evolution essay

Introductory essay

Written by the educator who created What Makes Us Human?, a brief look at the key facts, tough questions and big ideas in his field. Begin this TED Study with a fascinating read that gives context and clarity to the material.

As a biological anthropologist, I never liked drawing sharp distinctions between human and non-human. Such boundaries make little evolutionary sense, as they ignore or grossly underestimate what we humans have in common with our ancestors and other primates. What's more, it's impossible to make sharp distinctions between human and non-human in the paleoanthropological record. Even with a time machine, we couldn't go back to identify one generation of humans and say that the previous generation contained none: one's biological parents, by definition, must be in the same species as their offspring. This notion of continuity is inherent to most evolutionary perspectives and it's reflected in the similarities (homologies) shared among very different species. As a result, I've always been more interested in what makes us similar to, not different from, non-humans.

Evolutionary research has clearly revealed that we share great biological continuity with others in the animal kingdom. Yet humans are truly unique in ways that have not only shaped our own evolution, but have altered the entire planet. Despite great continuity and similarity with our fellow primates, our biocultural evolution has produced significant, profound discontinuities in how we interact with each other and in our environment, where no precedent exists in other animals. Although we share similar underlying evolved traits with other species, we also display uses of those traits that are so novel and extraordinary that they often make us forget about our commonalities. Preparing a twig to fish for termites may seem comparable to preparing a stone to produce a sharp flake—but landing on the moon and being able to return to tell the story is truly out of this non-human world.

Humans are the sole hominin species in existence today. Thus, it's easier than it would have been in the ancient past to distinguish ourselves from our closest living relatives in the animal kingdom. Primatologists such as Jane Goodall and Frans de Waal, however, continue to clarify why the lines dividing human from non-human aren't as distinct as we might think. Goodall's classic observations of chimpanzee behaviors like tool use, warfare and even cannibalism demolished once-cherished views of what separates us from other primates. de Waal has done exceptional work illustrating some continuity in reciprocity and fairness, and in empathy and compassion, with other species. With evolution, it seems, we are always standing on the shoulders of others, our common ancestors.

Primatology—the study of living primates—is only one of several approaches that biological anthropologists use to understand what makes us human. Two others, paleoanthropology (which studies human origins through the fossil record) and molecular anthropology (which studies human origins through genetic analysis), also yield some surprising insights about our hominin relatives. For example, Zeresenay Alemsegad's painstaking field work and analysis of Selam, a 3.3 million-year old fossil of a 3-year-old australopithecine infant from Ethiopia, exemplifies how paleoanthropologists can blur boundaries between living humans and apes.

Selam, if alive today, would not be confused with a three-year-old human—but neither would we mistake her for a living ape. Selam's chimpanzee-like hyoid bone suggests a more ape-like form of vocal communication, rather than human language capability. Overall, she would look chimp-like in many respects—until she walked past you on two feet. In addition, based on Selam's brain development, Alemseged theorizes that Selam and her contemporaries experienced a human-like extended childhood with a complex social organization.

Fast-forward to the time when Neanderthals lived, about 130,000 – 30,000 years ago, and most paleoanthropologists would agree that language capacity among the Neanderthals was far more human-like than ape-like; in the Neanderthal fossil record, hyoids and other possible evidence of language can be found. Moreover, paleogeneticist Svante Pääbo's groundbreaking research in molecular anthropology strongly suggests that Neanderthals interbred with modern humans. Paabo's work informs our genetic understanding of relationships to ancient hominins in ways that one could hardly imagine not long ago—by extracting and comparing DNA from fossils comprised largely of rock in the shape of bones and teeth—and emphasizes the great biological continuity we see, not only within our own species, but with other hominins sometimes classified as different species.

Though genetics has made truly astounding and vital contributions toward biological anthropology by this work, it's important to acknowledge the equally pivotal role paleoanthropology continues to play in its tandem effort to flesh out humanity's roots. Paleoanthropologists like Alemsegad draw on every available source of information to both physically reconstruct hominin bodies and, perhaps more importantly, develop our understanding of how they may have lived, communicated, sustained themselves, and interacted with their environment and with each other. The work of Pääbo and others in his field offers powerful affirmations of paleoanthropological studies that have long investigated the contributions of Neanderthals and other hominins to the lineage of modern humans. Importantly, without paleoanthropology, the continued discovery and recovery of fossil specimens to later undergo genetic analysis would be greatly diminished.

Molecular anthropology and paleoanthropology, though often at odds with each other in the past regarding modern human evolution, now seem to be working together to chip away at theories that portray Neanderthals as inferior offshoots of humanity. Molecular anthropologists and paleoanthropologists also concur that that human evolution did not occur in ladder-like form, with one species leading to the next. Instead, the fossil evidence clearly reveals an evolutionary bush, with numerous hominin species existing at the same time and interacting through migration, some leading to modern humans and others going extinct.

Molecular anthropologist Spencer Wells uses DNA analysis to understand how our biological diversity correlates with ancient migration patterns from Africa into other continents. The study of our genetic evolution reveals that as humans migrated from Africa to all continents of the globe, they developed biological and cultural adaptations that allowed for survival in a variety of new environments. One example is skin color. Biological anthropologist Nina Jablonski uses satellite data to investigate the evolution of skin color, an aspect of human biological variation carrying tremendous social consequences. Jablonski underscores the importance of trying to understand skin color as a single trait affected by natural selection with its own evolutionary history and pressures, not as a tool to grouping humans into artificial races.

For Pääbo, Wells, Jablonski and others, technology affords the chance to investigate our origins in exciting new ways, adding pieces into the human puzzle at a record pace. At the same time, our technologies may well be changing who we are as a species and propelling us into an era of "neo-evolution."

Increasingly over time, human adaptations have been less related to predators, resources, or natural disasters, and more related to environmental and social pressures produced by other humans. Indeed, biological anthropologists have no choice but to consider the cultural components related to human evolutionary changes over time. Hominins have been constructing their own niches for a very long time, and when we make significant changes (such as agricultural subsistence), we must adapt to those changes. Classic examples of this include increases in sickle-cell anemia in new malarial environments, and greater lactose tolerance in regions with a long history of dairy farming.

Today we can, in some ways, evolve ourselves. We can enact biological change through genetic engineering, which operates at an astonishing pace in comparison to natural selection. Medical ethicist Harvey Fineberg calls this "neo-evolution". Fineberg goes beyond asking who we are as a species, to ask who we want to become and what genes we want our offspring to inherit. Depending on one's point of view, the future he envisions is both tantalizing and frightening: to some, it shows the promise of science to eradicate genetic abnormalities, while for others it raises the specter of eugenics. It's also worth remembering that while we may have the potential to influence certain genetic predispositions, changes in genotypes do not guarantee the desired results. Environmental and social pressures like pollution, nutrition or discrimination can trigger "epigenetic" changes which can turn genes on or off, or make them less or more active. This is important to factor in as we consider possible medical benefits from efforts in self-directed evolution. We must also ask: In an era of human-engineered, rapid-rate neo-evolution, who decides what the new human blueprints should be?

Technology figures in our evolutionary future in other ways as well. According to anthropologist Amber Case, many of our modern technologies are changing us into cyborgs: our smart phones, tablets and other tools are "exogenous components" that afford us astonishing and unsettling capabilities. They allow us to travel instantly through time and space and to create second, "digital selves" that represent our "analog selves" and interact with others in virtual environments. This has psychological implications for our analog selves that worry Case: a loss of mental reflection, the "ambient intimacy" of knowing that we can connect to anyone we want to at any time, and the "panic architecture" of managing endless information across multiple devices in virtual and real-world environments.

Despite her concerns, Case believes that our technological future is essentially positive. She suggests that at a fundamental level, much of this technology is focused on the basic concerns all humans share: who am I, where and how do I fit in, what do others think of me, who can I trust, who should I fear? Indeed, I would argue that we've evolved to be obsessed with what other humans are thinking—to be mind-readers in a sense—in a way that most would agree is uniquely human. For even though a baboon can assess those baboons it fears and those it can dominate, it cannot say something to a second baboon about a third baboon in order to trick that baboon into telling a fourth baboon to gang up on a fifth baboon. I think Facebook is a brilliant example of tapping into our evolved human psychology. We can have friends we've never met and let them know who we think we are—while we hope they like us and we try to assess what they're actually thinking and if they can be trusted. It's as if technology has provided an online supply of an addictive drug for a social mind evolved to crave that specific stimulant!

Yet our heightened concern for fairness in reciprocal relationships, in combination with our elevated sense of empathy and compassion, have led to something far greater than online chats: humanism itself. As Jane Goodall notes, chimps and baboons cannot rally together to save themselves from extinction; instead, they must rely on what she references as the "indomitable human spirit" to lessen harm done to the planet and all the living things that share it. As Goodall and other TED speakers in this course ask: will we use our highly evolved capabilities to secure a better future for ourselves and other species?

I hope those reading this essay, watching the TED Talks, and further exploring evolutionary perspectives on what makes us human, will view the continuities and discontinuities of our species as cause for celebration and less discrimination. Our social dependency and our prosocial need to identify ourselves, our friends, and our foes make us human. As a species, we clearly have major relationship problems, ranging from personal to global scales. Yet whenever we expand our levels of compassion and understanding, whenever we increase our feelings of empathy across cultural and even species boundaries, we benefit individually and as a species.

