Buy Theophylline Without Prescription, Evolution is one of the most elegant and parsimonious scientific theories ever constructed. It unifies and adds insights to fields as seemingly unrelated as genetics (the mechanism behind inheritance and random mutation in evolution) and geology (the biogeography of fossil organisms that follows from evolution also helps support the theory of plate tectonics). And though evolution has great explanatory power, it is really a quite simple thing to understand. It is not vague and mysterious like the inner workings of a woman's mind. Unlike physics, it doesn't require any great prior knowledge of obscure mathematics. Still, though, misunderstandings concerning evolution persist. Much of this is the result of willful ignorance on the part of religious literalists, but even those who claim to accept evolution would be hard pressed to articulate exactly what it is and what it entails. What follows, then, is a brief overview of 10 of the most common misconceptions concerning evolution.
1, Theophylline for sale. Buy Theophylline online with no prescription, Evolution is random.
Evolution is random in a sense, Theophylline from international pharmacy, Buy cheap Theophylline no rx, but it is a two-step process, and only one step is random. The mutations and shufflings of DNA that drive evolutionary change are indeed random, saturday delivery Theophylline, Buy Theophylline from mexico, but the genetic variations that spread through a population do so as a result of nonrandom selection pressures. Thus, the main driving forces of evolution---natural selection and to a lesser degree sexual selection---are not random at all. These selection mechanisms ensure that only organisms with certain qualities or traits that benefit reproductive success will survive, cod online Theophylline, Theophylline in mexico, while those that lack them will tend to die off without reproducing. Without these selection pressures, any mutation that resulted would be maintained in a population, Theophylline medication, Theophylline craiglist, and instead of finding fruit flies largely with functioning eyes, we'd instead find fruitflies with legs for eyes, Theophylline gel, ointment, cream, pill, spray, continuous-release, extended-release, Theophylline in canada, and so on. Of course, natural selection and sexual selection are not the only mechanisms at work. Those mechanisms of evolution that are more random are less important in explaining diversity, buying Theophylline online over the counter, Theophylline paypal, though, and they usually only apply to very small populations (e.g., buy Theophylline online no prescription, Theophylline to buy, genetic drift, bottleneck effects), over the counter Theophylline. Theophylline san diego, 2. Evolution is goal-oriented toward an inevitable outcome.
Though evolution is not completely random, as noted above, it is also not completely determined to follow an inevitable course. Evolution is not some conscious entity striving for, say, humanity as the pinnacle of evolution, after which it can retire and then play Bingo on Friday nights for the rest of its days. No, the existence of mankind was not some foreordained goal of evolution, but instead a lucky accident of various circumstances, among them the evolution of mammals from reptiles, the extinction of nonavian dinosaurs, the evolution of primates, and so on. If we were to rewind history to four billion years ago and play the history of life anew, it is extremely unlikely that evolution would proceed in the same fashion it did, much less create homo sapiens. The isolated continent of Australia is a perfect example of the contingency of evolution on historical accident. The strange, foreign flora and fauana of Australia result from its long evolutionary isolation, and that is why we find novel organisms like the various marsupials that live there. We can think of Australia as a "separate Earth" with a differing history, and we can note that the organisms it produced do not perfectly accord with the organisms produced on the other continents. If evolution were goal-directed, we'd think homo sapiens would perhaps arise independently there as well, but they did not. As it stands, there is thus no reason or mechanism that could explain evolution as being consciously goal-oriented or directed to producing certain species, Buy Theophylline Without Prescription.
