Science and evolution
Abstract Evolution is both a fact and a theory. Evolution is widely observable in laboratory and natural populations as they change over time. The fact that we need annual flu vaccines is one example of observable evolution. At the same time, evolutionary theory explains more than observations, as t...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Sociedade Brasileira de Genética
2019-02-01
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| Series: | Genetics and Molecular Biology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1415-47572019000100120&lng=en&tlng=en |
| _version_ | 1818268442739867648 |
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| author | Claudia A.M. Russo Thiago André |
| author_facet | Claudia A.M. Russo Thiago André |
| author_sort | Claudia A.M. Russo |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Evolution is both a fact and a theory. Evolution is widely observable in laboratory and natural populations as they change over time. The fact that we need annual flu vaccines is one example of observable evolution. At the same time, evolutionary theory explains more than observations, as the succession on the fossil record. Hence, evolution is also the scientific theory that embodies biology, including all organisms and their characteristics. In this paper, we emphasize why evolution is the most important theory in biology. Evolution explains every biological detail, similar to how history explains many aspects of a current political situation. Only evolution explains the patterns observed in the fossil record. Examples include the succession in the fossil record; we cannot find the easily fossilized mammals before 300 million years ago; after the extinction of the dinosaurs, the fossil record indicates that mammals and birds radiated throughout the planet. Additionally, the fact that we are able to construct fairly consistent phylogenetic trees using distinct genetic markers in the genome is only explained by evolutionary theory. Finally, we show that the processes that drive evolution, both on short and long time scales, are observable facts. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T20:38:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-aa3964a534334f259ab2287538efff69 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1678-4685 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T20:38:34Z |
| publishDate | 2019-02-01 |
| publisher | Sociedade Brasileira de Genética |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Genetics and Molecular Biology |
| spelling | doaj.art-aa3964a534334f259ab2287538efff692022-12-22T00:12:50ZengSociedade Brasileira de GenéticaGenetics and Molecular Biology1678-46852019-02-0142112012410.1590/1678-4685-gmb-2018-0086S1415-47572019000100120Science and evolutionClaudia A.M. RussoThiago AndréAbstract Evolution is both a fact and a theory. Evolution is widely observable in laboratory and natural populations as they change over time. The fact that we need annual flu vaccines is one example of observable evolution. At the same time, evolutionary theory explains more than observations, as the succession on the fossil record. Hence, evolution is also the scientific theory that embodies biology, including all organisms and their characteristics. In this paper, we emphasize why evolution is the most important theory in biology. Evolution explains every biological detail, similar to how history explains many aspects of a current political situation. Only evolution explains the patterns observed in the fossil record. Examples include the succession in the fossil record; we cannot find the easily fossilized mammals before 300 million years ago; after the extinction of the dinosaurs, the fossil record indicates that mammals and birds radiated throughout the planet. Additionally, the fact that we are able to construct fairly consistent phylogenetic trees using distinct genetic markers in the genome is only explained by evolutionary theory. Finally, we show that the processes that drive evolution, both on short and long time scales, are observable facts.http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1415-47572019000100120&lng=en&tlng=enevolutionary theorysciencescientific methodscientific theorymacroevolution |
| spellingShingle | Claudia A.M. Russo Thiago André Science and evolution Genetics and Molecular Biology evolutionary theory science scientific method scientific theory macroevolution |
| title | Science and evolution |
| title_full | Science and evolution |
| title_fullStr | Science and evolution |
| title_full_unstemmed | Science and evolution |
| title_short | Science and evolution |
| title_sort | science and evolution |
| topic | evolutionary theory science scientific method scientific theory macroevolution |
| url | http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1415-47572019000100120&lng=en&tlng=en |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT claudiaamrusso scienceandevolution AT thiagoandre scienceandevolution |