nique writes:
Yeh i dont think we could adapt that quickly, lol. Is there a rate at which evolution occurs, i realise it can take millions of years, but how quickly can an organism evolve, and is there any proof of it.
Actually, adaptation can happen very quickly. You have to keep in mind that like evolution happens for populations of organisms so does adaptation. A good example would be to think about ourselves. Humans have evolved over quite some time. During this time some people have developed and inherited a delta32 mutation. If your mother has a delta32 mutation and your father has a delta32 mutation you will inherit a double delta32 mutation. This will make you immune to AIDS. Some people have this mutation as we speak. If a drastic selection pressure were to hit us, like some kind of hyper AIDS epidemic, then everyone without the double delta32 mutation would die. The remaining population of humans would be immune as would their offspring. This means that humans will have evolved to survive that selection pressure. Evolution may take a long time, but adaptation can be forced rather quickly.
nique writes:
And also if a population all acquires the same learned behaviour and passed that onto their children is that evolution, or is evolution only changes in genes.
Evolution has become a catch all word. I’ve seen people talk about the evolution of language, evolution of the universe, or evolution of cars before. What is generally talked about in a venue such as this is biological evolution. That has to do with genetics.
"I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours."
-- Stephen Roberts
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