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Zeresenay Alemseged

The search for humanity's roots, relevant talks.

Spencer Wells

A family tree for humanity.

Svante Pääbo

Dna clues to our inner neanderthal.

Nina Jablonski

Skin color is an illusion.

We are all cyborgs now

Harvey Fineberg

Are we ready for neo-evolution.

Frans de Waal

Moral behavior in animals.

Jane Goodall

What separates us from chimpanzees.

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Understanding Evolution

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An introduction to evolution

The definition.

Biological evolution, simply put, is descent with inherited modification. This definition encompasses everything from small-scale evolution (for example, changes in the frequency of different gene versions in a population from one generation to the next) to large-scale evolution (for example, the descent of different species from a shared ancestor over many generations). Evolution helps us to understand the living world around us, as well as its history.

The explanation

Biological evolution is not simply a matter of change over time. Many things change over time: caterpillars turn into moths, trees lose and regrow their leaves, mountain ranges rise and erode, but they aren’t examples of biological evolution because they don’t involve descent with inherited modifications.

All life on Earth shares a common ancestor , just as you and your cousins share a common grandmother. Through the process of descent with modification, this common ancestor gave rise to the diverse species that we see documented in the fossil record and around us today. Evolution means that we’re all distant cousins: humans and oak trees, hummingbirds and whales.

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You can learn lots more about common ancestry in Evo 101: Patterns or in our Tree Room .

Learn about common ancestry in context:

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Find  additional lessons, activities, videos, and articles  that focus on common ancestry.

Reviewed and updated June, 2020.

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• Introduction to Human Evolution

Human evolution

Human evolution is the lengthy process of change by which people originated from apelike ancestors. Scientific evidence shows that the physical and behavioral traits shared by all people originated from apelike ancestors and evolved over a period of approximately six million years.

One of the earliest defining human traits, bipedalism -- the ability to walk on two legs -- evolved over 4 million years ago. Other important human characteristics -- such as a large and complex brain, the ability to make and use tools, and the capacity for language -- developed more recently. Many advanced traits -- including complex symbolic expression, art, and elaborate cultural diversity -- emerged mainly during the past 100,000 years.

Humans are primates. Physical and genetic similarities show that the modern human species, Homo sapiens , has a very close relationship to another group of primate species, the apes. Humans and the great apes (large apes) of Africa -- chimpanzees (including bonobos, or so-called “pygmy chimpanzees”) and gorillas -- share a common ancestor that lived between 8 and 6 million years ago. Humans first evolved in Africa, and much of human evolution occurred on that continent. The fossils of early humans who lived between 6 and 2 million years ago come entirely from Africa.

Most scientists currently recognize some 15 to 20 different species of early humans. Scientists do not all agree, however, about how these species are related or which ones simply died out. Many early human species -- certainly the majority of them – left no living descendants. Scientists also debate over how to identify and classify particular species of early humans, and about what factors influenced the evolution and extinction of each species.

Early humans first migrated out of Africa into Asia probably between 2 million and 1.8 million years ago. They entered Europe somewhat later, between 1.5 million and 1 million years. Species of modern humans populated many parts of the world much later. For instance, people first came to Australia probably within the past 60,000 years and to the Americas within the past 30,000 years or so. The beginnings of agriculture and the rise of the first civilizations occurred within the past 12,000 years.

Paleoanthropology

Paleoanthropology is the scientific study of human evolution. Paleoanthropology is a subfield of anthropology, the study of human culture, society, and biology. The field involves an understanding of the similarities and differences between humans and other species in their genes, body form, physiology, and behavior. Paleoanthropologists search for the roots of human physical traits and behavior. They seek to discover how evolution has shaped the potentials, tendencies, and limitations of all people. For many people, paleoanthropology is an exciting scientific field because it investigates the origin, over millions of years, of the universal and defining traits of our species. However, some people find the concept of human evolution troubling because it can seem not to fit with religious and other traditional beliefs about how people, other living things, and the world came to be. Nevertheless, many people have come to reconcile their beliefs with the scientific evidence.

Early human fossils and archeological remains offer the most important clues about this ancient past. These remains include bones, tools and any other evidence (such as footprints, evidence of hearths, or butchery marks on animal bones) left by earlier people. Usually, the remains were buried and preserved naturally. They are then found either on the surface (exposed by rain, rivers, and wind erosion) or by digging in the ground. By studying fossilized bones, scientists learn about the physical appearance of earlier humans and how it changed. Bone size, shape, and markings left by muscles tell us how those predecessors moved around, held tools, and how the size of their brains changed over a long time. Archeological evidence refers to the things earlier people made and the places where scientists find them. By studying this type of evidence, archeologists can understand how early humans made and used tools and lived in their environments.

The process of evolution

The process of evolution involves a series of natural changes that cause species (populations of different organisms) to arise, adapt to the environment, and become extinct. All species or organisms have originated through the process of biological evolution. In animals that reproduce sexually, including humans, the term species refers to a group whose adult members regularly interbreed, resulting in fertile offspring -- that is, offspring themselves capable of reproducing. Scientists classify each species with a unique, two-part scientific name. In this system, modern humans are classified as Homo sapiens .

Evolution occurs when there is change in the genetic material -- the chemical molecule, DNA -- which is inherited from the parents, and especially in the proportions of different genes in a population. Genes represent the segments of DNA that provide the chemical code for producing proteins. Information contained in the DNA can change by a process known as mutation. The way particular genes are expressed – that is, how they influence the body or behavior of an organism -- can also change. Genes affect how the body and behavior of an organism develop during its life, and this is why genetically inherited characteristics can influence the likelihood of an organism’s survival and reproduction.

Evolution does not change any single individual. Instead, it changes the inherited means of growth and development that typify a population (a group of individuals of the same species living in a particular habitat). Parents pass adaptive genetic changes to their offspring, and ultimately these changes become common throughout a population. As a result, the offspring inherit those genetic characteristics that enhance their chances of survival and ability to give birth, which may work well until the environment changes. Over time, genetic change can alter a species' overall way of life, such as what it eats, how it grows, and where it can live. Human evolution took place as new genetic variations in early ancestor populations favored new abilities to adapt to environmental change and so altered the human way of life.

Dr. Rick Potts provides a video short introduction to some of the evidence for human evolution, in the form of fossils and artifacts.

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In This Article Expand or collapse the "in this article" section The Evidence of Evolution

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The Evidence of Evolution by Kenneth Olsen LAST REVIEWED: 12 April 2023 LAST MODIFIED: 13 January 2014 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199941728-0031

“ Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution .” This statement, the title of a 1973 essay by the evolutionary biologist Theodosius Dobzhansky (b. 1900–d. 1975), encapsulates the central position that evolution holds in biology. While public understanding and acceptance of evolution is notoriously low, with fewer than half of adults in countries such as the United States and Turkey accepting evolution as fact (J. D. Miller, E. C. Scott, and S. Okamoto, Public acceptance of evolution, Science 313 (2006): 765–766), the overwhelming scientific consensus is that evolution is an incontrovertible component of our planet’s history and ongoing biology. Indeed, virtually all aspects of biology can be viewed in one way or another as providing evidence of evolution. Evolution is what accounts for the signs of shared biological ancestry that appear throughout our natural world, ranging from anatomy and development, to fossils, to genome structure and gene sequences. Evolution also explains the vast number of living species on the planet, as well as their adaptations into different ecological niches. Evolution can be defined as changes in lineages of organisms over successive generations . These changes may be described at the level of genes and genetic variation, or at the level of observable traits (phenotypes). Because evolution is a process that has both shaped the history of life on Earth and continues to operate today, the lines of evidence for evolution outlined in the sections below fall into two general categories: those documenting ongoing or very recent evolution ( Evolution Caused by Human Activity , Evolution in Wild Species , Human Evolution ), and those documenting shared ancestral origins of now-diverged lineages ( Evolution in the Fossil Record , Evidence of Shared Ancestry ).

The citations in this section provide overviews of evolutionary theory and evidence for evolution. Darwin 1859 provides the foundation, albeit incomplete, for all modern evolutionary theory. Because Darwin lacked an understanding of Mendelian inheritance, he was unable to adequately explain how traits favored under natural selection could be differentially transmitted over successive generations. The rediscovery of Mendel’s laws in the early 20th century, and the subsequent integration of Darwin’s theory with population genetics, systematics, paleontology, and other disciplines, led to the “Modern Synthesis” of the mid-20th century. With some modifications (such as to incorporate insights from molecular biology), the Modern Synthesis has continued to provide a basic framework for modern evolutionary theory. Mayr 1982 provides a useful scientific retrospective on the development of the Modern Synthesis. Jacob 1977 is important in articulating the idea that evolution does not create perfect adaptations, but rather generates workable solutions with available genetic and developmental materials. Losos, et al. 2013 provides a scholarly overview of evolutionary theory. With the growth in creationist attacks on evolution in the United States in the last three decades, most contemporary overviews of evolution that are written for nonscientists are oriented to provide counterarguments to creationist objections. Coyne 2009 and Dawkins 2009 provide two such examples. Carroll 2006 focuses specifically on genetic data as evidence, while Sober 2008 develops a formal philosophical argument in support of evolution.

