lemur68 wrote:GOD CREATED ADAM AND EVE 6000 YEARS AGO

END OF STORY

scott wrote:I saw the very recent NOVA episode about the battle over Intelligent Design, and how it was annhilated because the good, moral folk who were pushing for it to be taught in science class, these folk were lying under oath about its origin as an unequivocally Christian principle, and how they had gone in and edited the text to replace the phrase "God" with something like "intelligent designer" or whatever the hell it was (not that). It was a great NOVA.

Dr. Venkman wrote:The Kiwi of Australia has mammal like traits, so, over millions of years, a bird can certainly take on traits of a different species based on it's enviornment.

skinny honkie wrote:

Dr. Venkman wrote:The Kiwi of Australia has mammal like traits, so, over millions of years, a bird can certainly take on traits of a different species based on it's enviornment.

The Kiwi of where? THE KIWI OF WHERE?

You canadians compell me to start a book donation program to schools.

eva03 wrote:

scott wrote:I didn't mean to suggest that one morning a snake wakes up and has become an eagle. I don't think I've ever even heard of a person misunderstanding evolution that poorly, though I'm sure it happens.

I also realize it's not like "okay hippo, now some of you will no longer be hippo, now you'll be whales" or anything like that. maybe some hippo-like animal some hundreds of millions of years ago mutated over the course of time to move its nose to the back of its neck or back or wherever a blowhole is located, and took to a life in the water. since they breed and birth in the water, it obviously would have had to be multiple animals making this move at the same time, abandoning the land. maybe there were hundreds or whatever, who knows. and then being in the water allowed this animal to increase in size (over eons, of course) to be 25 times heavier than land-based hippos.

It's pretty astounding to me.

Dude excellent topic, sorry to say but I've met many people here in the south who think just like that. Here's a sentence I've heard ton of times "If people came from monkeys why are monkeys still around?" After I get done groaning I have to explain how evolution works to them and they usually reply " No one has ever explained it to me that way" I've never even seriously studied evolution outside my biology courses in high school and my intro courses in college, how this concept escapes so many people is beyond me.

The evolution of the peppered moth over the last two hundred years has been studied in detail. Originally, the vast majority of peppered moths had light coloration, which effectively camouflaged them against the light-colored trees and lichens which they rested upon. However, due to widespread pollution during the Industrial Revolution in England, many of the lichens died out, and the trees which peppered moths rested on became blackened by soot, causing most of the light-colored moths, or typica, to die off due to predation. At the same time, the dark-colored, or melanic, moths, carbonaria, flourished because of their ability to hide on the darkened trees.

Since then, with improved environmental standards, light-colored peppered moths have again become common, but the dramatic change in the peppered moth's population has remained a subject of much interest and study, and has led to the coining of the term industrial melanism to refer to the genetic darkening of species in response to pollutants. As a result of the relatively simple and easy-to-understand circumstances of the adaptation, the peppered moth has become a common example used in explaining or demonstrating natural selection to laypeople and classroom student.

slincire wrote:Here's a case that is pretty commonly taught to illustrate evolution, I learend about it in high school bio.

The evolution of the peppered moth over the last two hundred years has been studied in detail. Originally, the vast majority of peppered moths had light coloration, which effectively camouflaged them against the light-colored trees and lichens which they rested upon. However, due to widespread pollution during the Industrial Revolution in England, many of the lichens died out, and the trees which peppered moths rested on became blackened by soot, causing most of the light-colored moths, or typica, to die off due to predation. At the same time, the dark-colored, or melanic, moths, carbonaria, flourished because of their ability to hide on the darkened trees.

Since then, with improved environmental standards, light-colored peppered moths have again become common, but the dramatic change in the peppered moth's population has remained a subject of much interest and study, and has led to the coining of the term industrial melanism to refer to the genetic darkening of species in response to pollutants. As a result of the relatively simple and easy-to-understand circumstances of the adaptation, the peppered moth has become a common example used in explaining or demonstrating natural selection to laypeople and classroom student.

Of course down the page there's a part about controversy and Intelligent Designers saying it's not a good example. Maybe Wikipedia should drop their neutral point of view policy when it comes to Intelligent Design and just call it what it is: CRAP. Actually, maybe any desiger (graphic, fashion, industrial, interior, web, etc.) out there with a smattering of intelligence should maybe sue the idiots who support Intelligent Desgin for besmirching their good name. Class action all the way!