Evolution, Morphology and Exobiology

1. is there a theory (or is it known) as to what constitutes the most basic 'eye' in our evolutionary history? is it a single light sensitive cell for example? or something even more basic than that? or is there only speculation on the matter? 2. am i correct in believing that for this 'basic eye' to have appeared on the scene the following must have taken place; an organism with no 'eye' whatsover must have 'given birth' to an organism with the 'basic eye'? 3. if the above is correct, then am i correct in believing that this process must have involved only one mutation? and if so, is that plausible? or is it knowable? demonstrable? thanks. and please …

I am most likely in over my head here, but I'm attempting to find info for a research paper. I am writing the paper under the thesis that: human biological evolution has been stunted and, in a lot of ways, replaced by invention. You could take the stance that intelligence is a biological adaptation and that it encapsulates all culture, society, and tool-making/using that we humans partake in, but that view is counterproductive to progress on the topic. I am under the impression that consciousness is what makes humans unique from other species. As far as I know I am not the first person to make that claim. I am looking for sources to support my claim. Whether the cla…

''We are in year 2212 and chinese space probe approches to solar system Gliese 87. Objective is to find possible trays of life, including the most simple life forms. How do you think the space probe is equipt in order to find life? What kind of substances should it search for? Where on planet is a smart place to start search?'' This is the question my college biochemistry profesor asked us to think about it at the last lecture. It is actually a very decent question and I would like to hear an opinion from a more sophisticated mind.

How has environmental change affected hominid evolution? How did humans adapt to late Tertiary cooling? It is my understanding that environmental change might be one of the most, if not the most, important factors contributing to hominid evolution but as a total beginner in the subject I would like to learn. So, if anybody has any information or opinions they would like to share or if anyone could point me towards some relevant scientific journals that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot ahead of time.

This topic is to expand on my previous posts about evolution and how it is capable of change and to ask questions about evolution/natural selection as a law of the universe. I previously used the term "learning" and improvement, however i will not be using them here since they are baseless assertions. I hope more than one person responds this time! To suggest that evolution can change over time, I'll write evolution as a simple series of steps or an algorithm (just a basic rough one to get the point across, extremely simplistic and ignores complex things like endosymbiosis etc.)) for early life forms 3.8-3.6ish billion years ago and one for todays descendants. These a…

Hi everyone! I am a student of Computer Science and I have always been interested in the evolution theory. I've got a question an answer to which I have not found so far. I am very curios how the evolution, or should I better say some abstract living creature 'decides' which would be the next step in progression of its organism. This is not a question about the natural selection and perhaps would be better explained with an example. For instance, if we take the evolution of an eye, it can be divided into several steps: from a simple surface of light-detecting cells into a half-cup, then into a cup, then into a sphere with just a small hole on the top. It all seems …

Hi I was thinking about how animals evolve to suit their environment. It seems like humans have evolved with no threat from the environment. Without using the environment humans have no resistance to weather, no way of hunting, no defence against larger creatures, takes a long time to travel compared to the speed of most other animals etc, other animals generally have ways of surviving built in. If animals change to suit their surroundings then how could humans have evolved the way we have?

i am really confused about the perfect definition of 'life'. i was discussing about this with my friend at school i attempted to define it i said ,'' life is a systematic and specific conglomeration of certain inorganic substances which form a 'system' [an organism] which gets the ability to perform certain processes to maintain the 'system'. '' am i right with my definition? thank you

Are humans evolving due to the pressures of living in large groups? I think it's pretty obvious that things like medicine are allowing people to live to be old enough to reproduce that in pre civilized times would not but does the influence of our civilization amount to a evolutionary pressure much like nature selection? I know that medicine saved my life at least three times before I had children, I am sure there are many others who wouldn't lived to reproduce without modern medicine. Medicine that allows individuals to change behaviors that would other wise have crippled them socially if not saved their lives would also be an influence as well. If you look b…

I think we will rely on cloning so i dont know if we will evolve anything else, what do you think? Mind my spelling its been a long day and my spell check dont work. I think our toes will become more worthless than they already have. If you look at our toes to chimps its a disgrace, they have feet like hands, our toes are almost lifeless, we are evolving them out of existence. We would be better off with a kind of web foot, five ligaments attached by skin, we dont need toes anymore they were like hands once upon a time.

I notice when i get up to go to the toilet i tip toe or cant walk proper on flooring because my feet hurt. I once lost my shoes (had them robbed from me) in the street so i had to walk home on pavement, it was the most painful walk i have ever had. When i walk in my garden barefoot i step on stones and snails and hard mud it is also very unpleasant and unnatural. The only place i find walking bare foot a benefit rather than shoes is on sand at the beach, my feet is the best mode of transport and it feels good. So is that what we our, is it sand dwellers. Did we start wearing shoes before we got to Europe because our feet are not designed for rugged forest.

Hi guys, First please forgive me if this is not the correct place to post this. I haven't found any better place so this is where I'm posting this. If this is not the correct place, moderators please move this. I am typing an article in response to the ICR's article The Vanishing Case for Evolution (I'm a biology major) and he has some interesting "quotes" from Evolutioinists. I am wondering if anyone can give me the full quotes because I'm fairly confident that these are quote mines. You can see the quotes in the URL provided.

