...Natural Selection is the scientific theory first proposed by English Naturalist, Charles Darwin as an explanation for evolution. Darwin first became aware of the capability of this theory when he studied variation in plants and animals during a five-year voyage around the world in the 19th century. He noticed whilst in the Galapagos Islands that the habitat of certain finches on the island changed their physical characteristics. Darwin mainly focused on the shape of the finches beak according to their habitat, concluding that even though the finch had a common ancestor, their beak shaped evolved according the foods that they ate in their habitat. He continued the development of this theory by studying hundreds more plants and animals than on...
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...Humans are believed to be the most evolved species on the planet, but a recent study has concluded that humans actually have quite primitive hands compared to the hands of the chimpanzee, our closest cousin on the evolutionary tree. Challenging Darwin’s Theory of Evolution In what is being considered the best challenge to Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, scientists from the United States and Spain have declared that the humans might just have more primitive hands than chimpanzees. Their research found that human hands are still very similar to the hands of the last ancestor shared by humans and chimpanzees, which goes back as far as 6 million years. On the contrary, chimpanzees have evolved and no longer have the same primitive hands that humans possess today, suggesting that humans hands are much more primitive than previously thought and did not develop through the selective processes of evolution and the development of stone tool making. The Primitive Hands of Humans...
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...Background Information Charles Robert Darwin was a famed British naturalist, geologist and biologist who brought many fascinating ideas to the world of science and was credited for laying the foundations of the theory of evolution by natural selection, converting the views of many on the natural world. Darwin was born on the 12th February 1809 in the city of Shrewsbury, England and was the second youngest of six children. His father, Robert Darwin, was a physician and his grandfather, Erasmus Darwin was a distinguished botanist and philosopher. His mother, Susanna Wedgewood died when he was eight years old. Darwin was married to his first cousin, Emma Wedgewood for 43 years and had ten children. Education On October 1825, Charles Darwin applied...
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...some to be more familiar to others. This realization that there were similar species roaming the earth led to his theory of natural selection. On one of his journeys to the Galapagos Islands, Charles Darwin began to study finches, a bird found on many of the different islands. To his discovery he recognized that some of the finches had bigger beaks than others. He went on to find that the different islands had different types of living conditions and food resources. Due to the different food Charles concluded that there was a reason these birds were almost similar in size but their beaks were completely...
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...In this world, there is a continuous debate on how the world actually began. This is due to the mysteries that humans have and questioning about life. There are clearly to opposing viewpoint. One that promotes evolution, and the other that promotes creationism. However, the main question most people ask themselves is, which one is actually true? The following reflect two different point of views. What is Darwin's Theory of Evolution? In this article, the author explains and defines the evolution. According to the text, the theory of evolution began after Charles Darwin published his first book in 1859 (Than, 2015). This resulted in giving the world a different perspective and thought about how humanity actually began. Darwin mentioned that evolution happened through a process called natural selection. This stated that over time the organism begins to have different changes in order to adapt to his or her environment (Than, 2015). Later, these changes were heritable and permitted the descendants to live better and survive in the present environment (Than, 2015)....
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...Evolution plays a major part in today; it provides a vast amount of information of the reproduction of animals and organism. Evolution is the process of which different kinds of living organisms are believed to have developed from recent and earlier forms during the history and past of the earth. There are many theories of evolution from many different scientists but the two most well-known theories are by Charles Darwin and Jean Baptise Lamarck. Charles Darwin: Charles Darwin was born in 1809. He used the term “Decent with modification” to explain his proposed theory of “Natural Selection”. He stated that all species evolved from species in the past. Organisms change through time, usually slowly and can evolve overtime to become a new species. He had a large amount of useful...
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...Charles Darwin wrote one of the most influential pieces of work of all time, “The Origin of Species” on his theory of natural selection. The voyage to South America, Australia, the Pacific Ocean and more specifically the Galápagos Islands on the H.M.S Beagle offered the prefect environment for Darwin to develop his theory and explore within his own scientific investigations. Although studying the natural environment in England could deliver similar observations regarding variances in species and the subtle yet on-going geological changed over long periods of time, it is reasonable to argue that the total enterprise experienced by Charles Darwin would not have been realized to the same magnitude as occurred on the voyage as compared to studying in England....