Carroll, S. B. 2006. The making of the fittest: DNA and the ultimate forensic record of evolution . New York: W. W. Norton.

Written for the general audience by one of the foremost researchers in the field of evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo), this book uses lucid writing and accessible examples to explain why DNA provides clear evidence of shared common ancestry and evolution by natural selection.

Coyne, J. A. 2009. Why evolution is true . New York: Viking.

Another work for the general reader, written by an eminent evolutionary geneticist, this book provides an expansive discussion of the many diverse lines of support for evolution and the flaws in creationist arguments.

Darwin, C. 1859. On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or, the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life . London: Murray.

The foundation of evolutionary theory. Chapters 1–4 (pp. 7–130) clearly lay out Darwin’s mechanism of evolution by natural selection. Read the first edition, as later editions include convoluted attempts to describe inheritance.

Dawkins, R. 2009. The greatest show on earth: The evidence for evolution . New York: Free Press.

Not one to suffer fools gladly, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins uses clear writing and colorful examples to illustrate the abundance of evidence for evolution while skewering creationist thinking.

Jacob, F. 1977. Evolution and tinkering. Science 196:1161–1166.

DOI: 10.1126/science.860134

This article is the first to widely introduce the idea that evolution proceeds through the co-option of existing parts for new functions, producing imperfect but workable adaptive solutions. Available online for purchase or by subscription.

Losos, J. B., D. A. Baum, D. J. Futuyma, H. E. Hoekstra, R. E. Lenski, and A. J. Mooreet al., eds. 2013. The Princeton guide to evolution . Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.

Many chapters of this edited volume directly or indirectly provide evidence of evolution. Chapter I.3 (pp. 28–39, “The Evidence for Evolution,” by Gregory C. Mayer) focuses specifically on evidence of evolution.

Mayr, E. 1982. The growth of biological thought: Diversity, evolution, and inheritance . Cambridge, MA: Belknap.

An expansive work by one of the most influential evolutionary biologists of the 20th century. Chapter 12 (pp. 535–570) provides a comprehensive historical account of the development of the Modern Synthesis in the mid-20th century. Chapter 13 (pp. 571–627) examines further 20th-century developments within the paradigm of the Modern Synthesis.

Sober, E. 2008. Evidence and evolution: The logic behind the science . Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.

DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511806285

Written by a philosopher of science, this book explores the epistemological underpinnings of evolutionary theory and flaws in creationist arguments based on intelligent design.

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ENCYCLOPEDIC ENTRY

Theory of evolution.

The theory of evolution is a shortened form of the term “theory of evolution by natural selection,” which was proposed by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace in the nineteenth century.

Biology, Ecology, Earth Science, Geology, Geography, Physical Geography

Young Charles Darwin

Painting of a young Charles Darwin

Photograph by James L. Stanfield

Ideas aimed at explaining how organisms change, or evolve, over time date back to Anaximander of Miletus, a Greek philosopher who lived in the 500s B.C.E. Noting that human babies are born helpless, Anaximander speculated that humans must have descended from some other type of creature whose young could survive without any help. He concluded that those ancestors must be fish, since fish hatch from eggs and immediately begin living with no help from their parents. From this reasoning, he proposed that all life began in the sea.

Anaximander was correct; humans can indeed trace our ancestry back to fish. His idea, however, was not a theory in the scientific meaning of the word, because it could not be subjected to testing that might support it or prove it wrong. In science, the word “ theory ” indicates a very high level of certainty. Scientists talk about evolution as a theory , for instance, just as they talk about Einstein’s explanation of gravity as a theory .

A theory is an idea about how something in nature works that has gone through rigorous testing through observations and experiments designed to prove the idea right or wrong. When it comes to the evolution of life, various philosophers and scientists, including an eighteenth-century English doctor named Erasmus Darwin, proposed different aspects of what later would become evolutionary theory. But evolution did not reach the status of being a scientific theory until Darwin’s grandson, the more famous Charles Darwin, published his famous book On the Origin of Species . Darwin and a scientific contemporary of his, Alfred Russel Wallace, proposed that evolution occurs because of a phenomenon called natural selection .

In the theory of natural selection, organisms produce more offspring than are able to survive in their environment. Those that are better physically equipped to survive, grow to maturity, and reproduce. Those that are lacking in such fitness, on the other hand, either do not reach an age when they can reproduce or produce fewer offspring than their counterparts. Natural selection is sometimes summed up as “survival of the fittest” because the “fittest” organisms—those most suited to their environment—are the ones that reproduce most successfully, and are most likely to pass on their traits to the next generation.

This means that if an environment changes, the traits that enhance survival in that environment will also gradually change, or evolve. Natural selection was such a powerful idea in explaining the evolution of life that it became established as a scientific theory . Biologists have since observed numerous examples of natural selection influencing evolution . Today, it is known to be just one of several mechanisms by which life evolves. For example, a phenomenon known as genetic drift can also cause species to evolve. In genetic drift , some organisms —purely by chance—produce more offspring than would be expected. Those organisms are not necessarily the fittest of their species, but it is their genes that get passed on to the next generation.

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Evolution Resources at the National Academies

Evolution and society.

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Introduction

Science and science-based technologies have transformed modern life. They have led to major improvements in living standards, public welfare, health, and security. They have changed how we view the universe and how we think about ourselves in relation to the world around us.

Biological evolution is one of the most important ideas of modern science. Evolution is supported by abundant evidence from many different fields of scientific investigation. It underlies the modern biological sciences, including the biomedical sciences, and has applications in many other scientific and engineering disciplines.

As individuals and societies, we are now making decisions that will have profound consequences for future generations. How should we balance the need to preserve the Earth's plants, animals, and natural environment against other pressing concerns? Should we alter our use of fossil fuels and other natural resources to enhance the well-being of our descendants? To what extent should we use our new understanding of biology on a molecular level to alter the characteristics of living things?

None of these decisions can be made wisely without considering biological evolution. People need to understand evolution, its role within the broader scientific enterprise, and its vital implications for some of the most pressing social, cultural, and political issues of our time.

Science and technology are so pervasive in modern society that students increasingly need a sound education in the core concepts, applications, and implications of science. Because evolution has and will continue to serve as a critical foundation of the biomedical and life sciences, helping students learn about and understand the scientific evidence, mechanisms, and implications of evolution are fundamental to a high-quality science education.

Science and religion are different ways of understanding. Needlessly placing them in opposition reduces the potential of both to contribute to a better future.

Agriculture

By recovering seeds from different archaeological sites and noticing changes in their characteristics over the centuries, scientists have hypothesized how wheat was altered by humans over time. About 11,000 years ago, people in the Middle East began growing plants for food rather than relying entirely on the wild plants and animals they could gather or hunt. These early farmers began saving seeds from plants with particularly favorable traits and planting those seeds in the next growing season. Through this process of "artificial selection," they created a variety of crops with characteristics particularly suited for agriculture. For example, farmers over many generations modified the traits of wild wheat so that seeds remained on the plant when ripe and could easily be separated from their hulls. Over the next few millennia, people around the world used similar processes of evolutionary change to transform many other wild plants and animals into the crops and domesticated animals we rely on today.

In recent years, plant scientists have begun making hybrids of wheat with some of their wild relatives from the Middle East and elsewhere. Using these hybrids, they have bred wheat varieties that are increasingly resistant to droughts, heat, and pests. Most recently, molecular biologists have been identifying the genes in the DNA of plants that are responsible for their advantageous traits so that these genes can be incorporated into other crops. These advances rely on an understanding of evolution to analyze the relationships among plants and to search for the traits that can be used to improve crops.

Combating New Infectious Diseases

In late 2002 several hundred people in China came down with a severe form of pneumonia caused by an unknown infectious agent. Dubbed "severe acute respiratory syndrome," or SARS, the disease soon spread to Vietnam, Hong Kong, and Canada and led to hundreds of deaths. In March 2003 a team of researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, received samples of a virus isolated from the tissues of a SARS patient. Using a new technology known as a DNA microarray, within 24 hours the researchers had identified the virus as a previously unknown member of a particular family of viruses -- a result confirmed by other researchers using different techniques. Immediately, work began on a blood test to identify people with the disease (so they could be quarantined), on treatments for the disease, and on vaccines to prevent infection with the virus.

An understanding of evolution was essential in the identification of the SARS virus. The genetic material in the virus was similar to that of other viruses because it had evolved from the same ancestor virus. Furthermore, knowledge of the evolutionary history of the SARS virus gave scientists important information about the disease, such as how it is spread. Knowing the evolutionary origins of human pathogens will be critical in the future as existing infectious agents evolve into new and more dangerous forms.

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100 Evolution Essay Topics + Essay Writing Guide

Even though most of us know enough about evolution, finding a good and a unique topic can quickly become a challenge! The trick here is to determine a unique framework for your future paper, so you know what structure to follow to keep up with all the essay writing rules. Looking through the countless Biology and Life Sciences essays of the actual students and reading through essay revisions of college and university professors in our time, I have made a list of 100 excellent evolution essay topics and wrote down all the “Do’s” and “Don’t’s” of evolution essay writing.