3. Organisms evolve through the inheritance of acquired characteristics, sale Theophylline. Buy Theophylline no prescription, Many people believe that a giraffe evolved a long neck because each individual stretched its neck quite strenously to lengthen it, passing this change on to its offspring. But characteristics that are acquired during life are not hereditary. A bodybuilder will not give birth to a baby with huge biceps and perfect abs unless that baby also grows up to lift weights and continually work out. A man who chops off his arm will not give rise to offspring missing arms. When those examples are used, buy Theophylline from canada, Theophylline pills, it seems fairly obvious that acquired characteristics cannot be inherited, but this is probably one of the most predominant misconceptions about evolution among those who accept the theory, where can i buy cheapest Theophylline online. Order Theophylline no prescription, 4. Individuals evolve, Theophylline prices. Buy Theophylline Without Prescription, Evolution does not apply to individuals; populations evolve, not individuals. No matter how hard I concentrate, for instance, I will not manage to evolve the ability to shoot lasers out of my eyes, even though this would be totally sweet. The major products of evolutionary success are the result of successive generations of selection within populations of a species. If laser eyes were to evolve, the trait would not result from an individual one day growing laser eyes nor from laser eyes being evolved in a single-generation and present in a newborn baby. It would presumably take countless generations to evolve the trait, and it would evolve only gradually, perhaps with the intermediates only having glow-in-the-dark eyes. However, before you raise your hopes for our laser-eye future, I must say it is highly unlikely that laser eyes are an evolutionary possibility, as the structure would have to build off the foundations evolution has already laid. It can modify and tinker with existing structures, but not build them anew from scratch, and hence laser eyes probably aren't possible given the eyes we have to work with. At any rate, the misconception about evolving individuals is so prevalent that the TV show Heroes blatantly uses this pseudo-evolutionary explanation to account for the presence of human beings with superpowers ranging from superhuman strength to invincibility. Heroes tries to explain itself with badly maligned biology and poorly understood evolution, but in reality if people were to give birth to children with superpowers, presumably evolved in a single generation, the theory of evolution would topple from being unable to explain such a miraculous occurrence, and Richard Dawkins would be forced to throw his arms into the air and exclaim, "Eh, maybe this God character does exist." I guess what I'm trying to say is that you shouldn't watch Heroes if you understand evolution, because it will only piss you off; and on top of that, it also promotes the age-old innaccuracy of the mad scientist, wherein science is the result of all that is evil. Someone should introduce the producers and writers to a real scientist. They'd probably be surprised that most of them don't laugh maniacally while designing robots to destroy the world. Free Theophylline samples, 5. God directed evolution or helped evolution overcome certain insurmountable hurdles, Theophylline prescriptions. Where can i find Theophylline online, This view, also known as theistic evolution, Theophylline tablets, Delivered overnight Theophylline, is little more than gussied-up creationism that passes for "evolution" in name only, though this semantic trick has swindled more than its fair share of scientists and lay people. In fact, purchase Theophylline online, Buy Theophylline online without a prescription, this is precisely the view of evolution espoused by the well-known Intelligent Design proponent Michael Behe. Behe, being a more sophisticated creationist, online buying Theophylline hcl, Theophylline to buy online, accepts that the evidence for evolution, speciation, buy generic Theophylline, Buy Theophylline without prescription, and even common descent is overwhelming and supports the theory of evolution, but he instead hides his God in whatever evolutionary mechanisms are not fully explained yet. Of course, Theophylline from canadian pharmacy, Theophylline over the counter, as more and more becomes known, the gaps in which his God can hide become few and far between. Currently, Theophylline in us, Where can i buy cheapest Theophylline online, Behe likes to think God can explain resistant malaria, though why an all-loving and perfect being would do that is left without adequate explanation. To put it simply, buy Theophylline without a prescription, Theophylline medication, though many complex structures are present within living organisms, there is no reason to think evolution cannot explain their presence, order Theophylline from United States pharmacy, Theophylline in usa, as the evidence concerning the evolution of many other structures is well known. It is only a small step to conclude that evolution also explains the other complex structures, as we already know it can explain complexity and account for speciation, buy Theophylline online without a prescription, Free Theophylline samples, and because the evidence for common descent is so overwhelming. To try to pawn off the explanation on an untestable supernatural entity is not science, but the practice of shallow dogmatism and wishful thinking, order Theophylline online c.o.d. Delivered overnight Theophylline, 6. Evolution supports eugenics and might-makes-right morality.
Evolution, as a science, is only descriptive, not prescriptive. Simply because we observe something occurring in nature doesn't imply that this is what OUGHT to occur. If, for instance, I observe that my dog continually licks its own anus, this does not cause me to think that licking my own anus would be the right or moral thing to do. Similarly, if I note that evolution is a ruthless process that culls species en masse, leads to astoundingly high rates of extinction, and so on, it doesn't follow that we should adopt extreme laissez-faire capitalism that likewise ruthlessly exploits workers and children, and so on. It is confusing, then, that people will consider evolution, note that creatures not fit for reproductive success die out, and then think that is reason enough to kill segments of the population regarded as "weak" for eugenic purposes. The irony, of course, is the fact that culling a population down to a few select members with a few select features could be evolutionarily disastrous, for if the environment were to change in such a way that those traits were no longer beneficial, we'd all perish. To use a figure of speech, you shouldn't put all your eggs into one basket, and in that sense evolution does not support eugenics at all. It is better to preserve evolutionary diversity, because sometimes what is "weak" in one scenario could be beneficial in another. For instance, though having heterozygous sickle cell alleles leads to terrible consequences in those who have it in America, it can actually be advantageous for those who have the heterozygous allele in regions with malaria epidemics by preventing infection. That is precisely why the sickle cell mutation has spread through the populations in those regions, because presumably it is better to suffer the negative consequences of sickle cell disease and live to reproduce rather than have normal blood cells and succumb to malaria, Buy Theophylline Without Prescription.
