In the book, Coyne discusses the theme of science as a process as it relates to the theory of evolution. This connection is effectively summed up when he states: "Because a theory is accepted as 'true' only when its assertions and predictions are tested over and over again, and confirmed repeatedly, there is no one moment when a scientific theory suddenly becomes a scientific fact" (Coyne 16). Coyne goes on to describe the different ways that a theory can be proven true: testing against alternative theories; devising testable predictions that can then be proven; and using retrodictions, which are facts and data that make sense using the theory. In addition, advances in fields like paleontology, embyology, and genetics have provided more evidence supporting the theory of evolution.
Think of specific advances and discoveries in biology that have contributed to supporting the theory of evolution. In your response try to reference some specific experiments and/or scientists that made significant contributions.
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Recently, actually just two days ago, a news release from Telegraph, a UK news, found the connection that connects man and apes. This intermediate ancestor is known as Homo habilis and is currently being completed. This new skeleton is one of the few fossils discovered to contain almost all skeletal parts of the body conserved. This connection fills in the gap and gives more evidence towards evolution of humans from ape to human. I agree with Jerry Coyne the fact that Evolution can only be made a theory because a theory can be strongly supported, but there is no universal evidence that makes Evolution law. In my opinion, the reason that scientists believe in evolution is because it is the best supported theory. As had Newton's theory of motion and by Einstein's theory of relativity become popular because of growing evidence, so has evolution. As more proof is being discovered for evolution, this theory is becoming stronger and stronger.
ReplyDeleteSource: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/evolution/7550033/Missing-link-between-man-and-apes-found.html
Andrew brings up a good point in saying that a theory is only as good as the evidence presented. Another discovery that supports the theory of evolution is the discovery of Tiktaalik roseae. A missing link, Tiktaalik gives scientists information about the evolution of fish to amphibians. This transitional form shows the ‘middle ground’ between lobe-finned fish and land tetrapods in it’s (Tiktaalik’s) limbs, “which have a bone structure in between that of the sturdy fins of the lobe-finned fish and the even sturdier walking limbs of the tetrapod,” (Coyne 36) among other features. This discovery was made at Ellesmere Island in Canada in 2004 by Neil H. Shubin and Edward B. Daeschler. (http://tiktaalik.uchicago.edu/) Like Brendan brought up, this relates to science as a process since retrodictions like this make sense in light of evolution. In fact, the existence of a missing link like Tiktaalik was predicted before real evidence was found.
ReplyDeletep.s. how are people able to make italics show up?
Andrew and Radhe both acknowledge the fact that evolution is a theory. Coyne said in his book,"There are two points that I want to emphasize here. First, in science, a theory is much more than just a speculation about how things are: it is a well thought ought group of propositions meant to explain facts about the real world......For a theory to be considered scientific, it must be testable and make verifiable predictions. That is, we must be able to make observations about the real world that either support it or disprove it" (15). Being a theory, there is a lot of evidence that evolution is true through the various discoveries and scientific advances like fossils, bones, etc.
ReplyDeleteBoth Radhe and Andrew talked about homology. They showed us how organisms like apes and humans have common ancestory or how leaves of different plants have a different structure and function yet the leaves are homologous as they had a common ancestor.
[http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/0_0_0/lines_04]
Another example of evolution are guppies. John Endler of the University of California had conducted experiments with the guppies of Trinidad. These guppies are colorful in order to attract mates but unfortunately they also attract predators. Guppies were lighter where there were more predators and darker in color where there we less predators. Edler put some more predators in the areas where the dark colored guppies were. The male guppies became a duller color quite fast. The male guppies thus use natural selection to survive and reproduce thus proving the theory of scientific evolution. The guppy experiment shows that how a single species undergoes variation when exposed to environmental pressures.
[http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/0_0_0/lines_15]