someone who can explain evidence behind evolution??

Question

thanks to everyone who responded before.. still not convinced.

Answer 1

haley, I have also written up long summaries of evidence just as many people have done here.

But you say people have done this before and you are "still not convinced." So throwing a lot more evidence at you isn't going to help without SOME information from you.

What do YOU mean by "evolution" ... the *process* of evolution or the *theory* of evolution?

In other words, when you say you are not convinced of evolution, you could mean one of several things:

1. You are not convinced that evolution occurs at all ... where "evolution" means the slow change in organisms over long periods of time.

2. You are convinced that evolution occurs, but not convinced that Darwin's theory of natural selection explains that process.

3. You are convinced that Darwin's theory explains that process, but not convinced that this process can explain the origins of new species from other species.

4. You can see how species can evolve, but you are not convinced that this applies to humans.

5. You can see how species can evolve from other species, but you are not convinced that this can explain the origins of *all* modern species all the way back to the first life forms.

6. You are convinced that evolution can explain the origins of all species, but it does not explain the origins of life.

PLEASE give us something more to go on ... either here, or feel free to email me or anyone. Otherwise, it's a one-way conversation and we're not talking to you, we're talking AT you.

Thanks, haley!

Answer 2

Evolution is a body of knowledge that has been and continues to be developed, rigorously tested, and empirically supported. Biological evolution results from the interplay of genetic mutations, genetic drift, gene flow and natural selection. We have only begun to understand how these processes work and how they and other processes have shaped the earth's biota.

As an example, evolution is central to combating infectious diseases. HIV is so pernicious because the HIV virus evolves in the body of each infected individual. Doctors have found that the most effective HIV treatments are those that slow or prevent this evolution. If we did not understand evolution, these treatments would not exist. Drug companies also invest huge sums of money to develop new antibiotics, but even before being produced they know these drugs will be effective for only a few years because of the evolution of resistances to them by pathogens. Specific patient treatment strategies can slow this evolution, again because we understand the evolutionary process. Exactly the same issues affect our agriculture through the evolution of resistance in the pathogens and pests of our crops and livestock. Health care and agriculture are only two of many practical areas where a solid understanding of biological evolution is crucial. If you want to examine the evidence for yourself, look up some of the key words in the first paragraph (e.g. genetic mutation). My point is that the overwhelming majority of scientists accept evolutionary theory for a reason. If you're interested, the link below is excellent for understanding evolution better.

Answer 3

Evolution is change, plain and simple. When people think of evolution they usually just think that people came from monkeys. It is very much deeper than that.

Change for humans takes thousands of years, but can be noticed in days or even hours in bacteria. The doctrine of uniformitarianism which is used in geology, can also be used to explain past occurrences in other fields. This doctrine states that present processes help to explain the past. If bacteria can change so quickly and adapt and even resist some things that killed their ancestors, this is clearly a sign of change and hence is called 'evolution'.

What you might ask is because bacteria make an exact copy of themselves so how could they ever change? Usually bacteria make exact copies, however there are millions and millions of bacteria and every so often there is a random genetic mutation in some of them. It just so happens that they get lucky because that mutation allows them to survive and pass that trait on to their offspring.

So see evolution is just change. If you don't believe in evolution you in a sense don't believe in change either.

The proof you seek is all around you. In simple organisms it can happen very quickly but in more complex organisms it can take thousands upon hundreds of thousands even millions of years.

If you need to be convinced that evolution does indeed occur, I believe you might be thinking that you have to choose either religion or evolution. If this is the case, you do not have to only believe in one or the other.

There is plenty of room in our lives for both god and the understanding of the miracles of life. Evolution does not state that there is no god, likewise the bible does not say that evolution did not and does not occur.

Just some food for thought :)

Answer 4

Evolution is when a species has to change to adapt to their surroundings. It happens through natural selection. If a species, for example guppies, live in an environment with little or no preditors, they will choose mates with bright vibrant colors. Say upstream there are lots of preditors. The guppies won't be as bright because they prefer to choose duller mates so they will blend in to their surroundings which ensures survival. In order to accept evolution as a fact, you have to accept that genes can be changed just through breeding. If you don't believe that you can cause a mutation just by breeding animals, then you're blind. Think about dogs. We breed dogs to fit certain sizes, shapes, colors, you name it. There are breeds of dogs that are purebred but they've been created just by selective breeding. There are breeds that exist now that never existed before. Their genes have been changed and we've forced them to evolve to fit our needs. Evolution in the wild is slower because the environment doesn't change very fast. There's lots of proof.

