We've been discussing evolution in class and I thought I would point out a few resources for those of you that find this as interesting as I do: the story of mankind, where we came from, the earth as our cradle and nursery for our species, and how an understanding of evolution can help avoid future problems in medicine and agriculture. To not find this interesting, is hard to imagine. Curiosity and desire to understand are central themes in what it means to be human. This website is one of the best I've found on the subject and you can even watch video clips if you have a fast computer and Realplayer or Quicktime. Another good website is this one.
12 June 2006
We've been discussing evolution in class and I thought I would point out a few resources for those of you that find this as interesting as I do: the story of mankind, where we came from, the earth as our cradle and nursery for our species, and how an understanding of evolution can help avoid future problems in medicine and agriculture. To not find this interesting, is hard to imagine. Curiosity and desire to understand are central themes in what it means to be human. This website is one of the best I've found on the subject and you can even watch video clips if you have a fast computer and Realplayer or Quicktime. Another good website is this one.
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9 comments:
i dont believe in evolution..i think its a crock.
~QV
Mr. Achoo,
That picture is gross. you shouldn't have put it up there!!!!!!
~ Queen Smiley
That's fine. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. The evidence for it is quite overwhelming, however.
mr devoe, i have a ?, how did the eye evolve, because it is so complex, i've heard of simple organisms that can tell light from dark but i hav no idea how that small of an organism could evolve into a complex eyeball
Good question Sam...you're not the first person to ask this. You're right, the eye is extremely complicated and some people even suggest that it must have been "designed" by "someone". However, if you were to study the human eye you would see that its truly amazing that the thing actually works. The image that it gives to our brian is very dim because it traveled through layers of capilaries and into a backwards retina (before the image is then resent to the front of the eye and back again). The brain does a good job of cleaning up the mess and gives us an image that makes sense to us. Its important to note that different animals evolved eye designs that best suited their environments. Some fish and water insects have evolved double eyes so they can see both above and below water at the same time...because that helped them survive better on top of the water. Squid can track their prey in near-total darkness. Some simple organisms do just fine telling the difference between light and dark and there was no need to evolve something more complicated. Birds and primates however evolved spectacular vision because it was essential for survival. Those that had genetic mutations that caused the eye to work better, had a better chance of surviving and passing those "good" mutations on to their offspring. After a long time of random DNA mutations, (some good, some bad) the eye we have today began to take form.
Let me know if that helps...I could dig up some resources for you if you'd like.
Mr.Devoe,
I think it is great that you are so passionate about science and teaching. You have involved our students in many interesting projects this year, and I am impressed with how you have been able to get the students in Groton excited about learning. This unit could be especially challenging. There are many people who do not want to believe that humans are animals. Perhaps they're correct. The rest of the animal kingdom would never destroy their habitat like humans do... Keep up the good work.
FTB
yeah it does, i've also heard about blood coagulation, how many differant quincidental actions have to take place for blood coagulation to work correctly. And people suggest this is a result of "Intelegent Design" Could there be a scientific explaination of how this might work.
-Sam-
Sam, this is a good one. Blood clotting (coagulation) is extremely complicated and honestly I don't know much about how it works. I am sure this stems from Michael Behe's work with biochemistry or from the anti-evolution group, the Discovery Institute. Biochemistry is a field I found extremely complicated and difficult in college. I will do some research tonight on this and try to break it down as simply as possible. Meanwhile, since you mentioned "Intelligent Design" I'll spend a little time on that. First off we do not discuss that in science because it is not something scientists take seriously because you cannot set up experiments to test it or observe it in action. Plus its hard to fit something like that in when I already have so much I am required to teach.
There was a study done a few years ago where a biologist from the University of Washington, Dr. George Gilchrist, ran a computer search of about 6,000 scientific journals (magazines/databases where scientists report findings) and did not find a single one that contained the words "intelligent AND design" or "creation science". Some people like this theory, but I only teach you guys the stuff that scientists are studying. There was even a famous court decision in Penn. last year over teaching this in science classes. It's important to know that there is no debate among scientists whether or not evolution happened. The debate is fueled by people without backgrounds in science. Some may say that Behe has a background in science, which he does, but biochemistry is a field in science that is relatively new. There is a lot to still be discovered and Behe makes his arguments based on little-known science. Some accuse him of ignoring biochemical evidence that supports evolution! There are also many scientists just like him that argue the other way and there is so much more to discover. That's the beauty of science, there is so much still to discover and many brilliant scientists that test and retest other peoples' work. Great question Sam. Most highschoolers do not even get into this kinda stuff as in detail as you have. Keep up the good work, and I'll try to do some research tonight for you.
Ok, here is what I researched. Scientists are currently hypothesizing and testing the evolution of blood clots, mainly because biochemistry is so new (DNA was only discovered 50 years ago). Apparently earthworms and starfish lack proteins that clot their blood but have cells that get sticky and form simple clots when cut. Another organism, the sea cucumber, contains a very simple clotting mechanism. It is possible that humans and other land animals evolved a more complicated system for blood clotting once our ancestors moved to land because it was necessary for survival. Evolution sometimes makes best of a bad situation because mutations are completely random. This is also the case with the eye.
Every once in awhile people are born with a mutation that causes people to bleed to death (haemophiliacs). It seems like a mutation that kills its host would not survive in the gene pool, and usually things like this do not. However, as long as individuals reach an age where they can reproduce and pass on genes, a mutation will survive. Well here is a website on blood clotting that may help. This is an interesting topic, I'm glad you got me started on it.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connected/main.jhtml?xml=/connected/2006/04/04/ecclots04.xml&sSheet=/connected/2006/04/04/ixconnrite.html
and this one addresses blood clotting and the eye:
http://www.reason.com/rb/rb020905.shtml
and in case it helps you, here is Behe's arguent on the other side of this "controversy":
http://www.discovery.org/scripts/viewDB/index.php?command=view&id=1214
I know this stuff may be hard to understand at the 7th grade level but, simply put, it's complex stuff and is part of the reason why many people do not accept evolution...they do not understand it.
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