Evolution

Recently in biology class, my classmates and I learned about the unit of evolution. Obviously, we went over the basics: Charles Darwin the father of evolution and cool beards, evidence for evolution, etc. But what really struck me was that every complex organism on the planet all started from one small, seemingly insignificant cell that decided to somehow become alive. And from that pioneer cell came dinosaurs, woolly mammoths, blue whales, dragonflies with 8 feet long wingspans (which are, thankfully, now extinct), carnivorous plants, and possibly the most complex of them all, Homo sapiens.

It really amazes me that from a cell with no nucleus, came incredibly complex features that are present in so many animals today. I’ve decided to list a few:

• DNA – I think it’s very impressive that every organism has some form of genetic material. How did the thing that codes for everything in life really come to exist?
• Brain – one of the most mysterious things known to man still; amazing how something that controls the movements and actions of every organism under the Chordate phyla came to be
• 4 Chamber Heart – before the 4 chamber heart beating inside of you right now evolved in humans, there were species with 3 chamber hearts…and 2 chamber hearts.

What amazes me more than the evolutionary developments that have occurred over billions of years is the fact that they happened. If DNA Polymerase III didn’t mess up when adding nucleotides to a certain organisms’ DNA millions of years ago and therefore caused a mutation in the genetic material that therefore changed the way a certain protein was produced and therefore caused the organism to be more adapted to its environment, there’s a good chance humans would not be here today. For example, all people with blue eyes stemmed from a single person that originated in Europe a few thousand years ago; if that person’s genes didn’t mutate, then there wouldn’t be people with blue eyes today. This is a seemingly insignificant development, but this occurred to every trait seen in every organism on this planet. It’s really mind-blowing to realize how improbable it was for humans to have come onto this planet, yet it still happened.

Human Evolutionary Tree Link

Overall, I wanted to share my amazement over how impressive evolution is, because it really is incredible how humans and other species evolved into the incredibly complex organisms they are today from single-celled organisms.

 

Due to some recent comments, I’ve decided to include some evidence for evolution, because I feel as if there are many uninformed people reading this blog post:

– embryology: many organisms have similar structures when they are embryos, signifying they evolved from a common ancestor

– fossil records: support punctuated equilibrium, with transitional fossils showing evidence for intermediate species when the environment changed

– homologous structures: if bird and humans were created in different sects, the explain why they have similar vestigial structures and pentedactyl limbs

-universal nature of the genetic code: did God just get lazy when he was writing the genetic code for all the species on the planet, and that’s why humans share 50% of our DNA with bananas and nearly 60% with the Drosophila melanogaster, aka the fruit fly. Did God just copy and paste the genetic code of bananas and add a few more C, T, A, and G’s to make the amino acid sequences for humans?

– endosymbiotic theory: mitochondria and chloroplasts came to be because they were devoured by other prokaryotic cells through endocytosis. Evidence includes the fact that they have their own DNA and 70s size ribosomes along with having double membranes, supporting the statement that eukaryotic cells were created through endosymbiosis.

– selective breeding: the cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts all descended from the mustard plant. Selective breeding is evolution occurring RIGHT BEFORE OUR EYES!! Thousands of years ago, corn and apples were not the way they are today; corn used to be hard and inedible, and apples used to be tart and small. Through selective breeding, these staples in today’s’ society evolved into what we know them as today.

– Natural selection: If any of you biblical lunatics have ever read the Origin of Species by the father of evolution, Charles Darwin, you’d know that there is ample evidence for natural selection, which is direct evidence for evolution (antibiotic resistance in bacterial species, like methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus, and the peppered moth, along with every other species that traversed the Earth in its 4.6 billion year life span)

If you still have any other doubts on evolution, please produce some substantial evidence for me to analyze.