Answer 5

Ok, if this hasn't been mentioned before then here's evidence. Look only to the present as viruses evolve to survive our current vaccines. This is why they need to develop a new flu vaccine every year. Because the flu virus adapts to the old ones. They adapt because the vaccine kills all but a few vaccine resistant mutant viruses. These viruses evolved by being the only ones of their species to survive the vaccine. On a larger scale, this is how all life evolved but over a longer period of time. The strongest (sometimes mutant) survive out of a species to carry on their genes to the next generation.

Answer 6

haha, it seems everyone's trying to convince you about evolution.

Evolution, like what many has said before, is all about a gradual change of populations in their gene pool, and it is brought about by natural selection. Rather than dishing out evidences and tell you that these are due to evolution, let's take a look at the basis of evolution and work from there.

Does natural selection exist? it would seem so. Natural selection believes in the survival of the fittest in accordance to the environment. The best adapted survives and gets to reproduce, the weak simply dies off. This is almost undisputable. Evidence of this has already been brought up by the previous users.

But even if we accept that natural selection occurs, how does that prove that evolution happens? simple, imagine one species of animal in one environment, if we were to split the same species into 2 vastly different environments, eg, sahara and the arctics. both groups will start to change and adapt to the environment, like having longer/shorter hair. this is done by selecting individuals with genes coding naturally for longer/shorter hair, due to variations. as time pass, the same species will start to appear increasingly different. Like one of the users mentioned before, mutations are bound to occur, and eventually the 2 groups can become significantly different such that they can no longer interbreed. [by definition, the same species should be able to interbreed and give fertile offsprings.]

So, evolution can also be described as the accumulation of minor changes that build up to a huge enough difference. [it's like having evryone throw 1 grain of sand to make a hill]

The most siginificant evidence for evolution, i feel, is that of biogeography. animals from the same environment are more genetically identical than animals with similar structures but are from different environments. like i said, evolution and natural selection is all decided by the environment. so, if similar animals exist in the same environment, it goes to show that environment serves to differentiate these animals from those on other places, right? take marsupials, you only find them in australia and nowhere else right? the reason why marsupials are so different from other species, is because the environment has helped to shape them together. the finer differences within australia then helps to further divide them. the reason why they are so genetically similar, is because they all come from the SAME ancestor. imagine a species on one continent, seperate them onto the different continents. you get different groups of animals. then within the continent we further divide them into even more different species.

evidence that we come from the same ancestor: [someone mentioned this before i think] the presence of similar structures in our bodies. look at snakes, we are vertebrates, and they are also vertebrates. but we look so different! yet if we look closely, we can see that snakes retain some traces of the pelvis and hind legs, even though they no longer have a function. these are called vestigial organs. this proves that we come from the same ancestor! just that legs have "shrunk" for the snakes. if you don't believe, you can search for some pictures online.

ARGH! i wrote an essay! =X i'm sorry, i got into the mood for rambling =). i'll stop here! hope this was not entirely useless. =)

Answer 7

Maybe there is basic evidence in that dark skinned people evolved in hotter climates and white skinned people in colder climates and very very gradually if they shifted to different (opposite?) climates their relatives might change slightly as each new generation is born?? down many years. You only have to look at apes to see how much we resemble them and the way they care for their young and DNA is very close to suggest we evolved from a branch of the Apes and this doesn't have to contradict religion either or confirm it.

Answer 8

well how about evidence behind religion? LOTS of people back then had some issues who's to say what is fact or fiction. Why do pictures of adam and eve they have belly buttons but they were created? I mean look even closer back to the salem witches what if those people wrote bibles on things they "saw". But then again if we evolved from monkeys... why are there still monkeys? You could claim were kind of cousins to them but that'd be like compairing dogs to wolves. That don't really add up either. So my philosophy is when I die I'll know the answer. If there's a heaven or if we're all just worm food :D

Answer 9

To really understand the theroy of evolution, you probably need to pick up a textbook on Biology, and commit yourself to reading 100-200 pages from the section describing the theory and the evidence.

You aren't likely to get a solid understanding in the limited space available here.

:-)

Answer 10

Would you care to give us some details on what it is that doesn't convince you?

Perhaps you think the thousands of biologists who accept evolution as a fact of nature are gullible fools?