What are some cold, soild facts that prove evolution?

Question

I am a creationist and I want to see the opposing views major points.

Answer 1

there are no cold facts that evolution happened, if it did happen it would be an on going process.we would see diffent stages of it happening in the animal kingdom today.

Answer 2

First, you don't PROVE things in science. You talk about *evidence*. This is true in evolution, in other realms of biology, in chemistry, in physics, in geology, astronomy, astrophysics, cosmology ... in *ALL* of science!  NOTHING is ever considered "proved."

As far as *evidence* ... here is a *partial* list.  (Sorry this is long, but there's a *lot* of evidence):

1. Evolution reproduced in the lab or documented in nature:

a. Two strains of fruit flies lost the ability to interbreed and produce fertile offspring in the lab over a 4-year span ... i.e. they became two new species. (Easily repeated experiment.)

b. A new plant species (a type of firewood), created by a doubling of the chromosome count from the original stock (Mosquin, 1967).

c. Multiple species of the house mouse unique to the Faeroe Islands occurred within 250 years of introduction of a foundation species on the island.

d. Formation of 5 new species of cichlid fishes that have formed in a single lake within 4,000 years of introduction of a parent species.

2. Fossil evidence - (So much to list). The way fossils appear in the layers of rock always corresponds to relative development ... more primitive creatures in lower (older) layers. Absolute dating of fossils using radiometry. Constant discovery of new transitional forms. E.g. reptile-birds, reptile-mammals, legged whales, legged sea cows.

3. Genetic evidence - E.g. the fact that humans have a huge number of genes (as much as 96%) in common with other great apes ... and (as much as 50%) with wheat plants. The pattern of genetic evidence follows the tell-tale patterns of ancestral relationships (more genes in common between recently related species, and fading the further back in time).

4. Molecular evidence - These are commonalities in DNA ... which is separate from genetic commonalities ... much of our DNA does not code for genes at all. But random mutations (basically 'typos') enter into DNA at a known rate over the centuries. This is called the 'molecular clock' and again gives excellent evidence of when humans diverged from other apes (about 6 million years ago, according to this molecular clock), and this corresponds perfectly with when these fossils first appear in the fossil record (using radiometric dating).

5. Evidence from proteins - Proteins - E.g., things like blood proteins (the things that give us our A, B, O blood typing and the Rh factor (the plus/minus thing) which incidentally stands for 'rhesus monkey'); the exact structure of the insulin molecule; and my favorite, the proteins responsible for color vision. The specific proteins found in human color vision are exactly the same as those found in Old World primates (the great apes and the monkeys found in Africa and Asia). These proteins are absent in New World primates (the Central and South American monkeys), and from all other mammals. In fact among the New World primates, only the howler monkey has color vision ... but these use slightly *different* proteins, coded on different locations and chromosomes, than humans and the OW primates. This is yet more evidence of a closer link between humans and the OW primates.

6. Vestigial and atavistic organs - E.g. Leg and pelvic bones in whales, dolphins, and some snakes; unused eyes in blind cave fish, unused wings in flightless birds and insects; flowers in non-fertilizing plants (like dandelions); in humans, wisdom teeth, tailbones, appendix, the plantaris muscle in the calf (useless in humans, used for grasping with the feet in primates).

7. Embryology - E.g. Legs on dolphin embryos; tails and gill folds on human embryos; snake embryos with legs; marsupial eggshell and carnuncle.

8. Biogeography - The current and past distribution of species on the planet. E.g. almost all marsupials and almost no placental mammals are native to Australia ... the result of speciation in a geographically isolated area.

9. Homology - E.g. the same bones in the same relative positions in primate hands, bat wings, bird wings, mammals, whale and penguin flippers, pterosaur wings, horse legs, the forelimbs of moles, and webbed amphibian legs.

10. Bacteriology, virology, immunology, pest-control - I.e. the way that bacteria evolve in response to antibiotics (we can compare strains of tuberculosis today, with samples of older epidemics and can see the specific structures), or viruses (like HIV) respond to antivirals, or insects evolving in response to pesticides.

