Evidence of Evolution
Proof of the Evolutionary Theorem
What is Natural Selection?
Natural Selection is the process of a species developing a trait as a group to help survival. Some animals in a species have certain traits, and those traits help them survive better. The mass population then starts to develop that trait as it is passed on through the breeding system. This trait can be affected by environmental and genetic factors.
Resisting the Tyranny of Antibiotics!
It has been found that bacteria can become resistant to antibiotics. But how can this be so? Aren't antibiotics made to destroy germs? The answer is a relatively simple one. Through the process of natural selection, bacteria can mutate, thus rendering the antibiotic moot. This is then passed on through the generations following, and thus a new strain of bacteria is born. This is why every disease known to man hasn't been eradicated. It is nigh on impossible to do so. However, as bacteria evolves, so does technology.
The Big Names in Evolution
Charles Darwin
Often called the Father of Evolution, Darwin is the most famous evolutionist to date. Darwin developed the main idea of evolution, an idea that has barely been changed in the last 150 years. Darwin went to the college of Cambridge, and it is their that one of his professors proposed that he go on a voyage on the HMS Beagle as a naturalist. He journeyed with the Beagle for five years, and during that time he collected and cataloged many species. When he got to the Galapagos Islands (west of Ecuador) he found something curious. There were mockingbirds at the islands, like at Ecuador, but they were all slightly different. This eventually led to Darwin's theory of natural selection, for which he is most famous.
Alfred Russel Wallace
Wallace is best known for his co-discovery of natural selection, which he arrived at independent of Darwin, and was the reason Darwin published his paper when he did. Wallace sent his paper "On the Tendencies of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely From the Original Type" to Darwin for review, and asked him to give it to Charles Lyell if he found it sound. Darwin saw that Wallace had hit upon the same idea as himself, and so published his own findings along with Wallace's and Charles Lyell's at the same time. Wallace was in a different country, and so word didn't get to him until later, and he was given position of co-discoverer. Wallace was also a main reason Charles Lyell came to believe in evolution.
Charles Lyell
Charles Lyell was a geologist, and was one of the few men of his day to believe that the Earth is older than 300 million years old. Lyell was a friend of Darwin and Wallace, as well as other well known scientists of the day. Lyell believed in evolution personally and privately, though he denounced it in public. If he had publicly announced that he supported it, he would lose his social prestige, being that evolution was a laughable concept when it was first being discovered.
James Hutton
James Hutton was an evolutionist in Darwin's time who actually came up with the idea of natural selection awhile before Darwin. However, Darwin developed the theory of natural selection entirely separate. Hutton believed in heritable and non-heritable traits. He also believed that evolution was affected by an outside force, i.e a deity.
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck was an evolutionist who came before Darwin and developed his own theory that was different from Darwin's theory. Lamarck's theory was that when an animal really needed something, like the much-used example of the giraffe. His theory was that if a giraffe really needed a trait, like a longer neck to reach higher leaves, it could stretch and elongate its neck farther. He used this for all animals. Mammals, amphibians, and invertebrates, a term that, interestingly enough, he himself coined.
Thomas Robert Malthus
Thomas Robert Malthus was a cleric and a scientist, and the most notable thing about him in history is that he was the inspiration of Darwin's theory of natural selection. Malthus believed that the population was eventually going to outgrow the resources, and that would lead to finally spell an end to Man. Malthus was the first to believe in population control, which was very unpopular at the time.
"I have here the proof, Your Honor."
Fossils
Fossils are evidence for evolution as we can observe the changes in animals and plants throughout the many years. For example, we can observe the changing traits through fish having no jaws in one time period, then finding one millions of years later that has a jaw, and another one millions of years later that resembles closely our fish today. This is different than a transitional fossil, which has traits from ancient predecessors, and modern animals.
Transitional Fossils
Transitional fossils are fossils that have traits from ancestors and predecessors. This proves evolution because it shows the steps an animal took to become the ones we see today. An example is the whale. The whale was previously a land animal, and we have found a transitional fossil of the whale, in between land animal and sea animal.
Homologous Structures
Homologous Structures are structures that have a common ancestor. Now, this doesn't mean they have to look the same like a monkey and a humans limb. On the contrary, they can perform entirely different functions like a human arm and a bat or bird wing. Homologous structures are proof that different animals have evolved from the same ancestor.
Biogeography
Biogeography is the distribution of organisms geographically. Biogeography proves evolution because if a species is closely related genetically, then they are often distributed closely together. One example is that in Australia, marsupials are very common but mammals are not.
DNA
DNA is one of the biggest pieces of evidence for evolution. Evolution happens through DNA by mutations. Close inspection of DNA shows that all species are all related. All living organisms have the same DNA code. This shows that all organisms have a common ancestor.
Embryology
Embryology is the study of embryos. Embryology proves evolution because traits in one animal sometimes show up in other species embryos. This proves that a lot of organisms had a common ancestor. One example of this is the human and the fish. In fish embryos, fish have gill slits. In human embryos, the humans also have gills, but they disappear before birth.