Yes this is an actual question, not sure if this is the place to ask it though... but where does cannabis/marijuana (the plant) come from? How did it get here? I hear it's usage can be traced back to 3,000 BC, but how was the plant actually discovered and how did it get here? Is it still here because of human's using it for drug related purposes? I know this is a weird question to ask, but I'm kind of curious. And this board has always been helpful with my odd questions

I was watching Tom Cruise's 'War of the Worlds' the other day, which has more plot holes than a ton of Swiss cheese, but that aside, I want an opinion on the ending. In the movie and HG Wells' original story, the aliens are eventually wiped out by some Earth virus or bacteria. I used to think that this was entirely plausible since the extraterrestrials certainly wouldn't have encountered the germs before and thus would have no immunity against them, but now I'm not so sure. Setting aside the obvious absurdity of an advanced alien civilization being totally unprepared for foreign germs. While it is certainly true that the aliens would have no preexisting defence against al…

Hi there, After everything evolution has taught me... The ongoing existence of pandas still perplex me. A bear that is not meant to be a herbivore. It does not have the ruminant-style gut to digest cellulose so it has to eats LOTS to sustain itself. Additionally, it eats only one species of grass. Surely being that specialised was a bad idea. And pure black and white against a sea of green. Also not the best defense. Why have they survived so long? Other than brute strength, which other adaptations have made this creature outwit natural selection? Is this just an evolutionary lag until their time runs out? Are all the conservation efforts in vain? So many…

Please delete. Found literature that answers my question.

Is this reallly how it works? -

Can someone tell me whether my reasoning on this matter is sound. As I understand it, all the various breeds of dog, from Chihuahua to Great Danes, are currently by convention considered to be the same species. Even though it is virtually impossible for certain breeds such as Chihuahuas and Great Danes to interbreed with each other (if the Chihuahua was female it would die, and if it were male it couldn't impregnate the female Great Dane), because both breeds can interbreed with various medium-sized breeds, their genes can still flow back and forth (put very crudely, of course). However, what would happen if all of a sudden every other breed of dog went extinct, and a…

Okay, could someone please settle this debate. An internet buddy and I were arguing about whether kangaroos are considered to be bipeds. My opinion is that by definition they are, since they move around on two legs. He says that they aren't technically bipeds because they don't move in the same way that humans do. Am I right or is he? Or are we both wrong?

Are there any species where there have been documented evidence (I am talking about an observed, documented account, not a fossil) of a species mutating beyond standard variation? I am not interested in species that have undergone mutation where the offspring has not survived or has been sterile. I am wondering if there has been any known instances where an actual genetic advancement has taken place, no matter how small, in an extant species beyond simple variation adaptions such as color (i.e. English moths) or texture changes (Mendelian peas). I know that evolution takes time, and that scientific observation by humans has only been occurring for a blink of an e…

I don't know a lot about biology yet. I know the theory of evolution applies when one is anticipating antibiotic or pesticide resistance, but what about the larger animals that reproduce less? Archaeology, ecology, physiology, and genetics contribute to our understanding of their evolutionary history, then our understanding of their evolutionary history contributes to what? Arguments against fundamentalism? EDIT: I forgot that we apply artificial selection to our domesticated plants and animals, but that itself still doesn't do much to show how understanding something's evolutionary history might be useful.

Hello guys, Forgive me. I am new to the forum and relatively new to studying evolution (I'm an apostate of Christianity and YEC so I'm relatively new to learning about stuff like this) and I have a few questions about how speciation works and how it is detected. What is the best definition for speciation? Has speciation ever been observed?If yes, can you cite me some good examples? If yes, can you prove that this was a case of speciation? How do you falsify a supposed speciation event? According to the Talk.Origins archive (one of my favourite resources): Biological classification is hierarchical; when a new species evolves, it branches at the very lowermost le…

Sort of like plants and bacteria do in response to antibiotics and pesticides/herbicides. I know that's not a good comparison, but I can't think of any better one. I'm interested in whether vertebrates can evolve immunity to heavy metals. Humans have been mining, handling and poisoning themselves (and the biosphere) with lead since time immemorial. We are constantly in contact with this dangerous metal. It is being released by aging homes, in mines, in industrial settings, etc. Do you think it's possible for the vertebrate body to evolve mechanisms for dealing with lead and other heavy-metal toxins? Perhaps by putting them to use like other metals such as iron or z…

A bit of speculation of my own. If anyone can contribute with evidence or relevant information I'd love to hear it. Many now accept that the great extinction at the KT boundary was probably caused by an asteroid hit. One of the puzzles regarding that extinction is the selection of animal species, specifically dinosaur species surviving the catastrophe. We still have the birds with us, but in different forms to the archaic birds, and the non-avian dinosaurs are gone. Has anyone suggested the following? Or, can you suggest a book or other reading? Birds now largely have one of two mechanisms for attracting a mate; either gaudy plumage which they may disp…

Can anyone help me find a list of publications (books, articles - scholarly or otherwise, ect) on why it is that Natural Selection is incompatible with a teleological or designed view of the human species. Specifically, I'm looking for a published explanation of why it is that God could not have created humans using Darwinian Evolution. Why the idea of God creating Humans is simply incompatible with Natural Selection. Any publications would be appreciated. Its been along time since I've read the God Delusion but I would assume that it must be in there. Anyone know of any others? Thanks a million. R