why do we study evolution, does it really matter?

Question

(this is a thing fora science assignment! help meee in the next 1/2 hour please!)

Answer 1

Of course it does. Nearly all of modern biology and medicine are based in evolutionary principles. There are dozens of scientific journals devoted to evolution, thousands and thousands of scientists using evolution every day in their work to come up with new theories and medicines and therapies.

Answer 2

Does it matter to whom, or for what purpose? The
prominent geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky has
said "Nothing in biology makes sense except in
the light of evolution." If this is so, then obviously
it matters to us if we are trying to understand the
phenomena of biology.

The fact of evolution's occurrence is as well
established as any scientific inference ever is.
The causes of evolution are varied, and their
relative importance is still subject to debate. The
course of evolution, the path from primate ancestor
to human or from Hyracotherium to horse, is still
less certain. We have in each case a set of
plausible and possible ancestors, but whether any
of them is actually THE real ancestor we do not
know for sure, and probably never will. This does
not really matter. If a given species is not actually
the real ancestor we can be sure it was some other
very similar species that was. The answerer
who says he is not descended from any monkey is
wrong, though it seems he may not have descended very far.

Answer 3

Evolution is a fact as is gravity. We have observed evolution occurring just as we have with gravity. How evolution occurs is a theory. How gravity occurs is also a theory (two theories really). Observations are made, evidence is collected - these are the facts. Theories explain the facts.

There is no higher status in science than a theory. A theory is robust, it explains all the evidence, it makes predictions but it is not cast in stone. Observation or experiment may show that the theory is wrong in which case it needs to be changed. For example, Newtonian gravity has worked well for 300 years. It has been used to send men to the Moon and the Voyager spacecraft to the outer solar system - but it is wrong. It works with big things but not at the quantum scale. Einsteinian gravity does explain things on the quantum scale as well as the large scale. It is, however, very complicated and as Newonian gravity works on the large scale, it continues to be used. Scientists are prepared at accept errors and change their ideas in the light of new evidence.

Evolution is a more robust theory than gravity. It has more and stronger evidence in support of it. There is no evidence against it despite the bleating of creationists. If science is to be taught in schools and universities, evolution is science, it is the backbone of biology. If you are studying biology, you must study evolution, it doesn't make sense without it (to pinch Dobzhansky's line).

Answer 4

Yes ,certainly it does matter. The process of evolution is continous, and study the changes in the life forms till the date. On the basis of these studies only one can predict the past and the future.

Answer 5

Studying evolution is important, because it helps understanding the world around us. On the practical side, it is crucial in areas as medicine, biology, ecology, ethology, genetics etc.

Answer 6

In biology, evolution is the change in a population's inherited characteristics, or traits, from generation to generation. The information used by the organism to produce these traits is stored on a molecule known as DNA, and is divided up into smaller units known as genes to make it easier to measure and talk about changes in it. During reproduction, these genes are copied and passed on to the offspring. Random changes in these genes can produce new or altered traits, resulting in differences between organisms. Evolution occurs when these different traits become more common or rarer within a population. This happens through a mixture of the random changes of genetic drift and the more deterministic changes based on the reproductive value of traits (including surviving long enough to reproduce) of natural selection with genetic drift dominating when effective population size is low, or the relative difference in reproductive success between two competing genes is small.

Under natural selection, organisms with traits that help them to survive and reproduce tend to have more offspring. In doing so, they will pass more copies of inheritable beneficial traits on to the next generation. This leads to advantageous traits becoming more common in each generation, while disadvantageous traits become rarer. As these small improvements accumulate over time, large changes can happen to the organism as a whole, adapting it more and more to its environment and ecological niche. The element of random chance in what mutations arise and which ones survive, as well as differences in environment can cause different populations (or parts of populations) to begin to develop different strategies for survival, which can eventually cause the species to split, creating two species where one was before. All known species are descended from a single ancestor through this process of divergence.

The theory of evolution by natural selection was first put forth in detail in Charles Darwin's 1859 book On the Origin of Species. In the 1930s, Darwinian natural selection was combined with Mendelian inheritance to form the modern evolutionary synthesis. With its enormous explanatory and predictive power, this theory has become the central organizing principle of modern biology, providing a unifying explanation for the diversity of life on Earth.

Answer 7

it does matter, scientist study evolution to find a pattern of evolution to stop any changes in this world, stop viruses, and fortell the future.

Answer 8

The question you need to answer in your own mind is 'why do we study?' If you've ever heard the term, 'knowledge is power', you already have your answer.

Answer 9

We study evolution or more correctly the THEORY of evolution to try to justify our existence by means of natural selection(?)Does it really matter?---only to evolutionists.

Answer 10

to fill our heads that man evolved from a primape , i sure in the hell didnt evolve from no monkey screw darwinism!