Ask me any questions you have about evolution

Hello ATS. I'm pretty tired of the people with a very basic or no understanding of evolutionary theory using the same strawman arguments to try to debunk evolution. Now I'm no scientist here so I might have to do some more research for some things you may ask, but I started this thread so you could ask me any questions pertaining to something you don't understand about evolution. Again, I'm no expert but I might be able to help explain the logic to some of you diehard creationists or skeptics. I'm not going to try to change your mind I'm just going to try to help people better understand evolution.


So if you have any questions, ask away.

I guess no one has any questions about evolution? C'mon, I'll even answer the classics like "If we evolved from monkeys why are monkeys still around?" and "What good is a stub of a wing?".

what came first teh chicken or the egg?
second line ( to me evolution is oves way to much evedence to igge it

I really don't need a in depth understanding of evolution to understand that it can and does happen...... I would be a lot more impressed if you could explain how new and different organisms just appear from thin air.....

I have a question, if this want what you meant please let me know.

I am curious about the evolution of the Rh0- bloodline, maybe about where it may have originated from, or if there has been any new information about it.(I stress the word new, as I have looked, but there hasn't been any new info that I can find).

Ive heard almost everything by doing the research myself, but maybe someone might have some info.

Thank you in advance.

Peace.

Originally posted by xxcalbier
what came first teh chicken or the egg?
second line ( to me evolution is oves way to much evedence to igge it

It was recently discovered that there is a protein needed to make the shell of a chicken egg that is only found inside living chickens. These first chickens would have had to be born from an earlier species of egg laying organisms. So IMHO it depends on how you define an egg. If you define the egg as belonging to the species of the parents, then the chicken came first. If you define an egg as belonging to the mutated species inside of it, the egg came first. I hope this makes sense.

reply to post by NoRegretsEver


I've never heard of this but I'm going to do some research and get back to you with my answer.

reply to post by jheated5


New organisms don't appear out of thin air according to evolution. Unless you're talking about the theory of creationism?

I have a question and thanks for this opportunity.

If we all evolved from simple cells, what came first:

The heart, veins, or blood? Did they evolve at the same time or what sequence of events explains this?

Thanks again!

omg it was a joke i know how it works lol
ovesly there were no chickens 300 million years agaio

Originally posted by sheepslayer247

If we all evolved from simple cells, what came first:

The heart, veins, or blood? Did they evolve at the same time or what sequence of events explains this?

Thanks for the question, I've never really thought about this before.
I did a little research though and I think I might have the answer. Apparently neither the heart, veins, or blood evolved first really. In Simple organisms and in the early fetal stages there are vein-like tubes tubes that have a blood-like goo in them that pulses with electricity. I'm guessing this evolved once organisms started to become multicellular. Correct me if I'm wrong though.

reply to post by xxcalbier


It was still a good question. Do you have anything else to ask?

When will I have only 4 fingers on each hand?

What will cause my head to elongate? When?

And will all this sitting have a serious effect on our evolution?

Explain

reply to post by Davy Jones


oh, I got this one.... Does it live in cold areas? perhaps it needs that beak to poke into fatter blubbier animals for food? Scavanger like? Ah I'm an amateur.

Originally posted by Myendica
When will I have only 4 fingers on each hand?

What will cause my head to elongate? When?

And will all this sitting have a serious effect on our evolution?

It's doubtful that we'll evolve to have only four fingers. Although the pinky is pretty useless it doesn't affect our chances of survival and therefore probably won't be phased out by evolution. Unless people start viewing short pinky fingers as sexually attractive, but that's unlikely.

It's also unlikely your head will elongate through evolution, seeing as it has no benefit to survival. I have heard of some indigenous cultures that know methods of elongating the heads of infants, but that's completely off topic.

Will all the sitting have an affect on our evolution? There you might be on to something. All the sitting means a lack of excersise and with the fatty foods we have now these means more obesity. There's a gene some groups of people have called the "thrifty gene" which helps people gain weight easily for times of famine. With health issues nowadays due to overeating we might evolve through natural selection to not have the 'thrifty gene' and not gain weight easily. It would be beneficial in a place where obesity is rampant like America. I predict that in two or three generations American's will have a difficult time gaining weight because of natural selection. This could be bad the next time a real famine comes though, so look out.

reply to post by Nosred


I'd like a more specific answer if you don't mind. What about the heart?

Also, I never thought about it, but how did the eye evolve? Pretty complex that is....

reply to post by Nosred


I think there are alot of variables we are un aware of, but you are right, because they most likely have to do with environmental conditions, of which we aren't necesarily aware of.

reply to post by Davy Jones


That's a platypus right? If so that's a really easy question. Platypuses (or whatever the plural of platypus is) are monotremes, an early branch of mammals. The earliest platypus fossil dates back to 100,000 years ago, the Quaternary Period. Because monotremes diverged from therian mammals so early, they are more closely related to reptiles, birds, amphibians, and fish than modern mammals. In simpler terms, after mammals started to evolve from earlier forms of life the monotremes split off and stayed biologically closer to our more reptilian ancestors, while we began to change into the more common kinds of mammals you see today.

A common misconception is that the platypus is somehow descended from things like the otter and the duck, when in actuality the platypus is a much older species and outdates most living mammals today.

reply to post by sheepslayer247


You're right in that the eye is a very complicated thing to explain the evolution of. Charles Darwin himself said the evolution of something as complex as the eye by natural selection was "absurd to the highest possible degree". I will do my best to explain it here. The earliest eyes, if you can call them that, were light sensitive proteins found in single-celled organisms. Basically they could distinguish light from dark. Over time the eye began to become more complex but the first truly complex eyes came about during the Cambrian Period. They were called 'pit eyes' and appeared on ancient snails. The cup shape of these eyes allowed some directional differentiation for early organisms by changing which cells the light would hit depending on the lights angle. In layman's terms this means the snails could almost know which direction they were headed. The 'pit eyes' are now believed to have evolved into the retina part of the eye. I think you can put the rest together yourself.



I'll get back to you later with more detail about the heart, blood, and veins.