Can someone help me explain evolution to my girlfriend?

Question

i tried to explain to my girlfriend how DNA works and how you can tell how far back ancestry goes between two people by the number of mutations in the DNA. I also tried to explain to her that the same thing can be used to figure out how far back you go to find out where two species split in evolution. I told her that DNA was used to prove that all life came from a sort of algae in the water billions of years ago but am having trouble finding a site that shows how far back different species split. she asked me how far back her cat and a crocodile split in evolution but i can't seem to find that info. Can someone help explain this better?

Answer 1

And who the f*ck created DNA and the genetic code?

Answer 2

"I told her that DNA was used to PROVE that all life came from a sort of algae in the water billions of years ago"

lol

Maybe she's just inherently smart and doesn't believe that c**p.

Make no mistake, microevolution is fact, and makes a lot of sense.

However, macroevolution is simply impossible. Scientists conveniently present all the convincing evidence while leaving out the little things that discredit it.

Answer 3

This website is pretty easy to understand: http://evolution.berkeley.edu/

Answer 4

This is the trouble: it didn't work like this at all.

Get her "The Blind Watchmaker" and "Darwin's Black Box" and let her make up her own mind.

Answer 5

Evolution is false. Why explain something that isn't true?

Answer 6

Evolution is nothing more than the mother and father coming together to have an offspring.  The offspring is what evolved from the parents.  You are right about one thing, species do not or are not created from other species.  As long as you mate cats, they will remain cats, and same is true for other animals.  There is no mating between cats and dogs to come up with a different species.  Therefore, it appears the Big Bang theory is a banged up theory or things (species) would continue to mix to make new ones.  How often do you see apes having human babies today?  If they ever did, they would continue that today and eventually there would be no apes left.

Answer 7

Incredible! Just read what foolish things you are saying. I mean, you are actually going public with such nonsense. Try and find something worthwhile to talk to your girlfriend about before she dumps you.

Answer 8

If you are trying to give your girlfriend biology lessons, then you should do so with the door closed.  

Answer 9

No one can rationally without laughing.

By the way genius, genetic mutations usually die off without reproducing the mutation.  In all the centuries, a cat remains a cat, whether the size changes or not.  A Cat does not become a fish or croc, no matter what the push.

If life did come from algae, why is there still algae?

Answer 10

Tell her the truth, evolution is an unproved theory, because it is a false theory.

Gen 1:1   In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  

Answer 11

Very simply. DNA makes no such determination that anyone can establish. There are similarities, but hardly conclusive evidence that anything has evolved per se. (Hmmm, I wonder if you'll tell your girlfriend this......).

Answer 12

is SHE the cat, and YOU the crocodile? LOL

Answer 13

i think creation is why she doesn't understand the theory of evolution.perhaps she knows it was by God that all things exist.

Answer 14

The answer is too long to type out here. She just needs to take a biology course. It is the ideal way to understand the theory.

Answer 15

I suggest she reads "The Ancestors Tale" by Richard Dawkins - it traces the ancestry of modern humans all the way back to the first living things and on the way explains various principles of hereditary and Evolution - a fascinating book.

And anyone who says "unproved theory" is an unducated fool - a Scientific Theory is as proved as you can get - it must fit all known facts and be capable of predicting further verifiable facts.  A Scientific Theory is the closest thing to absolute 100% rock solid fact that any scientist will admit to.  

Gravity is also a theory: "Anyone who does not believe in the theory of gravity is invited to jump from a 10 storey window"

~ Richard Dawkins

EDIT:  as you can't be bothered to read a book or take a biology class, you are necessarily going to get a very brief description of Evolution which will probably raise a lot of additional questions but to get you started here's a cut and paste from an earlier answer of mine on the subject of Evolution:-

In any given population or species there will be a certain degree of diversity - to take a simple example, some animals may be taller than others. This is a reflection of their genes.

Now let's say that these animals find their food high up on trees and they are hunted by predators that sneak up on them through long grass. Over time the taller animals will be able to reach more food and spot predators a little bit sooner than their shorter rivals. Over thousands or millions of years the shorter animals would be less likely to survive and pass their genes on to future generations - so the species would gradually become taller.

