Evolutionsists....i don't understand this?

Question

1. if an organism does not have certain traits to begin with, how can it develop those traits?

2. if an organism does not possess a certain trait, how can it pass it on to its offspring?even mutations, we have seen cows with two heads, but they are still cow heads.Unless they interbreded a cow with a zebra, or one of the cow's anscestors is a zebra, we will never see a cow give birth to a cow that has the head of a zebra, for example. how can one anscestor give birth to different kinds of animals that possess traits that the anscestor does not possess. let's say the common anscestor is a dog. so then if evolution is true, in billions of years there will be hudreds of new kinds of animals that came from the dog. but if the dog does not have a trait for hands no matter how many descendants the dog will have, they will all have paws, not hands.

3. so if evolution claims that all life on earth came from a simple cell, how did the cells get more complex?

( simple ans. please. thanks.)

Answer 1

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Answer 2

[Don't be intimidated by the length of this answer.   You asked a *lot* of (good) questions, and then requested "simple answers please" ... simple answers tend to be long answers because it takes more words to describe things in non-scientific terms.]

1. Ans: Mutations.

A simple example:   In Japan they have discovered a bacterium in a waste pond near a factory that, through a *single mutation*, developed the trait of being able to digest *nylon*!   This is significant because nylon didn't even exist before humans invented it in 1935 ... so this is *clearly* a "new trait."

Most mutations are not nearly that simple ... most involve the accumulation of two or more mutations that slowly modify an old trait to produce a new one.  

2. "if an organism does not possess a certain trait, how can it pass it on to its offspring?"

Ans: if a mutation occurs in the sperm or egg cell of the organism, the parent doesn't have the "trait", but the offspring does ... the offspring will have that mutation *in every single cell of its body*.

OR, if the mutation occurs in the new embryo, just after fertilization, same thing ... the resulting embryo will contain that mutation in every cell of its body.

In either case, if that mutation gives the offspring some slight advantage ... then that offspring will grow up, have lots of babies, and pass that very same mutation onto more of those babies than the individuals without that mutation ... they in turn will pass it on to slightly more offspring ... and so on.  The mutation spreads because it provides some slight advantage.

That is how good mutations multiply, and bad mutation die out.   This process is slow, but it is *ALWAYS* going on ... generation after generation, millions of years piled on millions of years.  The result is very slow change, new "traits" that slowly develop.

By the way a two-headed cow is not the result of a mutation.  That is the result of a siamese twin ... a splitting of the embryo  sometime after fertilization ... where one of the twins is not fully formed.  This is not a "trait" in that, even if it were to survive to produce offspring, those offspring would not be siamese twins.  Two-headed cows do not give birth to more two-headed cows.  So that is NOT evolution.

Mutations are never *THAT* radical.  It is never, ever about a dog growing hands, or a cow being born with a zebra's head.   Evolution *CANNOT* work that way.   They are small incremental changes to existing traits, that over time can produce new traits.

>"how can one anscestor give birth to different kinds of animals that possess traits that the anscestor does not possess."

Again ... small changes to existing traits can indeed produce entirely different traits, given enough time.   All that matters is that each small change provides some small advantage ... and TIME does the rest.  Deep TIME.  Unimaginable amounts of time.   Human beings have a very difficult time imagining 10-thousand years ... let alone 10-*million* years ... evolution has been going on for about 4,000-million years (4 billion years)!!

>"in billions of years there will be hudreds of new kinds of animals that came from the dog"

Yes.   In *billions* of years, yes.  But the dog has only been around (as a subspecies of wolf) for maybe 15,000 years ... and wolves have only been around for about 100,000 years.

In fact, all of multicellular life has only been around for about 1 billion years out of the 4 billion years that life has been evolving.

3. "so if evolution claims that all life on earth came from a simple cell, how did the cells get more complex? "

Same thing.  Small changes ... where only the good changes get multiplied and the bad changes are discarded ... repeat repeat repeat ... for 4 billion years.

And in case you think that an unguided process can't produce complexity, just look at a snowflake.   This is a very complex crystal that formed in a matter of *minutes* as it falls through a cloud, based on nothing but the properties of the simple water molecule.  Imagine what can happen in the course of billions of years based on the properties of complex molecules like proteins and DNA.

This is NOT to say that a Creator was not involved.  Whether a Creator was involved is purely a matter of faith ... and science can neither prove nor disprove the existence of a Creator ... nor does science have any interest in proving or disproving the existence of a Creator.   There is absolutely no conflict with the idea that God exists and created all life

... but if He did, he clearly did so using the process of evolution.

