if evolution is a fact, is it still occuring?

Answer 1

When my wife gives birth to a gorilla or a chimpanzee I will let you know.

Until then, it remains in the theory stage.

Adaptation is not evolution.

Answer 2

Doesn't anybody teach the scientific method anymore? There are no facts only theories. When an hypothesis is tested and proves that it is highly probable to be correct it's a theory not a fact.

Anyway the theory of evolution is generally accepted and as part of the theory evolution always continues. The changes are usually not terribly dramatic, but over time can lead similar creatures to dramatic differences.

Some observations could help illustrate the process. Have you looked at the general height of the population over the past several generations? Did you notice that the average height of a person is getting taller?

Answer 3

Evolution is in fact a theory that seems to work. It is seen in the fossil record, embryology (ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny), as well as in speciation. I have never understood why people say we originate from monkeys and would love to know where that comes from. In Charles Darwin's Origin of Species, he states "As all the living forms of life are the lineal descendants of those which lived long before the Silurian epoch, we may feel certain that the ordinary succession by generation has never once been broken, and that no cataclysm has desolated the whole world." In the decent of man he stated that he would have just as soon have been descended from a heroic monkey or brave baboon , "as from a savage that delights in torturing their enemies,offers up bloody sacrifices, practices infanticide without remorse, treats his wives as slaves, knows no decency, and is haunted by his grossest superstitions." He also states that "but there can hardly be a doubt that we are descended from barbarians.
Read your bibles and see what the social norm was just a mere 2000 years ago, Christians with multiple wives, slaves and making bloody sacrifices. That is what we evolved from in a mere 2000 years. Use your mind and project that back 100,000 - 250,000 years. I no of nothing that emphatically states we evolved from monkeys.

Answer 4

Evolution will continue as long as there are changes in the environment that provoke alterations.

Generally, when environmental change happens gradually, speicies change to cope with the new environment. When the environment changes more rapdialy than the speices can change, it goes extinct.

We do not evolve to become "higher" as someone suggested, we evolve to remain viable in and take advnatage of a changing enviroment. We adapt. Sometimes those adaptations are small, like changing skin pigmentation in response to increased or decreased UV light, and sometimes they are huge, like develping prefrontal lobes so that we can engage in abstract thinking.

Someone said they noticed people are taller now than they were in the past. The increase in height is an effect of getting enough protein and other nutrients. While this change may lead, in time, to an evolutionary change ( if there is a specific advantage to it) in and of itself, increased height due to abundant food is not evolution. For height to be an evolutionary event, there would have to be some fundamental changes in the biochemisry that governs growth. The genetic code would have to be altered for a very substaintial number of our species. That code has been altered for some sub-groups like Watusi and a few others, but even that is not an fully evolutionary change.

Answer 5

yes it is a fact, has been proven, and it is still occuring today.

one example of evolution is the panda's struggle to survive. a change in its enviromenet was introduced (logging mostly). and suddenly the panda seems to have a lot more trouble getting the food it needs. so pandas would either switch to another food source, or die out. the latter allas has nearly happened, and had man not interveined it would have happened.

Answer 6

Certainly things evolve. However, the theory of evolution as an explanation for how every living thing came to be here, is preposterous and absurd. Things do evolve, but I find it impossible to believe they completely change species. This supposedly happens over millions of years, yet the current glacial period ended 10,000 years ago according to Wikipedia: "...ice age is used to refer to colder periods with extensive ice sheets over the North American and Eurasian continents: in this sense, the last ice age ended about 10,000 years ago.." How much evolving can happen in 10,000 years?

"The Cambrian explosion has generated a great deal of interest and controversy among scientists and the public. Darwin saw it as one of the principal objections that could be lodged against his theory of evolution by natural selection ("The fossil record had caused Darwin more grief than joy. Nothing distressed him more than the Cambrian explosion, the coincident appearance of almost all complex organic designs..." Stephen Jay Gould, The Panda’s Thumb"

Evolution is a theory, only. It might explain some minor changes over long long periods of time, but it stretches credibility to say it is the explanation for the origin of all life.

Answer 7

Yes, evolution is an ongoing process. And it is a fact.

Answer 8

I would think the fact that humans haven't yet "evolved" into a higher life form would be proof enough to disprove evolution!

Answer 9

Yes i woke up this morning howling and my dog was talking(he really does sound like he is trying to say i love you.) He can do other things as well like alert me when i am sick. He gets paid with lots of love good food and treats and i take care of him and so far he seems happy with his job. I know this is not the pet section but i do think that animals that stay close to their owners do evolve into smarter dog people.

Answer 10

It's a theory, like gravity or relativity. In other words, it is very well-supported. It is also still occurring.

Answer 11

Evolution is always happening, it's just part of life. Everything is always changing, growing evolving into something better.