There are also occasional larger mutations in genes that result in an advantage (or at least, no extra penalty) to the individual. In humans such mutations include trichromatic (three colour) colour vision which was lost in most mammals due to adaptation to a nocturnal life and was restored by a mutational duplication of one of the genes for colour vision.

Where a single species becomes separated into two populations - perhaps by one becoming marooned on an island or by the formation of the Great Rift Valley in Africa (or even by cultural or behavioural differences), the two populations will be subjected to different environmental pressures so natural selection will drive the two portions of the species in different directions as each adapts, evolves and mutates independently. This is how two species are formed from one original. Again to use humans as an example, a population of primates became divided into two (quite possibly by the Great Rift Valley) and one portion evolved into modern-day apes whilst the other evolved into the hominid species of which we are the last surviving example.

By comparing the DNA of any two species and noting the differences in certain known "marker" genes it is possible to calculate how long ago they shared a common ancestor as there are known mutation rates for different genes. IN this way, for example we now know that the nearest land-living relative of the whales that is alive today are the hippos.

EDIT "These answers are terrible, none of you knows anything about evolution" - how do you know these answers are terrible?  If you know enough about evolution to judge these answers then why not just tell your g/f yourself?

Answer 16

This is better off asked in the Biology section. Most people qualified to answer this question well would be there.

Not to leave you empty-handed, though, I CAN tell you that human chromosome #2 is strongly suggested to be a fusion of 2 lesser ape chromosomes, which explains why humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes and apes have 24. This also verifies that we evolved from apes. We can tell this fusion happened because some centromeres (genetic material in the middle of a chromosome) in chromosome two are remarkably similar to some other centromeres found in two ape chromosomes (the descriptions of these currently escape me). Also, there are telomeres located in the middle of chromosome #2. Generally telomeres are only found on the *ends* of chromosomes, so this means that 2 chromosomes must have fused together end-to-end at one point.

Concerning common ancestry, all I can offer about that is that we have observed that remnants of ancient lifeforms exist that have features found in more than one class of life; for instance a now-extinct fish-like amphibian named the tiktaalik. This suggests that there was a very slow transition from one type of life to another.

Note- I've got a link here that might be more helpful.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_evo...

Answer 17

How old is your girlfriend? 7?

Answer 18

from goo to you by way of the zoo.

Answer 19

There is no answer, that's why nobody can give it to you.  For all the blustering on this site about how evolution is proven fact nobody here saying that has the slightest clue what they're talking about.  

Evolution does not work like that at all, it's true that all dogs evolved from the same species and all cats evolved from one species but never at any time were they more closely related then now, they were always different life forms.  Life did not begin as algae in the sea, that simply isn't possible otherwise there would still be evolution taking place with algae, there would also be genetic links between humans and trees (there aren't).  Your thinking is way off which is why you can't get the answers you're looking for.

Answer 20

Try talkorigins.org first.  

Cats and crocs don't really have any direct common ancestors unless you go waaaaay back.  When the mammals diverted from the reptiles (guess).  Ask a biologist...preferably in the science section of this board.  You won't many answers worth much of anthing here in R/S.  Too many Creationists trying to muddy the water.

Answer 21

no its false....TELL HER CREATION IS REAL AND SEE SCIENCE AND THEORIES....this is relig

Answer 22

That would take a huge site to even show splits to the Genus level.  There are still tens of thousands.

The first mammals off the top of my head, were in the Jurassic.  That would make it about 70-90 million years ago.  The actual split to a crocodile (that existed pretty much in the same form then) was probably much further back.

FYI:  Buy her a fourth grade science book.

Answer 23

cat and crocodile didn't split from eachother

start at the bottom and work your way up

introduce her to a freshman high school bio book

as your GF doesn't seem to know the first thing about evolution.. it's a long (most likely pointless) process to get her up to speed

Answer 24

Easy!  Just show her proof of the DNA split between species.

Edit:  For the ones who think a biology course will help, it doesn't for those of us who require proof.  It might for those willing to buy anything the professor tells them.