The Theory Of Evolution Essays - Evolutionary Biology, Fossil

The Theory of Evolution The theory of evolution, as set forth by Charles Darwin in 1859, stated that all plant and animal life evolved over long periods of time from simple to more complicated forms through mutation and adaptation. He also taught that only the fittest of each species would survive. He further postulated that the first living cell evolved in a "warm warm little pond" and that it took billions of years for the present diversity of living things to evolve. At the time, it was thought that the few "missing links" in the fossil record would be soon filled.(Darwin, 1927 ). Today, however, there is today a considerable body of scientific evidence that refutes this entire theory. The findings of the last 50 years both deny the possibility of Darwin's theory and make a very good case for creationism. Creationism is the belief that all of life came into being suddenly, that it still exists in much the same form, and that the earth is much younger than Darwin thought. The Law of Biogen! esis states that life only comes from life. The Harvard University Nobel Prize winner (in physiology and medicine) George Wald wrote(1954) that "the reasonable view was to believe in spontaneous generation," (evolution). He said "the only alternative is to believe in a single, primary act of supernatural creation," and "there is no third position." He explains the impossible odds of spontaneous generation, and yet refuses to accept the alternative. Later, he attempted to find whether a single amino acid change in a hemoglobin mutation could be found that doesn't adversely affect the function of that hemoglobin. He was unable to find such an instance. He also explored the interactions between proteins, amino acids, and oxygen, with energy sources such as the earth's heat and the sun's radiation. He concluded that "the overwhelming tendency for chemical reactions to move in the direction opposite to that required for the evolution of life to be the most stubborn problem t! hat confronts us - the weakest link in our argument [for the origin of life]."(Wald,1967). Mendel's Laws explain most of the physical variations observed in living things. Genes, the genetic units of heredity, are merely reshuffled from one generation to another, but new genes are never formed. Different combinations create variations, but these variations are limited. Each cow, person, dog, etc. has variations, but the genetic units do not permit dog-people, or cow-dogs. Breeding experiments by competent biologists confirm that these boundaries exist.(Fix,1984). Since mutations are the only mechanism (according to Darwin) by which new genetic material becomes available, then mutations must have occurred regularly to have spawned all our present life forms, and further, mutation must consistently go from simple to complex to have gotten us out of the primordial ooze. However, many noted biologists, including C.P. Martin and Theodosius Dobzhansky (who mutated the fruit fly), consistently report that mutation does produce hereditary changes, but "invariably affec! t it (the organism) adversely."(Salisbury, 1969). All animals are born with complex organs (the human brain has over a hundred thousand billion electrical connections), and further, all animals are born with fully developed organs. If evolution were occurring, at some point people could expect to see a reptile whose leg was becoming a wing, but they never have. Darwin himself attempted to answer a question put to him by Harvard biology professor Asa Gray, regarding the eye, and whether the "inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, and for the correct ionospherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection. This seems..... absurd in the highest degree."(Darwin,1927). Genetic and molecular biologists can now measure the degree of similarity between most forms of life by examining the sequence of the components of a specific protein. Relationship is established by the number of changes required to convert a protein o! f one organism in to the corresponding protein of another - the fewer changes, the closer the relationship. This comparison can also be made using genetic material. There is NO evidence on the molecular level for evolution. Each of the many categories of organisms appear to be equally isolated. For example, by isolating one protein (cytochromec) from a snake and comparing it with