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...similar distances from the source area. Data table—compiled with other groups* Table 1: Island Biogeography Lab Data (fill this in) | Close (2m) | Middle (3m) | Far (4m) | Small (0.25 m2) | 1 | 3 | NA | Medium (.5m2) | 10 | 10 | 6 | Large (1.0 m2) | 15 | 16 | 16 | Graph for ONE simulation—for YOUR GROUPDATA---include title, label axes, write legend (i.e.-medium island at 3M supports 12 species) Legend: The linear trend lines did not intersect. Therefore, data is not available. Questions Based on your data and personal observations, answer the following questions. 1. Does your data support the basic theory of island biogeography? Explain why or why not. * When increasing the island size, the data supports the basic theory of island biogeography. With regards to the distance factor, the data does not support this theory because there is not a steady increase of distance; the distance measurements are very scattered. 2. How does competition affect number of species present on an island? * Competition affects the number of species present on an island because they are constantly competing for food and resources in order to survive. In general, competition leads to a high number of one species over other species who are competing for the same resources. 3. Do you think (hypothesize) that these bird species would...
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...Evolution of Finches on Darwin and Wallace Islands INTRODUCTION The Evolution Lab simulates environmental situations to determine effects on evolution over periods of time. This lab experiments with the evolution of finches on two different islands over 100, 200, and 300 years. By manipulating parameters that influence natural selection, the effects that natural selection have on the evolution process can be studied. HYPOTHESES • The size of the island will influence the population. • The amount of precipitation will influence beak size. • The larger the clutch the higher the population over time MATERIALS The materials needed for this experiment consist of a computer and access to the Evolution Lab on the University of Phoenix student website. In the Evolution Lab there are two islands, Darwin Island and Wallace Island. There are seven variables that can be changed to run many different experiments on both islands. The variables are beak size, variance of beak size, heritability, clutch size, island size, population, and precipitation. MATERIALS AND METHODS The Evolution Lab provides many variables. The user can change the following: beak size, variance of beak size in the population, heritability of the mid parent beak size, clutch size, island size, population of the finches to start the experiment, and precipitation on the island as it affects the hardness of seeds.. All of the numerous combinations of variables, set for two different islands lends...
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...Darwin, the most notable naturalist, collected, studied, and classified many organisms that no one in Europe had ever seen. His study of this amazing variety of organisms led him to develop his theory of ‘Natural Selection’, which explains how population evolve and how new species develop. According to the natural selection proposed by Darwin, in any population, there exists variation and an unequal ability of individuals to survive and reproduce, and only the best fir individuals survive and get to pass on their traits to offspring, known as survival of the fittest. Until 1845 in England, most pepper moth were light colored and few dark individuals could be found. With increasing industrialization, smoke and soot polluted the environment,...
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...Darwin studied types of plants and animals after his voyage to the Galapagos islands. He learned that some of the organisms were the same organism but with different traits and some of the organisms were adapted to the environment.The research supports Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection by teaching him that some organisms must adapt to different environments and reproduce. The ones that don't die off and the ones that have adapted to the changes reproduce and make more adapted organisms until all of the un-adapted organisms die and are replaced by the adapted ones until the next environmental change were all the organisms that were adapted to the old environment have to adapt or die if they adapt they reproduce to make more offspring...