Trust me, choosing a good topic becomes much easier when you understand how the evolution works and realize that it deals with much more than explaining how we all got here. It is not only about us, human beings, as evolution also deals with all flora and fauna and the changes that take place in our society. As you read through the topics below, think of evolution as of diversity in nature that provides a framework for the determination of the ways how the species develop their distinguishable differences!

Contents (Clickable)

      What is an Evolution Essay?

Evolution essay is a paper that focuses on any aspect related to the evolution theory and diversity in nature. Since it is a scientific theory that is fundamental for the modern biological theory, an evolution essay also includes the facts, theories, hypotheses, and the history of the evolution theory among other topics. Evolution essay is first and foremost, a scientific work, therefore, it is extremely important to include verified facts, backed up with the help of academic journals and the books with a correct format and the references.

      Evolution and Theory of Evolution

A bit more theory that will help you to understand the topics in a better way! Trust me; I’ll keep it short!

Evolution refers to changes in heritable characteristics in species over successive generations. This process ultimately results in the occurrence of biodiversity (this is the reason why the presence of Biodiversity in your research paper is so important!). In basic terms, evolution is a process that occurs in all species on Earth, which are currently estimated at mind-blowing 2 million . In other words, it means all the species, starting with miniscule bacteria and up to the evolution of human beings.

Theory of evolution refers to a scientific theory that explains the origin of different species by evolution. Charles Darwin is considered to be the father of the theory of evolution and the one behind the foundation of the theory explained in the famous On the Origin of Species book published in 1859.

      Actual Research Essay Examples on Topic!

Before we move on to the list of 100 evolution essay topics, I want to share four actual essay examples related to evolution, biology, and the life sciences, so you can get a better idea about how particular ideas can be implemented in practice for the best results. Looking through our vast essay database written and shared by students, I came up with these diverse examples:

• Global Warming: Fact or Fiction? – Evolution explored through the phenomenon of global warming. Is it a fact or a fiction? This essay’s author came up with an excellent research topic and argumentation!
• Environmental Science Q&A – Here we have an example of environmental issues related to evolution and the changes that we can observe. See how the questions are addressed and how the structure is kept.
• Genetically Modified Food – As surprising as it may be, it is also an issue related to evolution because the microorganisms and the species go through mutation, which is, essentially, an evolution process and a relevant social issue.
• Geographical Characteristics of the Streams in Urban Areas and Forested Areas – see how the changes of evolution impact the geographical aspect in both urban and the forested areas.

As you can see from the examples, evolution is an expansive concept and a field of research, so you do not have to limit yourself with a strict list of biology or microorganisms-related topics. Be creative and try to make your evolution essay feel interesting and inspiring!

     100 Evolution Essay Topics

Let us start with the human evolution, so we can see how broad and many-sided the evolution essay writing can be!

      Human Evolution Essay Topics

• Why do human beings laugh?
• Why did human species develop to be dominant on the planet?
• What distinguishes human brain from the other species?
• Evolution of human eye.
• Why do human beings perceive beauty?
• How does evolution theory explain the existence of language and speech?
• Recent mutations the humans underwent.
• The current mutations humans are going through.
• Geodakyan evolutionary theory of sex.
• Evolution of sexual reproduction.
• Red Queen hypothesis.
• Evolution of human intelligence.
• Evolution of monogamy.
• Evolutionary medicine.
• Social effects of evolutionary theory.
• Evolution of immunity.
• Evolution of the human nervous system.
• Evolution of sex differences in cognition.
• Sexual selection.
• Sexual conflict.
• Host-parasite coevolution in human malaria.
• Variation in evolution.
• Evolutionary stance on art.
• Why did humans start walking on two feet?
• What is the evolutionary benefit of forming the society?
• As you can see from these examples, evolution is not only about biology and the life sciences!

Okay, so you want something more traditional? Here we go below:

      Evolution of Flora and Fauna Essay Topics

• Evolution of dogs/cats/whales/ or any other species of your choice.
• Parallel evolution in the animal kingdom.
• Earliest life forms.
• Cladistics in the animal kingdom.
• Evolutionary ecology of parasites.
• Host-parasite coevolution in animals.
• Evolution of birds.
• An impact of climate on evolution.
• Evolution of fungi.
• The hair evolution.
• Notable cases of adaptation.
• Evolution of mimicry.
• Natural selection in the animal kingdom.
• Co-operation development.
• Early animal evolution.
• Polyps and medusas evolution.
• “Savannah” hypothesis of early bilateral evolution.
• Why the invertebrates became more complex?
• Evolution of the animal genome.
• Early evolution of neurons.
• Plant population genetics and evolution.
• Reconstruction of sexual modes throughout evolution.
• The role of chromosomal change in plant evolution.
• Evolution during the domestication of animals.

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Let’s continue with more biology-related topics!

      Evolutionary Biology Essay Topics

• Gene-centered view.
• Theory of stellar evolution.
• The social impact of evolutionary biology.
• Evolution of multicellular organisms.
• Genetic architecture of adaptation.
• Evolutionary robotics.
• Evolution of cooperation.
• Paleobiology.
• Bayesian inference of phylogeny and its impact on evolutionary biology.
• Evolutionary biology of aging.
• Neuroscience in evolutionary biology.
• Optimality theory.
• Morphometrics.
• Biological conservation.
• Evolutionary biology and ecology.
• Evolutionary biology and immunology.
• Conceptual issues in evolutionary biology.
• Evolutionary biology and population genetics.
• Evolutionary biology and phylogenetics.
• Mathematical models in evolutionary biology.
• The evolutionary perspective on sperm biology.
• Plant speciation.
• Marine speciation.
• Morphological evolution.

      Theory of Evolution Essay Topics

• How did Darwin come up with his theory?
• Theories that can potentially debunk an evolution theory.
• Common misconceptions about evolution that everyone still believes.
• Influence of Darwin’s theory on the science.
• History of evolutionary thought.
• Theories about evolution that existed before Darwin’s “ The Origin of Species”
• Essentialism.
• Tree of Life Concept.
• Are we all related?
• Adaptation theory.
• Lamarck’s theory of evolution.
• Evolution as fact and the theory.
• Somatic selection.
• Synthetic theory of evolution.
• Why is evolution still considered a theory?
• Evolution theory of a social change.
• Evolutionary psychology.
• Mutation theory by De Vries.
• Neo-Darwinism.
• The types of evolutionary theories.
• The contribution of Alfred Wallace in the evolution theory.
• Who should be credited for evolution theory – Wallace or Darwin?
• Objections to evolution theory.
• Proof of evolution.
• How does evolution explain morality?

      How to Write an Evolution Essay

1 Evolution Essay Structure

The structure of an evolution essay is what you should know even before you decide on a topic and there is a good reason for that! There are three major elements that your essay structure should include to make sure that your professor will not decrease your future grade:

• Introduction . It provides the readers with a brief outlook on your topic, your essay structure, the elements included, and the main idea that you want to communicate. It is where your strong thesis statement or an argument go to! Make sure your introduction contains the following:
• A strong hook sentence – an attention-grabbing element that is usually in the first 1-2 sentences of the essay. Since we have to write an essay about the evolution theory, we will choose a scientific fact or refer to an impressive discovery that refers to evolution. A reason why hook should be there is to capture your reader’s interest and attention!
• Overview of your major argument and topic – let the readers know what they are about to find out and learn as they read your evolution essay!
• A brief overview of the essay structure – explain how and in what order you are planning to develop each part of your paper.
• Thesis statement – the main idea or the quintessence of your essay. Make sure to write several thesis statements and choose the one that not only sounds best but the one that you can back up and explain with the help of scientific data and credible references.
• Body paragraph includes the consistent and logical sequence of paragraphs that reveal all the facts and arguments that you use to support your thesis statement.

Make sure to:

• Use verified sources – evolution theory is a scientific theory that has plenty of evidence, so make sure that you include as many credible references as necessary!
• Be logical and consistent – let your readers follow your logic easily. Remember that your audience may differ, so make sure to write a sentence or two that explains your vision and the concepts you are discussing. If it requires more work or a reference to a case study, make sure to include it in your paper.
• Start every paragraph with a topic sentence – it will be much easier for you to write each section if you start writing them with a thesis that reflects the content of the paragraph.
• Explain the facts included in the essay – demonstrate your understanding of the facts you use in the essay and their relevance to the main topic and thesis statement
• Avoid plagiarism – copying someone else’s work without reference is not cool while using numerous sources to support your thought with an academic claim is entirely another thing that makes your essay look credible and professional!
• Conclusion part is where you summarize the whole essay without the introduction of any new ideas . Remind your readers of the most important facts and the findings they should remember when they are done reading your essay. Restate your thesis statement in other words to make the essay sound logical and integrated.

2 Argumentative Essay on Evolution Writing Tricks

When you have to write an argumentative essay on evolution, there are some writing tricks that you should mind to avoid trouble with your paper and impress your college or university professor.

