Ars Technica Five essential things to know about evolution "If the public doesn't get evolution, part of the reason may be because many don't fully appreciate some of the ideas behind the theory. Here's a rundown of five things about evolution that many people don't fully understand."
1 comment:
I tend to think of evolution this way:
DNA + Mutations + Environment + Time = Evolution
DNA must be stable enough to reproducibly make copies of the organism it is perpetuating, but yet not so stable as to prevent any alterations. This alone is amazing enough.
Mutations are random, the vast majority are detrimental, very few are beneficial and therefore passed on to future generations.
Environmental stability and instability also affect the rate of change in species. Extreme environmental changes can promote more extreme species change, in that extreme changes may be more beneficial under new extreme environments.
Time is typically required for the random minor beneficial mutations to occur and be disseminated throughout a population. Occasionally, mutations would occur which result in such revolutionary superiority that they rapidly spread through a population. But, this seems to be rare from the fossil evidence, especially in the absence of severe external factors.
A little simplistic, but I think quite suitable for public consumption.
Thanks for the interesting and fun posts!
TT
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