"Alexithymia" wrote:

If you haven't got a real question about evolution, please just leave.

So do I 

---

I just uploaded a TEDEd video about evolution. It should be on my profile under videos. It's called "Five Fingers of Evolution" 

---

So, evolution is a theory and a fact, Okay. I have two questions : - Why does evolution occur like its shown on the evolutionary tree? I mean why branches and not a chain? (I couldn't elaborate this question better, sorry).  - Can you explain the genetic evidence for the theory?

---

"Alexithymia" wrote:

The topic has frequently come up in the Express Your Faith board, and it seems like a lot of people don't understand Evolution, so I'm making a thread to answer any of your questions. Just to let you know two things from the start though: 1) "Evolution" is the name of a fact and a theory, just like "Gravity" is a fact, theory and law. A theory never becomes a fact, it explains one. The Theory of Evolution explains the process called Evolution, which is a fact. 2) The definition of 'proof' I'll be using is "a fact established by evidence;" that's the legal definition and means that 'proof' and 'evidence' are different.

Alexithymia! Y U SO OSM? This post...

---

"snowstone" wrote:

So, evolution is a theory and a fact, Okay. I have two questions : - Why does evolution occur like its shown on the evolutionary tree? I mean why branches and not a chain? (I couldn't elaborate this question better, sorry).  - Can you explain the genetic evidence for the theory?

Evolution is essentially a fact. There's proof everywhere, some people just deny it because they don't understand it. We use a tree for Evolution because it shows how much evolution "branches" out. As said in the video, it began with a single celled organism. Fro that single celled organism, it evolved into more complex creatures, such as jawless fish. Those fish eventually evolved into having jaws, and those fish evolved into reptiles, and they became dinosaurs, etc.  You can use a chain, you can use anything, but a tree is easiest.  As for genetic evidence, we can look back at old DNA left behind on fossils of prehistoric man and compare it to modern man, and see that we have different genes. When you compare to our direct ancestors, like Homo erectus you can see that we have some similar genes, that may be more advanced.  If not just humans, you can use Darwin's Finches in the Galapagos Islands. In the Islands, there are different species of Finches that all look nearly the exact same - however, their beaks are different. Let's say, for instance, one year in the Galapagos it rains incredibly long and hard. This causes the seeds of plants to swell up. So, in some of the Finches you have fat beaks, and others you have little short beaks. During this rainy season, the fat beaked Finches thrive while the short beaked Finches die off, because they can't pick up the swollen seeds.  Now, the next year, it stops raining. The seeds are very tiny, and the fat beaked birds cannot eat the small seeds because their beaks are just too large. The fat beaked birds begin to die, and the small beaked birds come back.  This is the most essential process to evolution, natural selection.

---

"Jack Mack" wrote:

"snowstone" wrote:

So, evolution is a theory and a fact, Okay. I have two questions : - Why does evolution occur like its shown on the evolutionary tree? I mean why branches and not a chain? (I couldn't elaborate this question better, sorry).  - Can you explain the genetic evidence for the theory?

Evolution is essentially a fact. There's proof everywhere, some people just deny it because they don't understand it. We use a tree for Evolution because it shows how much evolution "branches" out. As said in the video, it began with a single celled organism. Fro that single celled organism, it evolved into more complex creatures, such as jawless fish. Those fish eventually evolved into having jaws, and those fish evolved into reptiles, and they became dinosaurs, etc.  You can use a chain, you can use anything, but a tree is easiest.  As for genetic evidence, we can look back at old DNA left behind on fossils of prehistoric man and compare it to modern man, and see that we have different genes. When you compare to our direct ancestors, like Homo erectus you can see that we have some similar genes, that may be more advanced.  If not just humans, you can use Darwin's Finches in the Galapagos Islands. In the Islands, there are different species of Finches that all look nearly the exact same - however, their beaks are different. Let's say, for instance, one year in the Galapagos it rains incredibly long and hard. This causes the seeds of plants to swell up. So, in some of the Finches you have fat beaks, and others you have little short beaks. During this rainy season, the fat beaked Finches thrive while the short beaked Finches die off, because they can't pick up the swollen seeds.  Now, the next year, it stops raining. The seeds are very tiny, and the fat beaked birds cannot eat the small seeds because their beaks are just too large. The fat beaked birds begin to die, and the small beaked birds come back.  This is the most essential process to evolution, natural selection.

Thanks, some of what you wrote I already know but not all. 

---