Will scientists ever be able to bridge the huge gaps in the fossil record?

Question

Evolutionary theory presumes that fish became amphibians, some amphibians became reptiles, from the reptiles came both mammals and birds, and eventually some mammals became men. Fossils give tangible evidence of the varieties of life that existed long before man’s arrival. But they have not produced the expected backing for the evolutionary view of how life began or how new kinds got started thereafter. The fossil record should by now have revealed beginnings of new structures in living things. There should be at least some fossils with developing arms, legs, wings, eyes, and other bones and organs.Darwin attempted to explain these huge problems by attacking the fossil record. He said: “I look at the geological record as a history of the world imperfectly kept, . . . imperfect to an extreme degree.” It was assumed by him and others that as time passed the missing fossil links surely would be found. How much progress has been made since Darwin wrote this?

Answer 1

It took a long time for those fossils to be formed. It could take a long time for humans to figure out too. Check back in few hundred years...

Answer 2

Probably more than you will ever know. For instance, it is my understanding that park rangers at Yellowstone are not permitted to answer geologic time frame questions because the answer would be in conflict with Biblical interpretation,(i.e., the Earth is 6,000 yrs. old). Now with a government like that, you would expect an answer to your question?

As for the age of the Earth it would seem that because I can see the Andromeda galaxy it means that the Earth has been around long enough for light from that galaxy to reach your eye, and that took longer than 6,000 years.

I will give you an answer. Dolphins have fingers. He came from the water and went back to the water. Seems to be so.

I think from what I know that a human embryo goes through an evolutionary cycle in the womb.

Huge gaps could be resultant of repeated events that nearly caused mass extinctions? And that a new breed, as it were, was merely a mutation in response to calamity.

It seems that life is more than the suit it wears, yes?, no?

Answer 3

Actually, there have been a great number of discoveries since Darwin, and it is hard to prove one way or the other because there is so much that hasn't been discovered (we haven't discovered most of the animal and plant life living currently, when you include insects, arthropods, and whatnot- let alone all the creatures that have lived through the last millions of years, and would have had to have died in such a way to fossilize its bones, and is close enough to the earth's surface to be exposed and seen by scientists, and is not covered by ocean).
paleontologists are discovering new species all the time. and they are also getting better at understanding the connections between species (not as apparent as a hand/fin, but they have been able to find similarities between cow's heels and whale's fins for example) check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microraptor ...though not conclusive evidence of a 50/50 dinosaur/bird, it is an example of (one of many) links from modern birds to their ancient family past.
though not conclusive, Darwin's theory based on the limited amount of empirical evidence that man has unearthed so far (which today is far greater than in darwin's time) is still probably the most intuitive and realistic.

Answer 4

Considering the rarity of fossilisation, it is surprising we have so many fossils. There are no "huge gaps" in the fossil record and few big ones. There are many transient fossils showing the evolution of most types of animals. "On the Origin of Species" was published nearly 150 years ago. Much has been discovered since then - and just about all of it supports Darwin's original thesis. Evolution is one of the most robust scientific theories around. There is more and stronger evidence for evolution than there is for gravity.

Answer 5

I don't think that will ever happen. There hasn't been much progress in the last couple hundred years so we just have accept on faith that the scientists know what they are about.