Download Evolution 2010

New York City - 10:36 am on an overcast day.
America Airlines 822, bound for Paris, has recently taken-off
and is now at 5,000 ft.
The captain has just received instructions to ascend to
15,000 ft.
As the plane begins its ascent it suddenly explodes,
killing all 230 passengers and crew.
You are an NTSB agent assigned to investigate the explosion.
What are your initial hypotheses about the cause of the explosion?
2009
Pew Trust Survey, 2009
False Dichotomy I
• You must choose evolution or God
• Evolution and belief in God are not incompatible
• Theistic evolution - An omniscient, omnipotent
God could put in motion the events that lead to
evolution.
False Dichotomy I
• You must choose evolution or God
• Many Christian and Jewish sects would
disagree
188 Wisconsin Clergy (2004)
Roman Catholic Church (1981)
American Jewish Committee
Roman Catholic Church (1996)
American Jewish Congress
Unitarian Universalist Association (1977)
American Scientific Affiliation
Unitarian Universalist Association (1982)
Central Conference Of American Rabbis
United Church Board For Homeland Ministries
Episcopal Bishop Of Atlanta, Pastoral Letter
United Methodist Church
Episcopal Church, General Convention
United Presbyterian Church In The U.S.A. (1982)
Episcopal Church, General Convention (2006) United Presbyterian Church In The U.S.A. (1983)
Lexington Alliance Of Religious Leaders
The Lutheran World Federation
National Council of Jewish Women
Center For Theology And The Natural Sciences
General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) (2002)
• No where does the bible deny the existence of evolution.
In crossing a heat h, sup pose I pitch ed m y foot against a stone , and were asked how the stone
came to be there ; I might possibly answer , t hat, for any th ing I knew to the contrary , it h ad lain
there for ever: nor w ould it perh aps be very easy to show the absurd ity of this answer. But
suppose I ha d found a wat ch upon the ground, and it should be inquire d how the wat ch
happ ened to be in that place ; I shou ld hardl y th ink of the answer which I h ad before given ,
that , for any t h ing I knew , the wat ch m ight have always been there. Yet why should no t t his
answer serve for the watch as well as
for the stone ? why is it not as ad missible in the seco nd
case, as in the first ? For this reason , and for no other , viz. th at, wh en we come to inspect the
watch , we perceive (what we could not disco ver in the stone) th at its several parts are fra med
and put together for a purpose , e . g. that the y are so for med and ad justed as to produc e motio n,
and that m ot ion so regul ated as to po int out the h our of the day; tha t, if the differ ent part s had
been d iffere ntly shap ed fro m what they are , of a differen t size fro m what t hey are , or pla ced
after any o ther m anner , or in any other orde r, tha n th at in whic h they are p laced , e ither no
motion at all wo uld have been carried on in the m achine , or none whic h wou ld have answered
the us e that is now served by it. To reckon up a few of the pla inest of these parts , and of their
offices , all tending to one result: -- We see a cylindrical box containing a coiled elas tic spr ing ,
which , by its endeavour to relax itself , turns round the box. We next observe a flexi ble ch ain
(artificially wr ought for the sake of flexure) , comm unicating the action of the spring fro m the
box to the fusee. We the n find a series of wheels , the teeth of which cat ch in, and apply t o, each
other , co nduc ting the m ot ion fr om the fusee to th e balanc e, and fro m the balance to the
poi nter ; and at th e same time, by the size and shape of those wheels , so regulat ing that m otion ,
as to ter minate in causing an index , b y an equable and m easured progression , to pass over a
given spac e i n a given time. We take n otice that the wheels are m ade of brass in order to keep
the m fro m rust ; the spr ings of stee l, no othe r metal being so elastic ; that over t he face of the
watch there is placed a glass , a material employed in no other part of the work , but in the roo m
of whi ch , if there had be en any other than a transparent substanc e, th e h our could no t be seen
with out open ing the case. This m echanis m being observed (it requires indeed an exa min ation
of th e instru ment, and perhaps some previo us kn owledge of the subje ct, t o perceive and
understa nd it ; but be ing once, as we have said, observed and understood ), th e inference , we
thi nk, is ine vitabl e, th at the watc h must have had a maker : tha t there m ust have existed , at some
time, and at some place or o ther , an arti ficer or artificers who for med it for the pur pose which
we fin d it actually to answer ; who comprehe nded its construct ion , and desi gned its use. ” – pp
1-3
“I know no b etter m eth od of introduc ing so large a subject , than that of comparing a sing le
thi ng with a single th ing ; an eye, for exa mpl e, with a telescope . As far as the exa minati on of th e
instru ment goes , there is precisely the same proof that the eye was m ade for vision , as th ere is
that the telescope was made for assisting it. They are made upo n the same prin ciples ; bot h
being a djuste d to the laws by which the trans mission and refracti on of rays of lig ht are
regulated. ” – p g. 18
-Wiliam Paley, Natural Theology, 1802
Harriet
(177 years young)
"Nothing in biology makes sense except in the
light of evolution.” - Theodosius Dobzhansky
-Woese, Micro. Rev.,
1987
Mechanisms of Evolution
• Natural Selection (Darwinism) - individuals
with favorable variations (traits) better
survive and reproduce.
• Genetic Drift
What is Evolution?
• Variation exists in all populations
• Variation is inherited
• Evolution is heritable changes in a population over
many generations.
• Descent with modification
• Evolution is change in allelic frequency
Mechanisms of Evolution
•
Natural Selection (Darwinism)
individuals with favorable variations (traits) better survive and
reproduce.
• The genes (inherited variation) of the successful individuals
increase in frequency in subsequent generations.
•
Survival of the fittest
• Genetic Drift
Elena/Lenski experiment
• Science, 1996
An experiment in evolution
Growth without antibiotic
No growth with antibiotic
An experiment in evolution
a mutation occurs
in one cell!
Grow trillions of bacteria!
Overnight!
Antibiotic Selected for the Resistance Mutatio
Growth on plates with antibiotics
Bacteria evolve new abilities
• 2,4-D is a man-made herbicide.
• 2,4-D Didn’t exist even 100 years
ago.
• 2,4-D is degrade by some bacteria
• Bacteria evolved the ability to
degrade it. That is they increased
the information pool.
Sucralose utilization by bacteria
maybe a newly evolved ability
Increasing the lifespan of fruitflies
Fruit Fly Longevity
12
No. of Fruitflies
10
8
6
4
2
0
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Age (days)
Mean age at death:
Early reproducers: 14.4 ± 7.6 days
Late reproducers: 21.3 ± 7.9 days
Two-tailed t-test with equal variance P = 0.001
Kuru - a prion disease
Pr
Pc
(normal)
(misfolded)
Kuru - a prion disease
Observed
Genotypic Freq. in
South Fore’
MM = 0.221
MV = 0.514
VV = 0.264
Obs. Genotypic Frq. in
South Fore’ Cannibals
MM = 0.133
MV = 0.767
VV = 0.1
• Hedrick, Science, 2003
Figure 15.12b
Figure 15.12a
Alleles Randomly Fixed
Founder Effect
• small founding populations have less allelic diversity
Silvereye (Zosterops lateralis)
• Clegg, et al, 2002
Silvereye colonization
• Clegg, et al, 2002
Founder Effect on Allelic Diversity of the
Silvereye