How is evolution possible?

Question

I know there is evolution, but how is it possible? I heard whales once walked on land, but how did legs turn into flippers? And why is our appendix growing shorter? Why do we change and how does our bodies and children know how to change?

Answer 1

There are many forces that drive the evolution of species. Species evolve in response to their environment, and the process can take millennia, through mutation that makes certain members of the species better adapted to survive and reproduce. Their offspring then carry the mutation, which passes on through the generations to come. Evolution is inevitable and ongoing, even now.

A good example of this process happening right now in humans is the lactose gene. It's been discovered that as recently as 30,000 years ago, humans were unable to tolerate lactose. When we began to herd animals, first goats, then sheep and cattle, we began to drink their milk and make cheese as a source of protein. Apparently, the first people to do this were those living in colder climates, where food was scarce during the winter months.

The mutation developed in people to tolerate the lactose in goat's milk or cow's milk, which is different from the enzymes present in human milk. Those people who carried the mutation survived and reproduced, and those people are now different genetically from people in other climates who didn't domesticate cattle as early. That's why there are some people who can tolerate lactose and others who can't.

This is a Reader's Digest version of the process, of course, but I hope it gives you an idea of how evolution can work.

Answer 2

Think of natural selection....those that are best adapted to the conditions will survive the best ( survial of the fittest)....those that are born with a new/novel/unique trait/chracteristic may find this is an advantage/disadvantage or has no effect ( neutral) on other individuals......those that find it disadvantagous will find it hard to mate and produce many offspring, while those that have an advantage will usually produce more offspring. Over time this new character will be seen more and more in the population as it gives an advantage over other indiviudals that do not have it.

If you look at a whale....yes its ancestors walked around, but as competition increased new habitats had to be found, so some members started to lived in and around water...over time as they spent more and more time there, those with stronger forelimbs swam better in the water ( and therefore may have escaped from predators better and caught more food as a result)...in the same way, the tail was used more and back limbs less...those that were born with smaller back limbs found it easier to swim and therefore were more successful....and passed on these traits to its offspring and so on.

Wh don't "KNOW" to change...its CHANCE!....mutations are quite useful in the scheme of things...while they occur rarely to be of benefit, they have occurred and have been of use and have benefited those that have needed them.......things happens VERY VERY VERY slowly.......its so small we would not really see it in even a 1000 years, let alone a puny lifetime.!!!!

Answer 3

the bodies don't know how to change. the theory of evolution has its idea based on the survival of the fittest. meaning that if a snake, for example once had legs (which it was proven it had), through random genetic mutations there were some snakes born without legs (probably looked upon as impaired lol), but seemed to adapt to their environment much better than the other snakes. so the other snakes died because they didn't survive the dangers of the environment, but the randomly generated legless snake did.
so it's all pretty random, and exactly why it took millions of years for us to be the way we are.

Answer 4

you're an glaring troll, who fails miserably at being one. For the sake of preparation although, you're using the words "evolution" and "lacking link" interior the comparable sentence, which shows which you do not have a clue what you're on approximately. you're blending up evolution with the evolution concept, some thing which many Christians and Muslims as an occasion do. How do you recognize that there's no information for some thing, in case you do no longer even understand what's what?

Answer 5

All living things have one prime directive. To survive. Thats it. That simple rule drives everything. You evolve to survive. You yourself may not see it but after a few generation changes start taking place. Those who adapt live, those who don't die, there fore breaking the prime directive. Because the ones that are dead don't reproduce those genes die with them. The new change get passed along to the new generation by the survivors.

One more thing. You need to have a need to change. If everything is honky dory you won't evolve. It is only when survival is at stake that change beggings.

Answer 6

Just to explain this would take pages, then to argue whether evolution is true or creationism is true would take another hundred pages. If you're not so hard core, read the readers digest version, or check out wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_life). if you are more hard core go read a biology textbook, it would span 5-10 chapters at the very least.

So i would just like to say something with reference to evolution being a 'theory'. In science, we do not use the word 'theory' the way it is used in everyday english, whereby people may shrug something off to be 'just a theory'. A theory is more like a collection of laws and facts which can spin off even more hypotheses that lead to more facts and laws. For example, the cell theory is not 'just a theory', it is a large collection of many facts and has implications in many areas of biology. So when discussing about the theory of evolution, it would be ignorant to use such an argument.

Which ever side you eventually subscribe to, it is best to find out all the facts first before you make an informed choice. Dont accept something just because someone else says it is. best of luck with life.

Answer 7

It presupposes that lower life forms evolved into higher life forms; never seen that happen, thus the theory of evolution, not the law of evolution.

Answer 8

Mutations create change, survival of the fittest take over from there.

Answer 9

It is possible through mutation of genes.Mutation occurs sponataneously and also through some agents(physical and chemical) of the environment called mutagens.

Answer 10

Genetic mutation on a fairly regular rate. What benefits the offspring is passed on to their offspring.