My overall view from this boards.

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Originally posted by Matt:

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Originally posted by Luis_H:
Darwin's theory has helped us so much. Especially in medical science. I don't where we, as a human race, would be if the theory of natural selection hadn't been applied to medicine.

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Please explain to all of us where "evolution" has anything to do with medical science. I would really like to know.

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I just couldn't resist. Let me give you something to research a bit while I'm traveling for the next week or so:1. Eukaryote mitochondria contains ribosomes that are totally different from ribosomes in the rest of the cell.2. Mitochondrial ribosmes show sequence homology with bacterial ribosomes (specifically, Rikettsia).3. Evolutionary theory explaining this fact, specifically serial endosymbiosis theory (SET), states that around a billion or so years ago mitochondria were free-living bacteria that were internalized by other prokaryotes.If mitochondrial ribosomes are in fact related to bacterial ribosomes, this has significant implications for medicine, as antibacterial drugs that operate by inhibiting bacterial ribosomes would effect normal cellular ribosomes the same way.As an example:

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Chloramphenicol blocks protein synthesis by bacterial and most mitochondrial ribosomes, but not by cytoplasmic ribosomes. Conversely, cyclohexamide inhibits protein synthesis by eukaryotic cytolasmic ribosomes but does not affect protein synthesis by mitochondrial ribosomes or bacterial ribosomes. (Lodish, Molecular Cell Biology, 3d ed.)

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Using evolutionary theory, researchers can design drugs that target bacteria, but that don't ALSO target our own mitochondria. Without knowledge of evolution, a drug that kills bacteria could as easily kill us by interfering with our own mitochondria!See you in a week.

So TB: If "kind" is exactly identical to family, are mongooses and civets the same kind? Are antelope, cows, sheep, wildebeest, impala and goats the same kind? Are tigers, snow leopards, lions, cheetahs, margay, puma, jaguar and domestic cats the same kind? ? Even less obviously, are all carnivorous plants the same kind? No creationist yet spawned has been able to provide an operational definition or a replicatable method of determining what constitutes a kind.Further to your contention, I'd appreciate it if you would answer the question I've posed twice now: what gene families specifically differentiate between kinds? IOW, what family (or families) represents the alleged taxic discontinuity? What is the specific gene family that separates Felidae from Canidae, for example? To be able to show evidence for your argument, you need to cite specifics. In addition, no member of this family — no gene — can be shared between kinds or the whole thing falls apart. If you can’t provide specifics, all you're doing is handwaving: you believe there’s a difference, but have nothing to back up your contention.[This message has been edited by Quetzal, 09-12-2002]