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New Findings Confirm Darwin's Theory — Evolution Not Random

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the water-also-wet dept.

ScienceDaily is reporting a team of biologists has demonstrated that evolution is a deterministic process, rather than a random selection as some competing theories suggested. "When the researchers measured changes in 40 defined characteristics of the nematodes' sexual organs (including cell division patterns and the formation of specific cells), they found that most were uniform in direction, with the main mechanism for the development favoring a natural selection of successful traits, the researchers said."

6 of 386 comments (clear)

  1. Wait... what's different here? by eepok · · Score: 4, Informative

    Hmm... I don't understand...

    From what I picked up in bio, it was known to work as such:

    Assume Mutation
    (1) If mutation not hindrance, animal likely to live and likely makes babies.
    (2) If mutation is boon, animal more likely to live and more likely makes babies.
    (3) If mutation is hindrance, animal less likely to live and less likely to make babies

    From there, you consider whether or not the mutation is recessive/dominant which determines if the babies get the mutation (then referred to as a trait).

    Repeat many many times and you get a separation of a special line.

    The proper combination of factors being: mutation = beneficial, mutation dominant, mutated animals screw like proverbial rabbits.

    How is this different from the new findings?

    1. Re:Wait... what's different here? by Eternauta3k · · Score: 4, Informative

      So there seems to be some sort of mechanism that selects beneficial mutations BEFORE procreation or death kicks in
      You never see stuff like people with 2 alleles for sickle cell disease, because they don't make it to birth. Likewise, very bad mutations are selected against at a very early stage. However, mutations are random, there's no way for a cell to control where some cromosome will change.
      --
      Yeah. Would you choose a neurosurgeon who pokes around people's brains in his spare time? I wouldn't.
  2. Re:In other news... by spun · · Score: 4, Informative

    The theory of evolution includes the theory of the selection of advantageous traits, plus methods for the acquisition of new traits, like mutation.

    --
    - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
  3. Re:In other news... by mdwh2 · · Score: 4, Informative

    You are correct in describing facts and theories, but "evolution" can refer to both. This article explains it well I think - Evolution is a Fact and a Theory.

  4. Re:Ah, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Just to be clear, so we don't assume any misconceptions here about Einstein and religion:

    I believe in Spinoza's God, Who reveals Himself in the lawful harmony of the world, not in a God Who concerns Himself with the fate and the doings of mankind. -- Einstein

    It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it. -- Einstein

  5. Re:Ah, but... by dch24 · · Score: 5, Informative
    I don't know why you posted AC, but I couldn't accept your Albert Einstein assertion on faith... even if you had signed your post.

    But the sources for relevant Wikipedia articles are credible primary sources. (Brian, Dennis (1996), Einstein: A Life, New York: John Wiley & Sons, p. 127, ISBN 0-471-11459-6) To save you some time, I've added some line breaks but retained the context.

    In 1929, Boston's Cardinal O'Connell branded Einstein's theory of relativity as "befogged speculation producing universal doubt about God and His Creation," and as implying "the ghastly apparition of atheism." In alarm, New York's Rabbi Herbert S. Goldstein asked Einstein by telegram: "Do you believe in God? Stop. Answer paid 50 words." In his response, for which Einstein needed but twenty-five (German) words, he stated his beliefs succinctly:

    "I believe in Spinoza's God, Who reveals Himself in the lawful harmony of the world, not in a God Who concerns Himself with the fate and the doings of mankind."

    The rabbi cited this as evidence that Einstein was not an atheist, and further declared that "Einstein's theory, if carried to its logical conclusion, would bring to mankind a scientific formula for monotheism." Einstein wisely remained silent on that point.
    Now for the second quote:

    "It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it."

    (Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffman (eds) (1981). Albert Einstein, The Human Side. Princeton University Press, 43.)