The Like/Hate Thread

[Ashe]

it's the only thing we have that elevates discussion of long-term evolutionary theory above pure philosophy.

Well yeah, that... and the looking at the dna code of every animal in taxidermy records and seeing precisely where each change took place.

This is actually why if, for some reason, someone ever actually discovered a unicorn or mermaid, the entire species record would be immediately rendered useless until it could be rebuilt, because it would be branching specific changes that occurred independently from deeper down two paths.

Also, we see evolution at work commonly with things like medicines, bacteria, and insects growing resistant over generations to things like pesticides. We even see things like microorganisms that feed on oil and have very short and quickly reproductive lifespans thriving in an environment covered in oil (say our Gulf) and thus increasing in numbers a lot (as evolution would dictate, regarding those with the traits to survive an environmental change thriving while others die out). These organisms have been around feeding off the tiny amounts of oil that leaks from natural cracks in the surface, but they really boomed in the Gulf recently.