Unanswered questions about evolution?

Question

This is not a question trying to disprove evolution. Don't even answer this question if that is all you are going to do. I know there is tons of evidence and explanations regarding evolution, but what, if any, are some of the things that scientists don't understand about evolution and still need to figure out? I'm sorry if this question doesn't make sense. I did my best.

Answer 1

I am not a creationist, but I cannot support the evolution hypothesis. The scientific method calls for other analyses when the "null" is reached...but this damn evolution theory just won't die. It truly is a religion in itself.

1. Man is far more "evolved" than necessary to survive in his/her environment.
2. Lack of fossils of "transitioning" species.
3. No data to support macro evolution.
4. Discussion questioning evolution are not acceptable in society and viewed as "sac religious."
5. Man's brain grew exponentially 50k years ago in a short space of time, which goes against predictions of evolution theory.
6. Charles Darwin set out to prove grandfather Erasmus Darwin's stories about evolution; therefore, he was biased in collecting data to solidy his evolution theory--and the rest is history.

Answer 2

There are heaps of unanswered questions about evolution!  The problem is, all the simple and easily-understood questions were answered a long time ago, so we're left with mostly obscure and arcane ones.  (For a perspective on unanswered questions in evolution, see this:  http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/quotes/ ).

Unanswered questions I can think of:
1.  What was the photosynthetic organism (bacteria-like) which merged with another cell to form the plant chloroplast, and what did it look like?
2.  What is this organism's closest living relation?

The reason these questions are unanswered is because the events happened so long ago, and most of the biochemical markers have probably been obscured and shuffled by time.  But as more and more organisms get their genes sequenced, answers to this and other questions may fall out and give us wonderful bits of enlightenment.

And then, of course, they'll give us even more questions.  "The bigger the island of knowledge, the longer the shoreline of wonder."

Answer 3

You seem a little confused about the theory of evolution. First of all, evolution doesn't speculate as to the origin of life. Obtaining living from non-living material is a whole different subject matter. Evolution doesn't talk about crabs and ferns or plants turning into intelligent organisms. Evolution comes about from a diversity of species and natural selection. Some species are better adapted to survive in certain conditions. These are the species that survives and multiply. The species that are not well adapted become extinct. The species that are alive today e.g. horseshoe crabs, ferns and cockroaches, are all the species of crabs, ferns, and roaches that were best adapted to survive their environments. This diversity of species come from mutations in DNA. Of course, some mutations are harmful and these populations don't survive; however, some mutations are beneficial and these populations thrive and multiply if they are well suited to the environment. Regarding a limb evolving from a flipper, this is a misconception. Again, evolution comes from a diversity of species. Some animals had flippers and they were well suited to the water, some animals had limbs and they are better suited to the land. "Halfway-there" animals were not as well suited to survive on either so they didn't. Unless you consider a seal or walrus halfway there, but they do most of their living in the water. The change doesn't happen all at once. It occurs over hundreds of thousands of years. If you consider how long humans have been on the earth, is a pretty long time. If you think about current available evidence, it's pretty obvious. But I have a feeling that you've already made up your mind.

Answer 4

I agree, with Orchidmg. The problem with evolution is that there are too many unanswered questions and does not prove that God doesn't live. This is why a lot of the evolutionary scientists throw out the theory of evolution and turn to the possibility of creation by a superior being; some of them even became Christians.

Answer 5

What the scientists don't understand about evolution is the uneven links of progression in some species. Man being one where there are definate age grouping but little transistion proof. Of course this is expected as everything decays but it leaves holes the researchers are trying to fill.

The question becomes did the species die out and restart? Or is there a set of missing links? This applies to other species then mankind.

Answer 6

The problem evolution has that creationists keep jumping on is that it can't explain the origin of life itself. For example, it is known now that there are self-replicating RNA molecules called ribozymes, which will perpetuate themselves as long as they have a supply of the basic ingredients. It's harder to see when and how the use of nucleic acids to code for proteins arose, and how a simple self-replicating molecule could develop into a complex single-celled organism. That's not to say there aren't plenty of hypotheses, but there is little evidence as yet to support them.

Answer 7

Every time someone says, "Ah, this question is unanswered by Evolution theory", such as eyes, someone goes and explains how they could come about, and then goes and finds living examples to show the intermediary steps required to get from a cell, to a fully functioning eye.

As far as I can see, the only unanswered questions so far are the ones that haven't been asked. As soon as someone asks them, a evolutionary path will be found to explain them.

Except to creationists, as they believe God did everything complicated and nothing can be explained, not even where this God came from. That bit you have to take on faith and faith alone. You can't weigh faith, you can't feel it if it is outside yourself, you can't measure it outside yourself, but it is supposed to exist, just as God is supposed to.

Answer 8

In my opinion, the main problem with anyone, not just scientists trying to prove or explain evolution is that it occurs over such a large span of time. It is hard to gather information over such a time period much less package it to where it makes sense to us humans.

Answer 9

I don't think they have found that 'missing link' yet. And they haven't found out how the first one-celled organism began to evolve into a multiple celled organism. And they haven't been about to actually disprove God's existence, therefore they can't take God out of the realm of 'theories' of creation.

Peace!