Answer 3

1&2  good question.

Let's simplify if we may.

Suppose you have a lot of time on your hand and you start breeding dogs.

Each generation you pick the lightest colored dogs and let them breed.   The others don't get to breed.

Repeat this and you will end up with white dogs.   Not surprising, is it?  Even though none of the dogs you started with were white.

Now try something more pretentious.   Feed the dogs vegetarian dogfood (even though dogs eat meat).   If they get sick, very well, give them a little bit of meat - but as little as possible.

Every generation you breed the healthiest dogs - those are the ones that thrive best on the vegetarian food.

You can also select on the flattest teeth, for better chewing of vegetarian dogfood.

Eventually you end up with animals that thrive on vegetable food and are not really dogs anymore.

Here's the question: When do you stop calling it a dog?

Nature does not do black and white separations of species.  A cow does not turn in to a zebra in one generation.

But if you keep selecting cows for zebra-traits, you will eventually end up with creatures that are no longer cows.

Answer 4

1. We can all agree that in just about all populations of living organisms there is variation, diversity.  The ULTIMATE source of all variation on this planet is mutations.  Many mutations are detrimental to an organism but some happen to be beneficial.  This is where selection kicks in.  A beneficial mutation that bestows a selective advantage on an individual increases that individuals chances to survive, reproduce, and pass on those advantageous genes to an offspring.  When you look at a population a newly acquired trait doesn't appear overnight, that is the key point.  It won't be a case of "hey that trait wasn't there a second ago".  Over several generations usually a new trait spreads over a population and SLOWLY it becomes evident of a new trait developing by the method described above.

2. The key thing to remember here is that visible traits are not all the traits possessed by an individual.  The incredible thing about sexual reproduction is the exchange of genetic information of the parents in producing the offspring.  Thus just because we don't see a trait in a parental individual does not mean the parental individual does not possess an allele for that trait.  Also when genetic material is exchanged new traits can develop as a thorough or incomplete mixing of parental genetic material (ie codominance and incomplete dominance inheritance patterns).  

3. Again starts from mutations as it is the ultimate source of variation.  One mutation for example inevitably let to multicellular development as it is scientifically proven that there is an upper limit on how big cells can get due to its surface area to volume ratio and by chance a mutation allowed cells to divide but remain attached in forming a simple tissue layer.  Later mutations allowed for the differentiation of cells to perform more specific functions with the simple tissue organism (ie surface level cells specialized in structural support and inner cells specialized in nutrient distribution).  Mutation after mutation, over thousands and millions of generations (that is a key point, it didn't happen overnight again) life as we see it today on planet earth has developed.

Answer 5

I'm sorry, but there are no simple answers to the questions you raise.  There are so many misconceptions in your post that a proper response would be far beyond the limits of this forum.  To learn the answers in your post in any satisfactory sense you would have to take a class in biology or read a book on the subject.

Perhaps I could whet your interest with Dr. Francis Collins' book, "The Language if God:  A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief".  Dr. Collins directed the Human Genome Project which first mapped the human DNA code.  In addition to being a physician and biochemist, he is a devout Christian who gained a much deeper faith through his work.

A more concise, if less amicable, treatment that addresses your questions is found in the following article from the journal "Scientific American":

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=15-a...

If you can get hold of the concepts of random genetic drift and non-random selection to fit the environment, it'll all start to make sense.

Good luck.

Answer 6

There's no such thing as an evolutionist; this is a derogatory term for scientists used by those who, lacking a science education, question evolution for religious reasons.

The simple answer is that an introductory biology course at any university would answer most of your questions, as would many textbooks if you want to save the money on tuition.  Otherwise, as posted above, there is no short simple answer that will explain biology to you in a pargraph or two.

Answer 7

mutations..

radiation, chemicals and such can cause certain mutations in that SINGLE embryo, which is why we have two headed cows, yet their offspring are fine.

organisms adapt to the environment over time, lots of time. For lasting changes to occur..say dogs getting feet..they have to be in situations over generations where feet would be better suited than paws. or maybe they'd develop some thing different than feet or paws..its simple

Answer 8

> "1. if an organism does not have certain traits to begin with, how can it develop those traits?"

Genetically, individual organisms cannot.

However, mutations in the germ-line cells of an organism (sperm and eggs) can be passed on to its offspring.

> "2. if an organism does not possess a certain trait, how can it pass it on to its offspring?"

