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Study Explains Evolution's Molecular Advance
pnewhook writes "The New York Times is reporting that 'by reconstructing ancient genes from long-extinct animals, scientists have for the first time demonstrated the step-by-step progression of how evolution created a new piece of molecular machinery by reusing and modifying existing parts. The researchers say the findings, published today in the journal Science, offer a counterargument to doubters of evolution who question how a progression of small changes could produce the intricate mechanisms found in living cells.'"
Sorry to nitpick, but quantum "fluctuations" are not random. People often confuse the terms "random" and "probabilistic" when they talk about quantum physics. A "random" system is a system where any outcome of measurement is just as likely as any other outcome. However, quantum particles are more likely to be at the expectation value of position than at any other place, though there is a NON-zero probability of it being anywhere else in the system. So quantum "fluctuations"(I'm not sure what you mean by this) are NOT random, because some outcomes of measurement are vastly more likely than others. The only requirement for a quantum particle is that the probability of it being SOMEWHERE is 1.
Quantum particles are associated with probability WAVES that fluctuate with time. When we say wave-particle duality we mean that the particle does NOT have a definite classical trajectory but instead a WAVE of probability associated with it that describes the positions, energies, and momentums at which the particle is most likely to be. This is called a wave function; it is a solution to Schrodinger's differential wave equation and its square is a probability curve.
Depending on your interpretation, quantum mechanics does indicate some things about reality such as there is an ONTOLOGICAL limit on what we can know for certain about objective reality such that it appears meaningless to talk about an absolute objective reality at all. That is, reality changes by being observed. However, unlike general relativity which does indeed EXPLAIN gravity by saying that gravity is identical with a curved space-time geometry, you are quite right in saying that quantum mechanics does not explain anything. Nor does particle theory or E&M explain why there are electric and magnetic forces without beginning to conjure up force-carrying particles and the like. They are currently trying to explain all these things by means of string theory.