimrod 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Scientifically, there is no problem with the interpretation of those as intermediate links.
The only problems are with those groups (i.e. fundamentalist Bible-literalists) who insist that there are no transitional fossils. When you are proclaiming that 'Darwinism' cannot be true because there are no transitional fossils, then the actual existence of these (and many other) transitional fossils is a definite problem for your position.
So, they make blatantly false claims (like all the Archaeopteryx fossils are hoaxes, or that Australopithecine fossils are just deformed apes, or deformed humans) or they simply refuse to accept evidence for the simple reason that it doesn't match their pre-conceived notions.
For more sources of information, try http://www.talkorigins.org
2007-01-22 13:50:57 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
THis is not science, you need to go to the religion forum for this. We only deal in reality on this forum.
THis question is not a christian perspective, this is a biblically fundamentalist perspective.
There are many transitional forms in the fossil record:
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-transitional.html
2007-01-22 13:07:58 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
Post this in the homework cheating section.
2007-01-22 13:15:37 · answer #7 · answered by Diarmid 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Or you could try doing your homework yourself, instead of turning in whatever plagiarism this forum yields.
2007-01-22 14:12:32 · answer #8 · answered by ck 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I think you meant "this is in delusional perspective"
2007-01-22 13:15:00 · answer #9 · answered by hrm_i_am_focking_bored 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋
yeah right!
2007-01-22 13:09:00 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