7. Radiometric dating is not accurate and does not work, buying Theophylline online over the counter. Theophylline to buy online, Radiometric dating, like any tool, ordering Theophylline online, Where can i order Theophylline without prescription, works well when used correctly but ceases to work when misused. Creationists are fond of claiming that carbon-14 dating does not work by citing specimens in which the dating tool produced flawed results. The problem, of course, real brand Theophylline online, Theophylline price, coupon, is that the creationists produce these flawed results by either deliberately misusing the tool or not understanding how it is meant to be used. If, for instance, Theophylline san diego, Fast shipping Theophylline, I were to proclaim that a stopwatch is never useful in measuring time because whenever I smash it with a hammer it ceases to give the correct result, that would not be a criticism of the use of stopwatches as a tool for measuring time. Obviously, Theophylline overseas, Online buy Theophylline without a prescription, that is because a stopwatch is not supposed to be operated by smashing it with a hammer, and any physicist will tell you that stopwatches don't work in circumstances in which they are hit with hammers. Similarly, Theophylline in australia, Order Theophylline no prescription, creationists like to do silly things like "carbon date" fossils that are completely mineralized and thus contain no carbon, or date fossils found in geological strata that lie outside the range of the particular radioactive clock in question. Basically, buy cheap Theophylline no rx, Buy no prescription Theophylline online, the inconsistent dates that creationists like to give as evidence of the flaws of radiometric dating are actually evidence of the creationists' inability to use a tool properly and in the correct context. It is also important to note that radiometric dating is not used in isolation and can be combined with other methods of dating to double-check its accuracy, like using geological strata, Theophylline in uk, Theophylline pills, tree rings, other present radioactive isotopes, buy cheap Theophylline, and various other dating methods as outside confirmations of the initial results.
8. Microevolution has been proven, but not macroevolution.
Macroevolution has never been directly observed, but that does not mean it is unproven. It is supported by a wide variety of indirect observational evidence, from the hierarchical organization of biological classification, to vestigial and homologous structures and DNA, to biogeographical distribution, to transitional fossils, and to the order in which fossils appear in the historical record. Just as we don't need to have direct observational evidence to solve a murder, but can search for clues and remaining evidence that would result from a murder, so too can scientists justify macroevolution by finding the innumerable lines of evidence that point to such a conclusion. The fact that microevolution and adaptation have been so well documented and observed is also strong evidence of macroevolution, as it isn't any great leap to see that small-scale adaptations could build up to large-scale macroevolution over the course of hundreds of thousands of years. Buy Theophylline Without Prescription, 9. "Weak" organisms, like sloths, should not exist if evolution is true.
Because the mechanism of natural selection is often equated with "the survival of the fittest", it misleads many into thinking that sloths should have long gone extinct, because they barely possess any energy to move faster than one mile per hour. I once saw a video of a sloth crossing a street on YouTube, and it was like watching continental drift, and in fact had the sloth been awkwardly crawling toward the midatlantic ridge, it seems plausible that the drift would exceed the sloth's speed to such a degree that the sloth would be moving backwards. All that aside, it is simply wrong to conceive of evolution as survival of the strongest. Whatever has the capacity to survive, even if it only allows survival by a thin thread, or becomes so specialized to a certain extreme environment that it would be totally useless should the environment change, will spread its genes through a population. When birds live on islands with no natural predators, for instance, selection pressures no longer favor flight as a result, and with enough time these birds often evolve into plump, fat, land-dwelling birds with no defense mechanisms whatsoever. This is because what makes an animal strong or gifted can be very costly. Flight uses up a lot more calories than waddling about on the ground, so in the absence of any predators that necessitate flight (but also a higher caloric intake to maintain such activity), birds on islands will take to living leisurely lives on the ground. With predators and necessary flight, they have to worry about avoiding predation and also finding enough food to maintain the energy for flight, but a bird with no predators doesn't have to worry about flight and thus doesn't have to worry about eating a lot to maintain flight, either. It is thus quite mistaken to think every creature should evolve into some super muscular killing machine with laser eyes and the capacity to fly.
10. Living fossils should not exist if evolution is true.
Evolution does not predict that organisms will necessarily continue to evolve. They tend to continually evolve only because it is quite difficult to survive and because habitats tend to gradually change with time. But many creatures, the so-called living fossils, undergo relatively little phenotypic change over the course of millions of years. This is because they are so well adapted that little change is necessary to ensure survival. It makes sense that evolution would not try to fix an organism that is not already broken, because random mutations rarely bestow any sort of beneficial change (most are benign) and thus evolution is not quite expert at "fixing" organisms with any proficiency (this explains why most end up extinct) . Of course, it is important to remember that though many of these living fossils may appear phenotypically identical to ancient ancestors, it is unlikely that they have not experienced any sort of evolution. Changes in their DNA, for instance, have surely accumulated---changes that may not result in any obvious outward change of appearance. If a creature develops a mutation that affects its inner organs or blood, for instance, that won't be outwardly apparent, and it would be difficult to tell whether these changes were present in the ancestors because soft tissues don't easily fossilize. In short, the existence of living fossils is perfectly compatible with evolution and even expected if such creatures were so successful that few selection pressures are exerted on them that necessitate any phenotypic changes.
