Bacteria make major evolutionary shift in the lab
newscientist.com
Bacteria make major evolutionary shift in the lab
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Re: Bacteria make major evolutionary shift in the lab
#2I posted a different version of this story a few days ago: http://scienceblogs.com/loom/2008/06/02/a_new_step_in_evolut...
Re: Bacteria make major evolutionary shift in the lab
#3Interesting read. The little snip at the though about creationists seemed a bit petty. Though I can understand why an evolutionary biologist might be a bit miffed at Creationist organizations.
In any case, score one for science.
Re: Bacteria make major evolutionary shift in the lab
#4Interesting read. The little snip at the though about creationists seemed a bit petty. Though I can understand why an evolutionary biologist might be a bit miffed at Creationist organizations. In any case, score one for science.
It's not petty. The experiment itself is fairly boring; it's a variant of a routine genetic mapping that we've been doing since Mendel, and the form of the outcome is unsurprising.
The only thing that makes this interesting is the length of the experiment, and how it clearly illustrates a basic principle of evolution that the creationists say is impossible.
(Also, iirc, Lenski is one of the experts who testified at the Dover trial....)
Re: Bacteria make major evolutionary shift in the lab
#5Interesting read. The little snip at the though about creationists seemed a bit petty. Though I can understand why an evolutionary biologist might be a bit miffed at Creationist organizations. In any case, score one for science.
In any case, score one for science.
Science, 15.
Religion, 4.
GOOO hometeam!
Re: Bacteria make major evolutionary shift in the lab
#6Based on a News.YC recommendation, I'm currently reading "The Selfish Gene" right now and in the book, Richard Dawkins, says at some point billions of years ago a critical fundamental evolution happened - a particularly remarkable molecule was formed by accident, a "Replicator" with the ability to replicate itself. He said the chance of that happening was "exceedingly improbable" and "but in our human estimates of what is probable and what is not, we are not used to dealing in hundreds of millions of years". Improbable accidents (like the one that probably occurred around generation 20,000 of the bacteria) can shape the future.
Re: Bacteria make major evolutionary shift in the lab
#7Interesting read. The little snip at the though about creationists seemed a bit petty. Though I can understand why an evolutionary biologist might be a bit miffed at Creationist organizations. In any case, score one for science.
In any case, score one for science. Science, 15. Religion, 4. GOOO hometeam!
I am wondering why evolution happens here and not elsewhere. Every planet in our solar system has been hit by comets, has a cycle of night and day, etc. We should be seeing evolution on the planets near us. For example in the Russian nuclear reactor that failed there is a bacteria that has adapted to feeding off of radiation. So life can happen in the most extreme circumstances. Just because other planets of extreme circumstances doesn't exclude them from evolution.
Re: Bacteria make major evolutionary shift in the lab
#8Interesting read. The little snip at the though about creationists seemed a bit petty. Though I can understand why an evolutionary biologist might be a bit miffed at Creationist organizations. In any case, score one for science.
It's not petty. The experiment itself is fairly boring; it's a variant of a routine genetic mapping that we've been doing since Mendel, and the form of the outcome is unsurprising. The only thing that makes this interesting is the length of the experiment, and how it clearly illustrates a basic principle of evolution that the creationists say is impossible. (Also, iirc, Lenski is one of the experts who testified at t…
I'm sure we'll now see the creationists' argument evolve (again) in another attempt to survive the deft hand of science.
Re: Bacteria make major evolutionary shift in the lab
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
In any case, score one for science. Science, 15. Religion, 4. GOOO hometeam!
I am wondering why evolution happens here and not elsewhere. Every planet in our solar system has been hit by comets, has a cycle of night and day, etc. We should be seeing evolution on the planets near us. For example in the Russian nuclear reactor that failed there is a bacteria that has adapted to feeding off of radiation. So life can happen in the most extreme circumstances. Just because other planets of extreme…
I assume that first life has to develop, and then it has a chance to evolve. So it's possible some places lack the necessary components for life to develop. But it's certainly possible for primitive life forms to exist in other parts of our solar system.
Re: Bacteria make major evolutionary shift in the lab
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
In any case, score one for science. Science, 15. Religion, 4. GOOO hometeam!
I am wondering why evolution happens here and not elsewhere. Every planet in our solar system has been hit by comets, has a cycle of night and day, etc. We should be seeing evolution on the planets near us. For example in the Russian nuclear reactor that failed there is a bacteria that has adapted to feeding off of radiation. So life can happen in the most extreme circumstances. Just because other planets of extreme…
Who said evolution happens only here and not elsewhere?