• Include your own opinion on an issue that you discuss – an argumentative essay requires having your own stance on a problem or what most college professors call “a voice of the writer.” Ask yourself about how can YOU contribute to the issue since it is your paper and it has to stand out!
• Defend your view on the issue using as many verified facts as you can!
• Include the viewpoints that oppose yours – and prove them wrong . Do so with the facts and use strong reasoning.
• Do not simply restate thesis statement in conclusion , but readdress it using the evidence you accumulated through the body paragraphs.
• Use classic 5-paragraph essay format (if you are not required to do otherwise) – Introduction, 3 Body Paragraphs, and Conclusion. Such an approach will help you to see where all that information belongs!

      Evolution Essay “Do’s and Dont’s”

• Research your facts, the background of the issue, and the case studies (if relevant) as you choose your future topic and read the list of topic examples below.
• Include scientific facts in your essay and use professional language.
• Start your introduction with an interesting hook by stating why is the topic of choice relevant to you and society.
• Use strong thesis statement as your guideline to make sure that you don’t deviate from the topic.
• Double-check your facts and always back up your paper with academic journals and credible references.
• Do not underestimate the use of drafts as you write the paper.
• Do not use the same wording for the thesis statement as for your hook sentence. These are two different matters where one of them is an introduction, and the other one is the reason for your research.
• Do not simply copy scientific information without your personal comment and consideration. If it has to be there, explain how and why.
• Do not underestimate the importance of an outline, format, and the body structure.
• Do not ignore the importance of proofreading because it will help you to eliminate typos, grammar mistakes, and accidental repeating of the same sentence.

      Help! I’m Still Stuck!!!

Sometimes even the list of helpful topic ideas and the essay writing guides are still not enough because the deadline is coming up and you have not yet started. In other cases, it is way too difficult to find the right sources, and you need just a bit of help to get your paper done. It is exactly the moment when you need professional help and someone who can help you get out of this “I’m Stuck!” mode.

The help is already here for you as our skilled team of biology and life sciences experts, as well as professionals in the other fields of science, are ready to help you work through the most complex assignments and be there to make you come up with a great topic idea! All you have to do is tell us of your homework task, fill in the simple form, and we shall connect you with a skilled geek who knows how to help and do so timely! It is absolutely safe and confidential, let alone that it is fine to ask for help when you need it! Our team knows how much challenging all of these tasks are, so it is guaranteed that you will be guided through each problem and issue that you have to deliver a great final paper. No matter what your problem may be, we are ready to help you identify and deal with it!

I am sincerely hoping that my 100 evolution essay topics and the writing guide article have helped you to get an idea of how to write your paper. If not, remember what I have mentioned in a paragraph above! 🙂 In case you have something to add or want to share something important, feel free to post in the comments below! I wish you the best of luck and let us make an evolution with a truly awesome paper!

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Do we need a new theory of evolution?

A new wave of scientists argues that mainstream evolutionary theory needs an urgent overhaul. Their opponents have dismissed them as misguided careerists – and the conflict may determine the future of biology

S trange as it sounds, scientists still do not know the answers to some of the most basic questions about how life on Earth evolved. Take eyes, for instance. Where do they come from, exactly? The usual explanation of how we got these stupendously complex organs rests upon the theory of natural selection.

You may recall the gist from school biology lessons. If a creature with poor eyesight happens to produce offspring with slightly better eyesight, thanks to random mutations, then that tiny bit more vision gives them more chance of survival. The longer they survive, the more chance they have to reproduce and pass on the genes that equipped them with slightly better eyesight. Some of their offspring might, in turn, have better eyesight than their parents, making it likelier that they, too, will reproduce. And so on. Generation by generation, over unfathomably long periods of time, tiny advantages add up. Eventually, after a few hundred million years, you have creatures who can see as well as humans, or cats, or owls.

This is the basic story of evolution, as recounted in countless textbooks and pop-science bestsellers. The problem, according to a growing number of scientists, is that it is absurdly crude and misleading.

For one thing, it starts midway through the story, taking for granted the existence of light-sensitive cells, lenses and irises, without explaining where they came from in the first place. Nor does it adequately explain how such delicate and easily disrupted components meshed together to form a single organ. And it isn’t just eyes that the traditional theory struggles with. “The first eye, the first wing, the first placenta. How they emerge. Explaining these is the foundational motivation of evolutionary biology,” says Armin Moczek, a biologist at Indiana University. “And yet, we still do not have a good answer. This classic idea of gradual change, one happy accident at a time, has so far fallen flat.”

There are certain core evolutionary principles that no scientist seriously questions. Everyone agrees that natural selection plays a role, as does mutation and random chance. But how exactly these processes interact – and whether other forces might also be at work – has become the subject of bitter dispute. “If we cannot explain things with the tools we have right now,” the Yale University biologist Günter Wagner told me, “we must find new ways of explaining.”

In 2014, eight scientists took up this challenge, publishing an article in the leading journal Nature that asked “Does evolutionary theory need a rethink?” Their answer was: “Yes, urgently.” Each of the authors came from cutting-edge scientific subfields, from the study of the way organisms alter their environment in order to reduce the normal pressure of natural selection – think of beavers building dams – to new research showing that chemical modifications added to DNA during our lifetimes can be passed on to our offspring. The authors called for a new understanding of evolution that could make room for such discoveries. The name they gave this new framework was rather bland – the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis (EES) – but their proposals were, to many fellow scientists, incendiary.

In 2015, the Royal Society in London agreed to host New Trends in Evolution , a conference at which some of the article’s authors would speak alongside a distinguished lineup of scientists. The aim was to discuss “new interpretations, new questions, a whole new causal structure for biology”, one of the organisers told me. But when the conference was announced, 23 fellows of the Royal Society, Britain’s oldest and most prestigious scientific organisation, wrote a letter of protest to its then president, the Nobel laureate Sir Paul Nurse. “The fact that the society would hold a meeting that gave the public the idea that this stuff is mainstream is disgraceful,” one of the signatories told me. Nurse was surprised by the reaction. “They thought I was giving it too much credibility,” he told me. But, he said: “There’s no harm in discussing things.”

Traditional evolutionary theorists were invited, but few showed up. Nick Barton, recipient of the 2008 Darwin-Wallace medal, evolutionary biology’s highest honour, told me he “decided not to go because it would add more fuel to the strange enterprise”. The influential biologists Brian and Deborah Charlesworth of the University of Edinburgh told me they didn’t attend because they found the premise “irritating”. The evolutionary theorist Jerry Coyne later wrote that the scientists behind the EES were playing “revolutionaries” to advance their own careers. One 2017 paper even suggested some of the theorists behind the EES were part of an “increasing post-truth tendency” within science. The personal attacks and insinuations against the scientists involved were “shocking” and “ugly”, said one scientist, who is nonetheless sceptical of the EES.

What accounts for the ferocity of this backlash? For one thing, this is a battle of ideas over the fate of one of the grand theories that shaped the modern age. But it is also a struggle for professional recognition and status, about who gets to decide what is core and what is peripheral to the discipline. “The issue at stake,” says Arlin Stoltzfus, an evolutionary theorist at the IBBR research institute in Maryland, “is who is going to write the grand narrative of biology.” And underneath all this lurks another, deeper question: whether the idea of a grand story of biology is a fairytale we need to finally give up.

B ehind the current battle over evolution lies a broken dream. In the early 20th century, many biologists longed for a unifying theory that would enable their field to join physics and chemistry in the club of austere, mechanistic sciences that stripped the universe down to a set of elemental rules. Without such a theory, they feared that biology would remain a bundle of fractious sub-fields, from zoology to biochemistry, in which answering any question might require input and argument from scores of warring specialists.

From today’s vantage point, it seems obvious that Darwin’s theory of evolution – a simple, elegant theory that explains how one force, natural selection, came to shape the entire development of life on Earth – would play the role of the great unifier. But at the turn of the 20th century, four decades after the publication of On the Origin of Species and two after his death, Darwin’s ideas were in decline. Scientific collections at the time carried titles such as The Death-bed of Darwinism. Scientists had not lost interest in evolution, but many found Darwin’s account of it unsatisfying. One major problem was that it lacked an explanation of heredity. Darwin had observed that, over time, living things seemed to change to better fit their environment. But he did not understand how these minute changes were passed from one generation to the next.

At the start of the 20th century, the rediscovery of the work of the 19th-century friar and father of genetics, Gregor Mendel, started to provide the answers. Scientists working in the new field of genetics discovered rules that governed the quirks of heredity. But rather than confirm Darwin’s theory, they complicated it. Reproduction appeared to remix genes – the mysterious units that programme the physical traits we end up seeing – in surprising ways. Think of the way a grandfather’s red hair, absent in his son, might reappear in his granddaughter. How was natural selection meant to function when its tiny variations might not even reliably pass from parent to offspring every time?