These are ten of the most common misconceptions about evolution. There are surely more, but as you can see, many of the misconceptions are based on overlapping errors. These misunderstandings must be corrected if we wish to see evolution eventually accepted by the general populace, and if we wish to be taken seriously as a scientifically literate people.
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10 comments
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Liew
25 March, 2009 at 7:55 PM (UTC -6) Link to this comment
I love you. So, so much.
Brad4d
26 March, 2009 at 8:23 AM (UTC -6) Link to this comment
..evolution is in the WAY humans respond to relative paradoxymorons..staying balanced is the only way to aVOID falling into abyss
Tomte
27 March, 2009 at 3:24 PM (UTC -6) Link to this comment
“guess what I’m trying to say is that you shouldn’t watch Heroes if you understand evolution, because it will only piss you off;”
This is just stupid. I have a decent enough understanding to not learn anything new from your list – although I did appreciate the read – but I like Heroes either way.
If you let bad science get to you in a FANTASY TV series based on a comic, then you probably should loosen up a bit.
It’s just annoying that you turn from a perfectly fine rant on how evolution actually works to bashing a good fantasy show.
Saint Gasoline
27 March, 2009 at 5:24 PM (UTC -6) Link to this comment
If the TV show is fantasy, then they shouldn’t invoke reality as an explanation (i.e., evolution). You may not have learned anything from the list, but there are a ton of people out there who believe a wide assortment of the things presented there. Most discouraging is that a lot of the people who accept these misconceptions are those who believe in evolution. So even though only about 40% of people accept evolution in America, that number is presumably lower because most of them probably adhere to some sort of theistic, supernatural interventionist evolution a la Michael Behe, and even more don’t even understand evolution fully.
And if Heroes helps contribute to that misunderstanding, then fuck them!
Also, I have to admit, in order to disclose my bias, that I’d hate Heroes even if it didn’t misuse evolution. I think it’s a horrible show even without that!
Engineer-Poet
28 March, 2009 at 10:14 PM (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Instead of decrying the boobs
Who write all the scripts for the rubes
Consider it clever
That it’s smart to never
Watch any junk on the tubes.
How to Get Six Pack Fast
15 April, 2009 at 10:11 AM (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Hey, cool tips. Perhaps I’ll buy a bottle of beer to the person from that forum who told me to visit your site
The Baldchemist
26 April, 2009 at 1:09 PM (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Its only 40% because the other 60% cant read or don’t care because an American didn’t discover it.
Sorry about the lack of punctuation I’m writing on a foreign machine and cant find the correct keys.
Nice article by the way, ill look out for you in the future. Might even send something when i get back to an English key board.
Take care and have as much fun as possible. the Baldchemist
Ah ha Found the bloody spell checker! English English.
Michael Toth
26 April, 2009 at 6:39 PM (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Great article! I came across this while stumbling and I agree with everything you’ve said here. I wrote a similar article several months back. It is frustrating how so many misconceptions about this have become mainstream.
Chris
26 April, 2009 at 7:14 PM (UTC -6) Link to this comment
You have one of your facts wrong. You point out in number 5 that people that believe that God directed evolution and helped it through insurmountable hurdles is called Theistic Evolution. This is incorrect. That belief is called Intelligent Design.
I believe in Theistic Evolution. I believe in God, and in the Big Bang and in Evolution. I believe that God set the basic rules for the universe, and, being outside of time, knew that the basic rules He created would eventually lead to our current situation.
The idea of Intelligent Design is flawed. Proponents of Intelligent Design believe that God is perfect, yet at the same time, believe that God could not create a perfect system. They believe that evolution couldn’t work on its own, and that God had to help it along when the system failed.
Those that believe in Theistic Evolution believe in the scientific viewpoint on evolution.
If you’d like to read a great book on the subject, check out The Language of God, by Francis S. Collins. Dr. Collins headed up the Human Genome Project, and is very well respected in scientific communities.
tsad jatko
12 March, 2010 at 9:28 PM (UTC -6) Link to this comment
You forgot the most important misconception…that evolution is fact – actually although certain aspects of evolutionary theory do occur like natural selection, there is so much contradictory evidence to the theory of evolution as most understand it that any scientist who is honest (that would exclude mainstream scientists like those implicated in the climate-gate scandal and others of that ilk) would not even entertain it as a valid theory, let alone fact (“fact”which is what mainstream science today and the media would have us believe).