See above answer.

The genes in a germ-line cell are those that are inherited by the offspring. Mutations in any other cells are not inherited - they might be beneficial, but even if they are, they'll be "swamped" by all the other surrounding non-mutated cells. Only certain detrimental mutations - specifically those causing cancer - are noticeable in the somatic cells.

> "even mutations, we have seen cows with two heads, but they are still cow heads."

You have the wrong idea. Obviously, a mutation resulting in two heads will not generally be beneficial (how do the two seperate brains control the body, for example?)

But single mutations can and do provide significant advantages for the inheritor. Two examples in humans:

[1] a single mutation in the apolipoprotein gene (a protein involved in lipid metabolism) grants total immunity to cholesterol-induced atherosclerosis. This is a recently-occurring mutation, which can be traced back to a single Italian man.

[2] a truncation mutation in a chemokine receptor grants immunity to HIV-induced AIDS. You can still contract the virus, but it never develops into AIDS. The same mutation is believed to grant resistance to the Black Death.

These are two single mutations found in humans with significant survival advantages.

> "Unless they interbreded a cow with a zebra, or one of the cow's anscestors is a zebra, we will never see a cow give birth to a cow that has the head of a zebra, for example."

Well cows and zebra are different species. In fact they are not very closely related at all - so they could never interbreed.

But, it is certainly conceivable that a single mutation could result in a cow with stripes, which would make it resemble a zebra, to some degree.

> "how can one anscestor give birth to different kinds of animals that possess traits that the anscestor does not possess."

See above answers - mutations in the germ-line cells.

> "3. so if evolution claims that all life on earth came from a simple cell, how did the cells get more complex?"

Very slowly. Life has existed on earth for about 4 Billion years - and it was all simple, bacteria-like cells for the first 2 Billion of those. Then there were eukaryotic cells - but still only single-celled - for a farther 1 Billion years.

Single mutations *can* have a dramatic effect - as above - but it is most likely that they'll provide a *slight* advantage. Such advantages accumulate slowly, down generations, and result in dramatically different organisms. But this all takes millions of years.

Answer 9

yes, finally an unbiased answer as wholesome as Secretsauce's. Very good arguments while maintaining your agnosticism and abstaining from other foul-mouthed evolutionists

Answer 10

1. Through mutation over time.  If a mutation is advantageous it is kept and passed on, if its not it is selected against and hence not passed on.

2.  Through mutation.  Most orgaisms are not clones of their parents remember.  After recombination between mother and father the new genome of the progeny is no-longer 100% mother or father, it is unique (unless there are identical twins!).  This means there is a new set of unique genes will be mutated or arranged differently to its parents and hence expressed differently giving different phenotypes.  If there are advantageous traits in this phenotype it is more likely that gene set will be passed on to the next generation.

3.  Once again through mutation over a long long time.  Mutations that were advantageous were kept ones that werent were not.  Once mutation gets to the point that enough sexual barriers are setup to prevent re-integration a new species is formed.  Complex organisms have an selective advantage in new environments.

Answer 11

Small parts of an animal's DNA provide traits that are more suited for a certain environment or situation.  For example, There are dogs that are good swimmers and ones that are bad swimmers.  In a mainly aquatic habitat, the bad swimmers would die off, leaving the good swimmers.  The good swimmers reproduce to make more good swimmers, and the better ones in this new generation would be the only ones to survive to reproduce.  (Remember, predators evolve too, so they would be able to kill the good swimmers sooner or later)  In theory, after millions of years, the whole population of dogs will narrow down to the ones that are more likely to have, say, webbed feet or gills, and over time, these characteristics will be more and more evident in these animals.

Answer 12

mutations rarely happen, and they are, for the most part, UNPREDICTABLE.  completely undetectable in a lifetime.. if there were beneficial mutations which stuck around every reproduction, there would literally be countless species.  dogs have paws because they evolved to have paws, and to say that they will never evolve to have hands would probably be right, but not completely out of the question.. so, dog with hands=possible (as slim as the chance may be)

PS. DNA is AMAZING

Answer 13

The dog's ancestor is the grey wolf. Now we have poodle, chihuahua, and beagle. The traits in the dog breeds were not in the grey wolf. Isn't  it evolution? Why is it so difficult to understand? God did not create the dogs.

Answer 14

1. mutation

2. ressive Bb Bb "B" dom. "b" recessive, bb would not show trait that BB and Bb show

3. divided, mutated... biology