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...Galileo "Whereas Galileo spent his last days under house arrest and was formally condemned by the Church for his scientific views, the elder Darwin was widely respected by the Anglican Church and was buried at the Westminster Abbey, an honor reserved for only the most illustrious personages of Great Britain. The reason for the two scientists' very different fortunes is simple: Galileo couldn't prove the Copernican hypothesis but Darwin was able to demonstrate the truth of his theory of evolution." In the world of Galileo proof was what was needed to succeed with a scientific hypothesis. In the world of Darwin proof was not needed for a scientific hypothesis to succeed. There were many differences in the worlds of these two great scientists that lead to the reaction to their respective scientific hypothesize. It was not their beliefs alone that led to their peer's views it was also the way each of them conducted themselves. Galileo worked his way to become a respected scientist by most of the intellectual community but he was also despised by many because of his background and because of his attitude towards others. Darwin was well respected by the intellectual community, but the difference was the way they conducted themselves when they were dealing with their hypothesizes. Galileo's Hypothesis Galileo was well known for standing up for what he believed in and pushing the things he wanted. He was constantly writing letters and engaging in debates over...
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...While it is clear that Richard Dawkins and Charles Darwin agree upon science, there is one factor in which neither of them can see completely eye to eye, religion. The theory of evolution brings up multiple questions of whether or not there is any legitimacy to the concept of religion, especially that of a polytheistic view of God such as Christianity.With these theories being popular during Darwin’s time period it is easy to believe that Charles believed in God. In Darwin's Theory of Evolution by Nelson Bridgford this idea is supported by analyzing that “Evolution's biggest rival is creationism. Creationism is a religious belief that a higher being created the world and all that resides within it. This theory completely opposes Darwin's theory, which cites no divine intervention.” Now in more modern times there are more skeptical views giving people an understanding of why Dawkins is a non-believer in God coworking with his scientific views. From Richard Dawkins and God it is states that “Dawkins seems to believe that if people could be persuaded to give up the God Hypothesis on scientific grounds, the world would be a better place -- not just intellectually, but also morally and...
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...Intelligent Design is somewhat based off the existences or occurrences that have not yet been explained by man. This thought process is undoubtedly contradictory to Darwinism theories on evolution. Dr. Bawazar’s theories are based on research which, “aims to utilize droplet microfluidics to advance studies of solution-based mineralization and to develop new biomimetic materials engineering strategies… inspired by living organisms, such as bones, teeth, and seashells.” (www.youtube.com). Regardless if Dr. Bawazar’s theories on genetic evolution prove to be true in the future, I believe that “research” aspect alone is more closely rooted with Intelligent Design because there is an unknown, or from religious views a “supernatural” element involved with his process. On the other side of the spectrum, Charles Darwin’s (Darwinism) theories are engrained by the scientific process of natural selection. As Edward Wilson writes in Intelligent Evolution, natural selection “states simply that if a population of organisms contains multiple hereditary variants in some trait, and if one of these variants succeeds in contributing more offspring to the next generation than the other variants, the overall composition of the population changes, and evolution has occurred.” (The Norton Reader, pg 950). Given Darwin’s theory of natural selection, there is no way that Intelligent Design can fit into the equation. As Wilson goes onto explain, “Many who accept the fact of evolution cannot, however...
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...Critical Analysis Paper The functionalist theory has affected psychology for many years to come. Many psychologists have backed this theory many centuries ago. The purpose of this paper is to describe the functionalist theory, compare the work of three theorists, and analyze one contribution of each of theorist’s findings. Functionalism began in the late 19th century. Functionalism was strongly influenced by Darwin’s doctrine of evolution (Olson & Hergenhahn, 2009). The many ideas and thoughts of functionalism originated in the United States. Functionalism is the utility of consciousness and behavior in adjusting to the environment (Olson & Hergenhahn, 2009). Theorists mainly focused on how behavior is affected by the environment. One of the main theorists during the functionalist movement was John Dewey. He was a historicist and a genetic psychologist. He had a different perspective on theories because he was a historicist and a genetic psychologist. Dewey believed that humans develop through distinct, observable stages of consciousness that correspond with the intellectual development of the race. Therefore, Dewey's inductionist and social constructivist stages are subsumed within his overall developmental scheme, the inductionist stage necessarily precedes the social constructivist stage, and the social constructivist stage necessarily incorporates the inductionist stage (Fallace, 2010, pg. 129) This alone set Dewey aside from other theorists. He made great advances...
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