Even more ominous for Darwinists was the emergence of the “mutationists” in the 1910s, a school of geneticists whose star exponent, Thomas Hunt Morgan, showed that by breeding millions of fruit flies – and sometimes spiking their food with the radioactive element radium – he could produce mutated traits, such as new eye colours or additional limbs. These were not the tiny random variations on which Darwin’s theory was built, but sudden, dramatic changes. And these mutations, it turned out, were heritable. The mutationists believed that they had identified life’s true creative force. Sure, natural selection helped to remove unsuitable changes, but it was simply a humdrum editor for the flamboyant poetry of mutation. “ Natura non facit saltum ,” Darwin had once written: “Nature does not make jumps.” The mutationists begged to differ.

These disputes over evolution had the weight of a theological schism. At stake were the forces governing all creation. For Darwinists especially, their theory was all-or-nothing. If another force, apart from natural selection, could also explain the differences we see between living things, Darwin wrote in On the Origin of Species, his whole theory of life would “utterly break down”. If the mutationists were right, instead of a single force governing all biological change, scientists would have to dig deep into the logic of mutation. Did it work differently on legs and lungs? Did mutations in frogs work differently to mutations in owls or elephants?

In 1920, the philosopher Joseph Henry Woodger wrote that biology suffered from “fragmentation” and “cleavages” that would be “unknown in such a well-unified science as, for example, chemistry”. The divergent groups often feuded, he noted, and it seemed to be getting worse. It began to seem inevitable that the life sciences would grow more and more fractured, and the possibility of a common language would slip away.

J ust as it seemed that Darwinism might be buried, a curious collection of statisticians and animal breeders came along to revitalise it. In the 1920s and 30s, working separately but in loose correspondence, thinkers such as the British father of scientific statistics, Ronald Fisher, and the American geneticist Sewall Wright, proposed a revised theory of evolution that accounted for scientific advances since Darwin’s death but still promised to explain all of life’s mysteries with a few simple rules. In 1942, the English biologist Julian Huxley coined the name for this theory: the modern synthesis. Eighty years on, it still provides the basic framework for evolutionary biology as it is taught to millions of schoolchildren and undergraduates every year. Insofar as a biologist works in the tradition of the modern synthesis, they are considered “mainstream”; insofar as they reject it, they are considered marginal.

Despite the name, it was not actually a synthesis of two fields, but a vindication of one in light of the other. By building statistical models of animal populations that accounted for the laws of genetics and mutation, the modern synthesists showed that, over long periods of time, natural selection still functioned much as Darwin had predicted. It was still the boss. In the fullness of time, mutations were too rare to matter, and the rules of heredity didn’t affect the overall power of natural selection. Through a gradual process, genes with advantages were preserved over time, while others that didn’t confer advantages disappeared.

Rather than getting stuck into the messy world of individual organisms and their specific environments, proponents of the modern synthesis observed from the lofty perspective of population genetics. To them, the story of life was ultimately just the story of clusters of genes surviving or dying out over the grand sweep of evolutionary time.

The modern synthesis arrived at just the right time. Beyond its explanatory power, there were two further reasons – more historical, or even sociological, than scientific – why it took off. First, the mathematical rigour of the synthesis was impressive, and not seen before in biology. As the historian Betty Smocovitis points out, it brought the field closer to “examplar sciences” such as physics. At the same time, writes Smocovitis, it promised to unify the life sciences at a moment when the “enlightenment project” of scientific unification was all the rage. In 1946, the biologists Ernst Mayr and George Gaylord Simpson started the Society for the Study of Evolution , a professional organisation with its own journal, which Simpson said would bring together the sub-fields of biology on “the common ground of evolutionary studies”. This was all possible, he later reflected , because “we seem at last to have a unified theory […] capable of facing all the classic problems of the history of life and of providing a causalistic solution of each.”

This was a time when biology was ascending to its status as a major science. University departments were forming, funding was flowing in, and thousands of newly accredited scientists were making thrilling discoveries. In 1944, the Canadian-American biologist Oswald Avery and his colleagues had proved that DNA was the physical substance of genes and heredity, and in 1953 James Watson and Francis Crick – leaning heavily on work from Rosalind Franklin and the American chemist Linus Pauling – mapped its double-helical structure.

While information piled up at a rate that no scientist could fully digest, the steady thrum of the modern synthesis ran through it all. The theory dictated that, ultimately, genes built everything, and natural selection scrutinised every bit of life for advantage. Whether you were looking at algae blooming in a pond or peacock mating rituals, it could all be understood as natural selection doing its work on genes. The world of life could seem suddenly simple again.

By 1959, when the University of Chicago held a conference celebrating the centennial of the publication of On the Origin of Species, the modern synthesists were triumphant. The venues were packed and national newspaper reporters followed the proceedings. (Queen Elizabeth was invited, but sent her apologies.) Huxley crowed that “this is one of the first public occasions on which it has been frankly faced that all aspects of reality are subject to evolution”.

Yet soon enough, the modern synthesis would come under assault from scientists within the very departments that the theory had helped build.

F rom the start, there had always been dissenters. In 1959, the developmental biologist CH Waddington lamented that the modern synthesis had sidelined valuable theories in favour of “drastic simplifications which are liable to lead us to a false picture of how the evolutionary process works”. Privately, he complained that anyone working outside the new evolutionary “party line” – that is, anyone who didn’t embrace the modern synthesis – was ostracised.

Then came a devastating series of new findings that called into question the theory’s foundations. These discoveries, which began in the late 60s, came from molecular biologists. While the modern synthesists looked at life as if through a telescope, studying the development of huge populations over immense chunks of time, the molecular biologists looked through a microscope, focusing on individual molecules. And when they looked, they found that natural selection was not the all-powerful force that many had assumed it to be.

They found that the molecules in our cells – and thus the sequences of the genes behind them – were mutating at a very high rate. This was unexpected, but not necessarily a threat to mainstream evolutionary theory. According to the modern synthesis, even if mutations turned out to be common, natural selection would, over time, still be the primary cause of change, preserving the useful mutations and junking the useless ones. But that isn’t what was happening. The genes were changing – that is, evolving – but natural selection wasn’t playing a part. Some genetic changes were being preserved for no reason apart from pure chance. Natural selection seemed to be asleep at the wheel.

Evolutionary biologists were stunned. In 1973, David Attenborough presented a BBC documentary that included an interview with one of the leading modern synthesists, Theodosius Dobzhansky. He was visibly distraught at the “non-Darwinian evolution” that some scientists were now proposing. “If this were so, evolution would have hardly any meaning, and would not be going anywhere in particular,” he said. “This is not simply a quibble among specialists. To a man looking for the meaning of his existence, evolution by natural selection makes sense.” Where once Christians had complained that Darwin’s theory made life meaningless, now Darwinists levelled the same complaint at scientists who contradicted Darwin.

Other assaults on evolutionary orthodoxy followed. The influential palaeontologists Stephen Jay Gould and Niles Eldredge argued that the fossil record showed evolution often happened in short, concentrated bursts; it didn’t have to be slow and gradual. Other biologists simply found that the modern synthesis had little relevance to their work. As the study of life increased in complexity, a theory based on which genes were selected in various environments started to seem beside the point. It didn’t help answer questions such as how life emerged from the seas, or how complex organs, such as the placenta, developed. Using the lens of the modern synthesis to explain the latter, says the Yale developmental biologist Günter Wagner, would be “like using thermodynamics to explain how the brain works”. (The laws of thermodynamics, which explain how energy is transferred, do apply to the brain, but they aren’t much help if you want to know how memories are formed or why we experience emotion.)

Just as feared, the field split. In the 70s, molecular biologists in many universities peeled off from biology departments to form their own separate departments and journals. Some in other sub-fields, such as palaeontology and developmental biology, drifted away as well. Yet the biggest field of all, mainstream evolutionary biology, continued much as before. The way the champions of the modern synthesis – who by this point dominated university biology departments – dealt with potentially destabilising new findings was by acknowledging that such processes happen sometimes (subtext: rarely), are useful to some specialists (subtext: obscure ones), but do not fundamentally alter the basic understanding of biology that descends from the modern synthesis (subtext: don’t worry about it, we can continue as before). In short, new discoveries were often dismissed as little more than mildly diverting curiosities.

Today, the modern synthesis “remains, mutatis mutandis , the core of modern evolutionary biology” wrote the evolutionary theorist Douglas Futuyma in a 2017 paper defending the mainstream view. The current version of the theory allows some room for mutation and random chance, but still views evolution as the story of genes surviving in vast populations. Perhaps the biggest change from the theory’s mid-century glory days is that its most ambitious claims – that simply by understanding genes and natural selection, we can understand all life on earth – have been dropped, or now come weighted with caveats and exceptions. This shift has occurred with little fanfare. The theory’s ideas are still deeply embedded in the field, yet no formal reckoning with its failures or schisms has occurred. To its critics, the modern synthesis occupies a position akin to a president reneging on a campaign promise – it failed to satisfy its entire coalition, but remains in office, hands on the levers of power, despite its diminished offer.

Brian and Deborah Charlesworth are considered by many to be high priests of the tradition that descends from the modern synthesis. They are eminent thinkers, who have written extensively on the place of new theories in evolutionary biology, and they don’t believe any radical revision is needed. Some argue that they are too conservative, but they insist they are simply careful – cautious about dismantling a tried-and-tested framework in favour of theories that lack evidence. They are interested in fundamental truths about evolution, not explaining every diverse result of the process.