Answer 3

Birds evolved from Dinosaurs.

Answer 4

The fossil record and genetic evidence.  But it's a lot to explain here, so I suggest you read more on this site.  http://www.talkorigins.org

Answer 5

The primary source of evolutionary theory is the discovery of the lineage of creatures on this planet, the development of species can be seen over a long, long  period of time, changing slowly from generation to generation, the long period of time is established by the known breakdown of a carbon isotope that is radio active, with an easily checked half life, present in all living species and rock formations, this isotope is known to lose it 's activity at a progressive and determined rate over the years, so measuring the amount present can give a highly accurate assessment of the age of a soil sample even when the article or species can not, rates of erosion and sedimentation, (laying down the layers) are simple engineering calculations, so determining the age of a particular layer of rock is a straightforward job, even without carbon dating techniques, not even the catholic church has as a central credo, the creation myth, anymore, but accepts it as an allegory, why some people refuse to believe is simply beyond reason to me. there is nothing that will convince anyone who believes faith, not reason should rule, you may as well bark at the Moon. The reality is that if you fall ill you call a doctor not a priest to heal you, if your toilet breaks, it is a plumber, not a priest, you need , otherwise we will all live in medieval squalor if we let the faithful run our parliaments, believe how you might, but do not cite faith as the basis for your beliefs, it is not looking at the facts that put you in this position.

Answer 6

You're unlikely to get a very good argument here.

The first thing to recognise is that when people refer to evolution, they are generally referring to two things. The first is adaptation by genetic mutation and natural selection, and the second is the origin of life.

Evolution can be seen in action in modern medicine. Ever heard of MRSA? It's a kind of bacteria which is resistant to a lot of antibiotics. That kind of thing is a growing problem. It happens when some bacteria get exposed to an anti-biotic. The ones which are least affected by it are the most likely to survive. They're the ones whose offspring make up most of the next infection, all of which are more resistant to the antibiotic than the last batch.

Darwin saw this on a bigger scale in the Galapagos Islands, where he found that birds of the same species on three islands had slightly different bills, each one slightly better for the local food supplies. Birds with better bills could eat more (or faster), and outdid birds which didn't.

Another thing is that you tend to find fossils of different ages (in terms of millions of years) show different animals for different times in Earth's history. Often, you can see similarities through time.

As for the creation of life, it's not well understood by science. It's speculated that the right chemicals came together at the right time and made life, and that this slowly, slowly evolved into bacteria and then bigger stuff. Ultimately, no one can definitely say that God doesn't have a hand in it, but for Christian scientists, it's easier to believe that God set the beautiful complexity of the universe in motion, and that life is just part of that motion. Call it Occam's Razor if you will, but it's just a more elegant solution.

Answer 7

Evolution can be seen on a rapid time scale.

The book, The Beak of the Finch, shows evolution of finch beaks over about a 20-year period with it moving back and forth depending on the available food supply. ( Shows both variation and adaptation ).

The evolution of bacteria and disease organisms to become resistant to antibiotics on a very short time scale shows both features as well.

The similarity of organisms that evolved in geographically proximate places and the dissimilarity of those that developed in places that were not connected shows both variability and DIFFERING kinds of adaptability.

While the wondrous complexity of the eye appears to require design, the fact that optical sensors of equivalent wonder developed quite differently in different species belies design by ONE DESIGNER and speaks to variability and different adaptations.

We can also trace through the fossil record how some features evolved into others according as the need for adaptability. Thus, we had sea creatures that crawled onto the land and some, like sea mammals, that seem to have returned to the seas with relations between fins and feet but linking features ( like lungs ) that would seem unnecessary for things designed solely for water life.

We see how there are vestigial structures and behaviors that remain because the environmental factors that drive adaptation moved faster than the variability + adaptation of evolution. Evolutionary anatomy and evolutionary psychology explain things that can not be explained otherwise and certainly not by a grand designer.