How To Make A Successful Evolution Site How-Tos And Tutorials To Create Successful Evolution Site Home
The Berkeley Evolution Site
The Berkeley site contains resources that can help students and educators understand and teach evolution. The materials are organized into optional learning paths such as "What did T. rex taste like?"
Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection explains that over time creatures that are more able to adapt to changing environments survive and those that do not become extinct. Science is about the process of biological evolution.
What is Evolution?
The term "evolution" can be used to refer to a variety of nonscientific meanings. For instance, it can mean "progress" and "descent with modifications." It is scientifically based and is used to describe the process of changing characteristics over time in organisms or species. The reason for this change is biological terms on natural drift and selection.
Evolution is a key concept in modern biology. It is a theory that has been tested and proven by thousands of scientific tests. It does not address spiritual beliefs or God's presence, unlike many other scientific theories such as the Copernican or germ theory of diseases.
Early evolutionists, such as Erasmus Darwin (Charles’s grandfather) and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck believed that certain physical traits were predetermined to evolve in a gradual manner over time. This was referred to as the "Ladder of Nature" or scala Naturae. Charles Lyell used the term to describe this idea in his Principles of Geology, first published in 1833.
Darwin revealed his theory of evolution in his book On the Origin of Species which was written in the early 1800s. It asserts that different species of organisms share a common ancestry, which can be determined through fossils and other evidence. This is the current view on evolution, which is supported in a wide range of scientific fields that include molecular biology.
Scientists don't know the evolution of organisms, but they are confident that natural selection and genetic drift is the reason for the development of life. Individuals with advantageous characteristics are more likely to survive and reproduce. They transmit their genes on to the next generation. As time passes the gene pool gradually changes and evolves into new species.
Certain scientists also use the term"evolution" to describe large-scale evolutionary changes such as the creation of the new species from an ancestral species. Others, like population geneticists, define evolution more broadly by referring to the net variation in the frequency of alleles over generations. Both definitions are correct and acceptable, however certain scientists argue that allele frequency definitions miss important aspects of the evolutionary process.
Origins of Life
One of the most crucial steps in evolution is the development of life. The emergence of life occurs when living systems start to develop at a microscopic level, such as within cells.
The origins of life is a topic in many disciplines such as biology, chemistry, and geology. The question of how living things got their start is of particular importance in science since it poses an enormous challenge to the theory of evolution. It is sometimes referred to as "the mystery" of life or "abiogenesis."
The idea that life could emerge from non-living matter was known as "spontaneous generation" or "spontaneous evolutionary". It was a common belief prior to Louis Pasteur's experiments proved that the creation of living organisms was not possible through a natural process.
Many scientists still believe that it is possible to transition from nonliving materials to living. However, the conditions that are required are extremely difficult to replicate in the laboratory. This is why researchers studying the beginnings of life are also interested in understanding the physical properties of the early Earth and other planets.
The growth of life is dependent on a variety of complex chemical reactions, that are not predicted by the basic physical laws. This includes the conversion of long information-rich molecules (DNA or RNA) into proteins that carry out some function as well as the replication of these complex molecules to generate new DNA or sequences of RNA. These chemical reactions can be compared to a chicken-and egg problem: the emergence and development of DNA/RNA, a protein-based cell machinery, is essential for the beginning of life. But without life, the chemistry required to create it appears to be working.
Research in the area of abiogenesis requires collaboration among scientists from various fields. This includes prebiotic scientists, astrobiologists, and planet scientists.
Evolutionary Changes
Today, the word evolution is used to describe cumulative changes in genetic characteristics over time. These changes can be the result of adaptation to environmental pressures as described in Darwinism.
This is a method that increases the frequency of genes in a species which confer an advantage in survival over other species which results in an ongoing change in the overall appearance of a particular population. These evolutionary changes are caused by mutations, reshuffling genes in the process of sexual reproduction, and also by the flow of genes.
While mutation and reshuffling of genes are common in all organisms and the process by which beneficial mutations are more frequent is called natural selection. As noted above, individuals with the beneficial characteristic have a higher reproduction rate than those that do not. Over the course of many generations, this variation in the numbers of offspring produced can result in gradual changes in the average number of beneficial traits in a population.
A good example of this is the growth of the size of the beaks on different species of finches on the Galapagos Islands, which have developed beaks with different shapes to allow them to more easily access food in their new habitat. These changes in shape and form could also help create new organisms.
Most of the changes that take place are the result of one mutation, but occasionally, multiple mutations occur at the same time. Most of these changes may be neutral or even harmful however, a few may have a positive effect on survival and reproduce with increasing frequency as time passes. This is the way of natural selection, and it can, over time, produce the gradual changes that eventually result in an entirely new species.
Many people think that evolution is a form of soft inheritance, which is the idea that traits inherited from parents can be changed by deliberate choice or misuse. This is a misunderstanding of the biological processes that lead to the process of evolution. It is more precise to say that evolution is a two-step, independent process, that is influenced by the forces of natural selection as well as mutation.
Origins of Humans
Modern humans (Homo sapiens) evolved from primates - a species of mammals that includes chimpanzees, gorillas, and bonobos. The earliest human fossils indicate that our ancestors were bipeds - walkers with two legs. Biological and genetic similarities indicate that we share the same ancestry with Chimpanzees. In reality our closest relatives are chimpanzees from the Pan genus. This includes pygmy, as well as bonobos. The last common ancestor shared between modern humans and chimpanzees dated between 8 and 6 million years old.
Over time humans have developed a range of characteristics, such as bipedalism as well as the use of fire. They also developed advanced tools. It's only within the last 100,000 years that we've developed the majority of our key traits. These include language, large brain, the capacity to create and utilize sophisticated tools, and a the ability to adapt to cultural differences.
Evolution occurs when genetic changes allow members of a population to better adapt to their surroundings. Natural selection is the process that drives this adaptation. Certain traits are preferred over others. The better adapted are more likely to pass their genes on to the next generation. This is the way all species evolve, and the basis for the theory of evolution.
Scientists call this the "law of natural selection." The law states that species which have a common ancestor, tend to develop similar traits over time. This is because these traits help them to live and reproduce in their environment.
All organisms possess an molecule called DNA that holds the information needed to guide their growth. The DNA molecule is made up of base pairs that are arranged in a spiral around sugar molecules and phosphate molecules. The sequence of bases within each strand determines phenotype which is the person's distinctive appearance and behavior. Variations in a population are caused by mutations and reshufflings of genetic material (known collectively as alleles).
Fossils from the first human species, Homo erectus, as well as Homo neanderthalensis have been discovered in Africa, Asia and Europe. These fossils, despite differences in their appearance, all support the hypothesis of modern humans' origins in Africa. 에볼루션 fossil and genetic evidence suggests that early humans left Africa and migrated to Asia and Europe.