“We’re not here to explain the elephant’s trunk, or the camel’s hump. If such explanations could even be possible,” Brian Charlesworth told me. Instead, he said, evolutionary theory should be universal, focusing on the small number of factors that apply to how every living thing develops. “It’s easy to get hung up on ‘you haven’t explained why a particular system works the way it does’. But we don’t need to know,” Deborah told me. It’s not that the exceptions are uninteresting; it’s just that they aren’t all that important.

K evin Laland, the scientist who organised the contentious Royal Society conference, believes it is time for proponents of neglected evolutionary sub-fields to band together. Laland and his fellow proponents of the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis, the EES, call for a new way of thinking about evolution – one that starts not by seeking the simplest explanation, or the universal one, but what combination of approaches offers the best explanation to biology’s major questions. Ultimately, they want their sub-fields – plasticity, evolutionary development, epigenetics, cultural evolution – not just recognised, but formalised in the canon of biology.

There are some firebrands among this group. The geneticist Eva Jablonka has proclaimed herself a neo-Lamarckist, after Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, the 19th-century populariser of pre-Darwinian ideas of inheritance, who has often been seen as a punchline in the history of science. Meanwhile, the physiologist Denis Noble has called for a “revolution” against traditional evolutionary theory. But Laland, a lead author on many of the movement’s papers, insists that they simply want to expand the current definition of evolution. They are reformers, not revolutionaries.

The case for EES rests on a simple claim: in the past few decades, we have learned many remarkable things about the natural world – and these things should be given space in biology’s core theory. One of the most fascinating recent areas of research is known as plasticity, which has shown that some organisms have the potential to adapt more rapidly and more radically than was once thought. Descriptions of plasticity are startling, bringing to mind the kinds of wild transformations you might expect to find in comic books and science fiction movies.

Emily Standen is a scientist at the University of Ottawa, who studies Polypterus senegalus , AKA the Senegal bichir, a fish that not only has gills but also primitive lungs. Regular polypterus can breathe air at the surface, but they are “much more content” living underwater, she says. But when Standen took Polypterus that had spent their first few weeks of life in water, and subsequently raised them on land, their bodies began to change immediately. The bones in their fins elongated and became sharper, able to pull them along dry land with the help of wider joint sockets and larger muscles. Their necks softened. Their primordial lungs expanded and their other organs shifted to accommodate them. Their entire appearance transformed. “They resembled the transition species you see in the fossil record, partway between sea and land,” Standen told me. According to the traditional theory of evolution, this kind of change takes millions of years. But, says Armin Moczek, an extended synthesis proponent, the Senegal bichir “is adapting to land in a single generation”. He sounded almost proud of the fish.

Moczek’s own area of expertise is dung beetles, another remarkably plastic species. With future climate change in mind, he and his colleagues tested the beetles’ response to different temperatures. Colder weather makes it harder for the beetles to take off. But the researchers found that they responded to these conditions by growing larger wings. The crucial thing about such observations, which challenge the traditional understanding of evolution, is that these sudden developments all come from the same underlying genes. The species’s genes aren’t being slowly honed, generation by generation. Rather, during its early development it has the potential to grow in a variety of ways, allowing it to survive in different situations.

“We believe this is ubiquitous across species,” says David Pfennig of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He works on spadefoot toads, amphibians the size of a Matchbox car. Spadefoots are normally omnivorous, but spadefoot tadpoles raised solely on meat grow larger teeth, more powerful jaws, and a hardy, more complex gut. Suddenly, they resemble a powerful carnivore, feeding on hardy crustaceans, and even other tadpoles.

Plasticity doesn’t invalidate the idea of gradual change through selection of small changes, but it offers another evolutionary system with its own logic working in concert. To some researchers, it may even hold the answers to the vexed question of biological novelties: the first eye, the first wing. “Plasticity is perhaps what sparks the rudimentary form of a novel trait,” says Pfennig.

Plasticity is well accepted in developmental biology, and the pioneering theorist Mary Jane West-Eberhard began making the case that it was a core evolutionary force in the early 00s. And yet, to biologists in many other fields, it is virtually unknown. Undergraduates beginning their education are unlikely to hear anything about it, and it has still to make much mark in popular science writing.

Biology is full of theories like this. Other interests of the EES include extra-genetic inheritance, known as epigenetics. This is the idea that something – say a psychological injury, or a disease – experienced by a parent attaches small chemical molecules to their DNA that are repeated in their children. This has been shown to happen in some animals across multiple generations, and caused controversy when it was suggested as an explanation for intergenerational trauma in humans. Other EES proponents track the inheritance of things like culture – as when groups of dolphins develop and then teach each other new hunting techniques – or the communities of helpful microbes in animal guts or plant roots, which are tended to and passed on through generations like a tool. In both cases, researchers contend that these factors might impact evolution enough to warrant a more central role. Some of these ideas have become briefly fashionable, but remain disputed. Others have sat around for decades, offering their insights to a small audience of specialists and no one else. Just like at the turn of the 20th century, the field is split into hundreds of sub-fields, each barely aware of the rest.

To the EES group, this is a problem that urgently needs to be solved – and the only solution is a more capacious unifying theory. These scientists are keen to expand their research and gather the data to disprove their doubters. But they are also aware that logging results in the literature may not be enough. “Parts of the modern synthesis are deeply ingrained in the whole scientific community, in funding networks, positions, professorships,” says Gerd B Müller, head of the Department of Theoretical Biology at the university of Vienna and a major backer of the EES. “It’s a whole industry.”

The modern synthesis was such a seismic event that even its flatly wrong ideas took up to half a century to correct. The mutationists were so thoroughly buried that even after decades of proof that mutation was, in fact, a key part of evolution, their ideas were still regarded with suspicion. As recently as 1990, one of the most influential university evolution textbooks could claim that “the role of new mutations is not of immediate significance” – something that very few scientists then, or now, actually believe. Wars of ideas are not won with ideas alone.

To release biology from the legacy of the modern synthesis, explains Massimo Pigliucci, a former professor of evolution at Stony Brook University in New York, you need a range of tactics to spark a reckoning: “Persuasion, students taking up these ideas, funding, professorial positions.” You need hearts as well as minds. During a Q&A with Pigliucci at a conference in 2017, one audience member commented that the disagreement between EES proponents and more conservative biologists sometimes looked more like a culture war than a scientific disagreement. According to one attender, “Pigliucci basically said: ‘Sure, it’s a culture war, and we’re going to win it,’ and half the room burst out cheering.”

T o some scientists, though, the battle between traditionalists and extended synthesists is futile. Not only is it impossible to make sense of modern biology, they say, it is unnecessary. Over the past decade the influential biochemist Ford Doolittle has published essays rubbishing the idea that the life sciences need codification. “We don’t need no friggin’ new synthesis. We didn’t even really need the old synthesis,” he told me.

What Doolittle and like-minded scientists want is more radical: the death of grand theories entirely. They see such unifying projects as a mid-century – even modernist – conceit, that have no place in the postmodern era of science. The idea that there could be a coherent theory of evolution is “an artefact of how biology developed in the 20th century, probably useful at the time,” says Doolittle. “But not now.” Doing right by Darwin isn’t about venerating all his ideas, he says, but building on his insight that we can explain how present life forms came from past ones in radical new ways.

Doolittle and his allies, such as the computational biologist Arlin Stoltzfus, are descendants of the scientists who challenged the modern synthesis from the late 60s onwards by emphasising the importance of randomness and mutation . The current superstar of this view, known as neutral evolution, is Michael Lynch, a geneticist at the University of Arizona. Lynch is soft-spoken in conversation, but unusually pugnacious in what scientists call “the literature”. His books rail against scientists who accept the status quo and fail to appreciate the rigorous mathematics that undergirds his work. “For the vast majority of biologists, evolution is nothing more than natural selection,” he wrote in 2007. “This blind acceptance […] has led to a lot of sloppy thinking, and is probably the primary reason why evolution is viewed as a soft science by much of society.” (Lynch is also not a fan of the EES. If it were up to him, biology would be even more reductive than the modern synthesists imagined.)

What Lynch has shown, over the past two decades, is that many of the complex ways DNA is organised in our cells probably happened at random. Natural selection has shaped the living world, he argues, but so too has a sort of formless cosmic drifting that can, from time to time, assemble order from chaos. When I spoke to Lynch, he said he would continue to extend his work to as many fields of biology as possible – looking at cells, organs, even whole organisms – to prove that these random processes were universal.

As with so many of the arguments that divide evolutionary biologists today, this comes down to a matter of emphasis. More conservative biologists do not deny that random processes occur, but believe they’re much less important than Doolittle or Lynch think.

The computational biologist Eugene Koonin thinks people should get used to theories not fitting together. Unification is a mirage. “In my view there is no – can be no – single theory of evolution,” he told me. “There cannot be a single theory of everything. Even physicists do not have a theory of everything.”

