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Bacteria Make Major Evolutionary Shift In the Lab

Posted by kdawson on from the forty-four-thousand-generations dept.

Auxbuss sends us to New Scientist for news sure to perplex and confound creationists: scientists have watched a new, complex evolutionary trait develop in the lab. "A major evolutionary innovation has unfurled right in front of researchers' eyes. It's the first time evolution has been caught in the act of making such a rare and complex new trait. And because the species in question is a bacterium, scientists have been able to replay history to show how this evolutionary novelty grew from the accumulation of unpredictable, chance events."

3 of 1,185 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Keep it up and it won't be a "theory" by zach_d · · Score: 5, Interesting

    You could counter your neighbour with "gravity is 'just a theory'" as well.

  2. Re:Keep it up and it won't be a "theory" by samkass · · Score: 5, Interesting

    No, it'll still just be a theory. A theory that happens to match reality with a large pile of evidence behind it. But in science, there's really no such thing as a "fact", simply theories with greater levels of evidence supporting them.

    Gravity is just a theory. The Sun-centered solar system is just a theory. Radio waves are just a theory.

    --
    E pluribus unum
  3. Re:Two words by nsayer · · Score: 5, Interesting

    why should I accept your authority that God exists and Jesus is real? I have nothing for the former, but as to the latter, it's pretty well established that Jesus was a real, historical figure.

    Perhaps that's not what you meant in your question, but then that simply means you should have worded the question better.