Does evolving from a living thing such as a tiny cell sound crazy? The theory of evolution, in basic terms, speculates that all life is related and has descended from a common ancestor. The theory of evolution and survival of the fittest has been around since the time of the ancient Greeks and maybe earlier. Evolution has provided people of the world with an explanation of how everyone and everything got here. Although, this theory has sparked a lot of debate, the factual side of evolution is quite interesting.
Contrary to popular belief, Charles Darwin was not the first person to come up with evolution. It’s been around for many centuries. For example, Mark Felix (170-250 AD) and Lactantious (260-330 AD) were believers in evolution way before Darwin existed, along with many other people. For many years, scientists have kept researching and examining what would have to happen in order for evolution to occur. Could it be true?
Evolution is not something that happened over night, it happened over millions of years. A species evolves by the process of natural selection, or survival of the fittest. Whichever organism is better fitted to its environment and way of life, will survive and pass on the genes necessary to survive. Many researchers and scientists have seen this happen, such as Charles Darwin.
There are very many theories of how evolution occurs. For example, there’s evolution by natural selection. This means that nature selects the weakest organisms with no beneficial mutations and they are killed of while stronger ones survive. There’s also common descent, which means that organisms are descended from one or a lot of common ancestors and have diversified from the original. Next, there is gradualism which means evolutio...
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However, it was Darwin that formalized the theory, and presented the most convincing case for the theory. Charles Darwin was born on the 12th of February 1809 (incidentally, the same day and year as Abraham Lincoln), in Shrewsbury, England. He had a privileged upbringing, and enjoyed science - particularly biology. He graduated from Cambridge University in 1831, and on December the 27th of that year, he set off for a five-year journey aboard the Beagle, a ship bound for South America. His voyage was long and eventful, including once, in Chile, encountering both an earthquake and a tidal wave in a single day!
Evolution in general, is a hard concept to grasp. There are multiple factors that effect the outcome a species, for example: genetics, nurture, nature, and the environment all play an important role. It was once said that species do not survive due to the fact that they are the strongest or the most intelligent, but because that species is the most responsive to change.
What is evolution and how does it work? Evolution is the theory of how one form of life changes into another form. Evolution also is the change in a population’s inherited traits from generation to generation. Evolution helps to explain why an animal, human, and plant looks the way it does and acts the way it does; it gives an explanation of the history of life. Genes come in many varieties, and the evolution helps to make it happen.
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The evolutionary theory is the concept that species evolve over time through the mechanism of natural selection of survival and reproduction. Natural selection means acting on the assumption that various living organisms were produced by genetic diversity and mutation. The evolution theory may also be referred to as the philosophizing science. This theory states that all phenomena are derived from natural causes and can be explained by scientific laws without reference to a plan or purpose.
Survival of the fittest. This idea, also known as Darwinism, was theorized by scientist Charles Darwin to explain the evolution of animal species. In the late 1800s, however, the idea of Social Darwinism emerged and applied the same concepts of Darwinism but on humans not animals. As defined by the dictionary, Social Darwinism is a belief, popular in the late Victorian era throughout the world, which states that the strongest or toughest should survive and flourish in society, while the weak and unfit should be allowed to die (“Social” 1). Science fiction writer H.G. Wells lived when the ideas of Social Darwinism were at their peak. He was able to see firsthand what effects Social Darwinism had on the world, and he was by no means impressed. By examining the different critical lenses of The Time Machine, the reader can see how H.G. Wells warns how the adverse effects of Social Darwinism are endangering the future of humanity.
Charles Darwin, the English naturalist and geologist is attributed and accredited for his theory of evolution. His theory of evolution is based on the premise that strong heritable traits help individuals to survive in adverse and inimical environments.
Biological evolution is the name for the changes in gene frequency in a population of a species from generation to generation. Evolution offers explanation to why species genetically change over years and the diversity of life on Earth. Although it is generally accepted by the scientific community, Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution has been studied and debated for several decades. In 1859, Darwin published On The Origin of Species, which introduced the idea of evolutionary thought which he supported with evidence of one type of evolutionary mechanism, natural selection. Some of the main mechanisms of evolution are natural selection, mutation, and genetic drift. The idea that all life on Earth shares a common ancestor has been around for a long time but has risen to significance in society over the last two centuries.
Without evolution, and the constant ever changing environment, the complexity of living organisms would not be as it is. Evolution is defined as a process that results in heritable changes in a population spread over many generations (8).Scientists believe in the theory of evolution. This belief is based on scientific evidence that corroborates the theory of evolution. In Figure 1 the pictures of the skulls depict the sequence of the evolution of Homo-sapiens. As the figure shows, man has evolved from our common ancestor that is shared by homo-sapiens. The change of diet of homo-sapiens over time has thought to contribute to the change in jaw structure and overall skull shape.