What benefits do we get from evolution knowledge, what do scientist do with it?

Question

I mean scientifically what can scientific use this knowledge for as in to help improve mankind?

is it used for medical purposes?

PLEASE NOTE: I know very little about evolution thats why I ask, I have never studied it so PLEASE bear with me and answer as though I was a 10 year old because thats about my knowledge of it thank you.

Answer 1

Just to add another medical purpose:

Understanding evolution allows us to identify similarities between species and thus predict other similarities, allowing us to translate research findings from, for example, mouse cells, to human diseases. If we know a cancer treatment works in a mouse model of cancer, and we know its mechanism of action in those cells, we can then translate those findings to the corresponding, evolutionarily conserved human cellular mechanisms and advance our knowledge of the human disease and approach better treatments.

At the most basic level, molecular biology explains evolution and evolution explains the current molecular biology that makes life as it exists today. The more we know about molecular biology, the more we know about how things work in our body and how they go wrong. So if we understand evolution and can predict or demonstrate how a particular molecular pathway evolved to be the way it is in humans, we have a better chance of being able to correct any problems in that pathway.

On a larger scale, understanding evolution allows us to see the functional relationships between organisms on the planet and realize the complexities of all the ecosystems out there. The more we understand that, the better chance we have of not killing everything on earth that we evolved to depend on for life. So I suppose that's a benefit, right?

As you learn more about evolution, keep in mind the scale on which it operates. We're talking generations and generations of populations of species. That means large numbers, long times, and natural changes that are hard to comprehend/accept for some. An exception is dramatic environmental change, but you can read more about that if you wish.

BTW, the poster above me saying something about "bacteria adapting to its environment..." ummm.... that IS evolution. The poster probably thinks that it's an individual that adapts to its environment and carries on, but in reality it's the evolution of the population such that a percentage of the "parent bacteria" carried the genes that allowed them to continue to reproduce and so their offspring do as well, and so the genetic makeup of the population shifts as those who are less fit die and those who are more fit thrive. The bacteria (plural) do adapt to their environment. But the sorry individuals who weren't lucky enough to inherit the right genes do not adapt. Just wanted to clarify and point out the misconception that poster is propagating.

Answer 2

well people are going to say that that it helps in moelcear biology and we can study how bacteria evolved and find cures, but i disagree because bacteria evolving is an example of the bacteria adapting to its environment ( this is the only example i have ever seen) people also might say that nothing i biolgey makes sense without evolution this is unture and if you want to read an article refuting that claim go to

http://www.trueorigin.org/biologymyth.as...    

Long but interesting

Answer 3

Evolution explains so much in biology that scientists consider it one of the two central *UNIFYING* theories of modern biology.  (The other is cell theory.)

Examples:

* Evolution explains why you need a new flu shot each year.   This year's flu virus has *evolved* to be immune to last year's flu shot.  

* Evolution allows scientists to predict roughly when the next flu outbreak will occur, in what part of the world it will come from, what current strains it will be related to, what the resulting symptoms may be, what to look out for, how to treat it, how severe the symptoms will be, etc.   Not exactly ... but approximately, by using evolutionary models.

* Any time your doctor or pharmacist gives you antibiotics and the instructions are to "finish the full course of antibiotics, even if when the symptoms are gone."  That is *PRECISELY* because of evolution ...  doctors know that if you only kill 99% of the disease bacteria, your symptoms will be gone, but if you stop the antibiotics, then that 1% who are the survivors ... the very bacteria most resistent to the antibiotics ... are the ones that may repopulate ... and now you have an extra-resistant form of the bacteria you had before.

* Evolution allows doctors to predict how HIV reacts to the many different kinds of antivirals we give to people with AIDS.   They use evolutionary principles to understand how the virus mutates, how much of it survives different dosages, when to hit it hard with a combination of drugs, and when back off and let a less harmful strain of the virus dominate, etc.  

* Evolution lets pest experts understand how pests develop immunity to pesticides, which helps with agriculture, pest control, termite control, etc. etc.

And on and on.

But also remember ... science isn't just about "helping improve mankind."   Science is also about just understanding the world.    Evolution absolutely helps us understand the world of biology.  

* Evolution explains the particular pattern of similarities and differences between species.  

* Evolution explains why you have a big toe (ask me if you don't understand this) ... or a muscle in your calf that is useless in humans but used for grasping with the feet in other apes.  

* Evolution explains why the African and Asian primate species have different features than all the Central and S. American primate species.  E.g. the African and Asian primates have three color vision, opposable thumbs, no prehensile tail, and the same kind of nose and teeth patterns ... while the primates of C. and S. America have two-color vision, no opposable thumbs, a prehensile tail, and a different nose structure and teeth pattern.   Why?  Because all of these features developed in the different primates *AFTER* the continental drift lost any interbreeding between the two groups.

* Evolution explains why humans have exactly the same three-color vision, opposable thumbs, lack of prehensile tail, and the same nose structure and dental pattern as the African and Asian primates.

* Evolution explains why humans, bats, moles, dogs, and horses all have the same bones in their hands ... even though those hands are used for *very* different purposes in each species.   And on and on.

Hope that helps.