USNews and World Report January 24th, 2000 – Tim Appenzeller explains; “A study in the latest Science shows that Natural selection can reshape organisms faster than ever some die hard evolutionist might have predicted.”
“The clock on this experiment started ticking sometime in 1978, probably when a ship carrying fruit or vegetables from Europe docked in the Pacific Northwest. A few stowaways made it ashore – tiny fruit flies of a species never seen before in the New World. Since then the flies have been more than fruitful, multiplying and spreading North beyond Vancouver, British Columbia, and south almost to Los Angeles, in some places virtually driving out native fruit flies.”
“Settling into their new homes, they have evolved a pattern of size differences that mirrors the pattern in their European forebears, which range from Norway to Spain. Just as in Europe, female flies at the Northern end of the range have wings about 4% longer than those in the south. In text book Darwinian Fashion, something in the environment – probably temperature – must be causing the size variations, say the researchers, who used wing length as a gauge of body size. No one knows why heftier flies are better adapted to the cold, however.
A study just 10 years ago failed to find any size difference in the immigrant flies, which means that Natural selection is not only at work, but working at breathtaking speed.”
Science Digest December, 1988 quoting Nature magazine – “Retro viruses are RNA based organisms, rather than DNA – based; like humans and other animals are. They replicate with such a high error rate that they are capable of evolving about a million times faster than DNA-based organisms. Research on the sparse “fossil record” of the most notable of these viruses, the one that causes Aids, shows that two forms, HIV-1 and HIV-2, diverge from a common viral ancestor, sometime around 1951, only 37 years ago.”
In the La CrosseTribune December 5, 2005, Mr. Harold Ristow wrote about President Bush and the Bird Flu in the “Your Views” column. He said, “Recently, President Bush expressed concern about plans for the government to deal with the potential of a bird flu epidemic. In the past, Bush has expressed his support for the teaching of intelligent design as an alternate explanation for species development and variation a long with the theory of evolution. In fact, he has expressed reservations about evolutionary theory in general. Bush may not be aware that the principle concern about bird flu is its potential transmission to humans from birds having the flu virus, and that such a biological occurrence could only arise through the process of evolution (mutation) of the bird flu virus to a form that attacks humans and is transmissible by them. If the process of evolution were not a reality, there would be no reason to be concerned with bird flu, or generally with the development of new viruses and bacteria from those that were at one time killed by specific medications but no longer are.”
Also in the La Crosse Tribune, July 14, 2006 Washington D.C., “Finches on the Galapagos Islands that inspired Charles Darwin to develop the concept of evolution are new helping confirm it – by evolving. A medium–sized species of Darwin’s finch has evolved a smaller beak to take advantage of different seeds just two decades after the arrival of a larger rival for its original food source. Scientific American, December, 2007, Rob Dunn ecologist N. Carolina St. Univ. says “the Cane Toad which is native to Central America has spread over most of Australia. Brought to Queensland in 1935 to combat beetles infesting sugarcane fields, the toads have spread out from their point of entry like the shock waves of a bomb, warty legs and oversize tongues jettisoned into every conceivable ecological crack. Recent research by Ben Phillips and his collaborators at the Univ. of Sydney has shown that the toads are evolving as they spread, perfecting their ability to adapt to the Australian landscape. The toads at the front edge of the invasion now have smaller bodies, reduced toxicity and relatively longer legs, apparently because individuals with those traits were having greater success. The native fauna has evolved in response: the mouths of some snakes are getting smaller, for instance, because so many of the snakes with big mouths were eating the poisonous cane toads and dying off.”
Scientific American, June, 2008 Phillip Yam: “with the goal of making synthetic biological components, researchers have crafted the first artificial enzyme – specifically, an enzyme that removes a proton from a carbon atom. The team, from the Univ. of Washington, the Univ. of California, Los Angeles, and the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rhovot, Israel, used a computational model to devise potential enzymes constructed from 200 amino acids. After finding the enzyme that showed the most activity; the group further improved it by making it undergo evolution in a test tube. Seven rounds of evolution – the introductions of mutations – improved the enzymes efficiency 200 fold.”
Scientific American, February, 2008 Coco Ballantyne points out that “when a bacteria population that survives the first hit of an antibacterial agent vies with the lingering chemical, a small subpopulation armed with special defense mechanisms can evolve. This group then multiplies as its weaker relatives perish, and it will withstand attack the next time the chemical is supplied. “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” is the governing maxim here; “antibacterial chemicals select for bacteria that can endure their presence.”
So when you use those antibacterial soaps, and those hand-sanitizers found everywhere now; you’re single-handedly helping the little rascals to mutate and next time avoid the “death sauce” and live on to get even with you.
Also, Monsanto is having trouble with ‘super weeds’ evolving around their bio-engineered Roundup Ready herbicides. Farmers are recommended to use multiple herbicides on their crops. This “harmless plant killer” is used every time a farmer’s field is converted from hay, to another crop. Every year in corn and soy bean fields. It’s sprayed along ditches, under overpasses and signs by highway departments, and down the right of ways by the power companies. We can’t keep doing this. Aside from polluting our water supply, with global warming some hot, humid night a plant might punch through your bedroom window screen and grab you by the throat!
By now, you should have a clear understanding that evolution is the key to all life forms and their desperate attempt to survive. Creatures do what they have to, to enhance their chances to live and pass it down to the next generation. You think everybody’s got it and then along comes this.
Louisville, KY, Associated Press, March 7, 2010, “home-school mom Susan Mule wishes she hadn’t taken a friends advice and tried a text book from a popular Christian publisher for her 10 year old’s biology lesson. Mule’s precocious daughter Elizabeth excels at science and has been studying tarantulas since she was 5. But she watched Elizabeth’s excitement turn to confusion when they reached the evolution section of the book from Apologia Educational Ministries, which disputed Charles Darwin’s theory. “I thought she was going to have a coronary” Mule said of her daughter, who is now 16 and taking college courses. “She’s like, “this is not true!””
Christian based materials dominate a growing home–schooled education market that encompasses more than 1.5 million students in the U.S. and for most; a Bible–based version of the earth’s creation is exactly what they want. Federal statistics from 2007 show 83 percent of home–schooled parents want to give their children “religious or moral instruction.” “The majority of home–schoolers self–identify as Evangical Christians,” said Ian Slatter, a spokesman for the home school Legal Defense Association. “Most home–schoolers will definitely have a sort of creationist component to their home – school program.” Those who don’t, however, often feel isolated and frustrated from trying to find a text book that fits their beliefs. Two of the best – selling biology text books stack the deck against evolution, said some science educators who reviewed sections of the books at the request of The Associated Press.
“I feel fairly strongly about this. These books are promulgating lies to kids,” said Jerry Coyne, an ecology and evolution professor at the Univ. of Chicago.
The textbook publishers defend their books as well–rounded lessons on evolution and its short comings. One of the books doesn’t even mask disdain for Darwin.
“Those who do not believe that the Bible