This is true. Physicists agree that the theory of quantum mechanics applies to very tiny particles, and Einstein’s theory of general relativity applies to larger ones. Yet the two theories appear incompatible. Late in life, Einstein hoped to find a way to unify them. He died unsuccessful. In the next few decades, other physicists took up the same task, but progress stalled, and many came to believe it might be impossible. If you ask a physicist today about whether we need a unifying theory, they would probably look at you with puzzlement. What’s the point, they might ask. The field works, the work continues.

This article was amended on 4 July 2022. An earlier version described Sewall Wright as a livestock breeder. To clarify, Wright spent a decade as a senior animal husbandman for the US Department of Agriculture before becoming a professor at the University of Chicago.

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Teaching About Evolution and the Nature of Science (1998)

Chapter: chapter 5: frequently asked questions about evolution and the nature of science, 5 frequently asked questions about evolution and the nature of science.

Teachers often face difficult questions about evolution, many from parents and others who object to evolution being taught. Science has good answers to these questions, answers that draw on the evidence supporting evolution and on the nature of science. This chapter presents short answers to some of the most commonly asked questions.

Definitions

What is evolution?

Evolution in the broadest sense explains that what we see today is different from what existed in the past. Galaxies, stars, the solar system, and earth have changed through time, and so has life on earth.

Biological evolution concerns changes in living things during the history of life on earth. It explains that living things share common ancestors. Over time, evolutionary change gives rise to new species. Darwin called this process "descent with modification," and it remains a good definition of biological evolution today.

What is "creation science"?

The ideas of "creation science" derive from the conviction that God created the universe—including humans and other living things—all at once in the relatively recent past. However, scientists from many fields have examined these ideas and have found them to be scientifically insupportable. For example, evidence for a very young earth is incompatible with many different methods of establishing the age of rocks. Furthermore, because the basic proposals of creation science are not subject to test and verification, these ideas do not meet the criteria for science. Indeed, U.S. courts have ruled that ideas of creation science are religious views and cannot be taught when evolution is taught.

The Supporting Evidence

How can evolution be scientific when no one was there to see it happen?

This question reflects a narrow view of how science works. Things in science can be studied even if they cannot be directly observed or experimented on. Archaeologists study past cultures by examining the artifacts those cultures left behind. Geologists can describe past changes in sea level by studying the marks ocean waves left on rocks. Paleontologists study the fossilized remains of organisms that lived long ago.

Something that happened in the past is thus not "off limits" for scientific study. Hypotheses can be made about such phenomena, and these hypotheses can be tested and can lead to solid conclusions. Furthermore, many key aspects of evolution occur in relatively short periods that can be observed directly—such as the evolution in bacteria of resistance to antibiotics.

Isn't evolution just an inference?

No one saw the evolution of one-toed horses from three-toed horses, but that does not mean that we cannot be confident that horses evolved. Science is practiced in many ways besides direct observation and experimentation. Much scientific discovery is done through indirect experimentation

and observation in which inferences are made, and hypotheses generated from those inferences are tested.

For instance, particle physicists cannot directly observe subatomic particles because the particles are too small. They must make inferences about the weight, speed, and other properties of the particles based on other observations. A logical hypothesis might be something like this: If the weight of this particle is Y , when I bombard it, X will happen. If X does not happen, then the hypothesis is disproved. Thus, we can learn about the natural world even if we cannot directly observe a phenomenon—and that is true about the past, too.

In historical sciences like astronomy, geology, evolutionary biology, and archaeology, logical inferences are made and then tested against data. Sometimes the test cannot be made until new data are available, but a great deal has been done to help us understand the past. For example, scorpionflies ( Mecoptera ) and true flies ( Diptera ) have enough similarities that entomologists consider them to be closely related. Scorpionflies have four wings of about the same size, and true flies have a large front pair of wings but the back pair is replaced by small club-shaped structures. If Diptera evolved from Mecoptera , as comparative anatomy suggests, scientists predicted that a fossil fly with four wings might be found—and in 1976 this is exactly what was discovered. Furthermore, geneticists have found that the number of wings in flies can be changed through mutations in a single gene.

Evolution is a well-supported theory drawn from a variety of sources of data, including observations about the fossil record, genetic information, the distribution of plants and animals, and the similarities across species of anatomy and development. Scientists have inferred that descent with modification offers the best scientific explanation for these observations.

Is evolution a fact or a theory?

The theory of evolution explains how life on earth has changed. In scientific terms, "theory" does not mean "guess" or "hunch'' as it does in everyday usage. Scientific theories are explanations of natural phenomena built up logically from testable observations and hypotheses. Biological evolution is the best scientific explanation we have for the enormous range of observations about the living world.

Scientists most often use the word "fact" to describe an observation. But scientists can also use fact to mean something that has been tested or observed so many times that there is no longer a compelling reason to keep testing or looking for examples. The occurrence of evolution in this sense is a fact. Scientists no longer question whether descent with modification occurred because the evidence supporting the idea is so strong.

Why isn't evolution called a law?

Laws are generalizations that describe phenomena, whereas theories explain phenomena. For example, the laws of thermodynamics describe what will happen under certain circumstances; thermodynamics theories explain why these events occur.

Laws, like facts and theories, can change with better data. But theories do not develop into laws with the accumulation of evidence. Rather, theories are the goal of science.

Don't many famous scientists reject evolution?

No. The scientific consensus around evolution is overwhelming. Those opposed to the teaching of evolution sometimes use quotations from prominent scientists out of context to claim that scientists do not support evolution. However, examination of the quotations reveals that the scientists are actually disputing some aspect of how evolution occurs, not whether evolution occurred. For example, the biologist Stephen Jay Gould once wrote that "the extreme rarity of transitional forms in the fossil record persists as the trade secret of paleontology." But Gould, an accomplished paleontologist and eloquent educator about evolution, was arguing about how evolution takes place. He was discussing whether the rate of change of species is constant and gradual or whether it takes place in bursts after long periods when little change occurs—an idea known as punctuated equilibrium. As Gould writes in response, "This quotation, although accurate as a partial citation, is dishonest in leaving out the following explanatory material showing my true purpose—to discuss rates of evolutionary change, not to deny the fact of evolution itself."

Gould defines punctuated equilibrium as follows:

Punctuated equilibrium is neither a creationist idea nor even a non-Darwinian evolutionary theory about sudden change that produces a new species all at once in a single generation. Punctuated equilibrium accepts the conventional idea that new species form over hundreds or thousands of generations and through an extensive series of intermediate stages. But geological time is so long that even a few thousand years may appear as a mere "moment" relative to the several million years of existence for most species. Thus, rates of evolution vary enormously and new species may appear to arise "suddenly" in geological time, even though the time involved would seem long, and the change very slow, when compared to a human lifetime.

Isn't the fossil record full of gaps?

Though significant gaps existed in the fossil record in the 19th century, many have been filled in. In addition, the consistent pattern of ancient to modern species found in the fossil record is strong evidence for evolution. The plants and animals living today are not like the plants and animals of the remote past. For example, dinosaurs were extinct long before humans walked the earth. We know this because no human remains have ever been found in rocks dated to the dinosaur era.

Some changes in populations might occur too rapidly to leave many transitional fossils. Also, many organisms were very unlikely to leave fossils, either because of their habitats or because they had no body parts that could easily be fossilized. However, in many cases, such as between primitive fish and amphibians, amphibians and reptiles, reptiles and mammals, and reptiles and birds, there are excellent transitional fossils.

Can evolution account for new species?

One argument sometimes made by supporters of "creation science" is that natural selection can produce minor changes within species, such as changes in color or beak size, but cannot generate new species from pre-existing species. However, evolutionary biologists have documented many cases in which new species have appeared in recent years (some of these cases are discussed in Chapter 2 ). Among most plants and animals, speciation is an extended process, and a single human observer can witness only a part of this process. Yet these observations of evolution at work provide powerful confirmation that evolution forms new species.

If humans evolved from apes, why are there still apes?

Humans did not evolve from modern apes, but humans and modern apes shared a common ancestor, a species that no longer exists. Because we shared a recent common ancestor with chimpanzees and gorillas, we have many anatomical, genetic, biochemical, and even behavioral similarities with the African great apes. We are less similar to the Asian apes—orangutans and gibbons—and even less similar to monkeys, because we shared common ancestors with these groups in the more distant past.

Evolution is a branching or splitting process in which populations split off from one another and gradually become different. As the two groups become isolated from each other, they stop sharing genes, and eventually genetic differences increase until members of the groups can no longer interbreed. At this point, they have become separate species. Through time, these two species might give rise to new species, and so on through millennia.

Doesn't the sudden appearance of all the "modern groups" of animals during the Cambrian explosion prove creationism?

During the Cambrian explosion, primitive representatives of the major phyla of invertebrate animals appeared—hard-shelled organisms like mollusks and arthropods. More modern representatives of these invertebrates appeared gradually through the Cambrian and the Ordovician periods. "Modern groups" like terrestrial vertebrates and flowering plants were not present. It is not true that "all the modern groups of animals" appeared during this period.

Also, Cambrian fossils did not appear spontaneously. They had ancestors in the Precambrian period, but because these Precambrian forms were soft-bodied, they left fewer fossils. A characteristic of the Cambrian fossils is the evolution of hard

body parts, which greatly improved the chance of fossilization. And even without fossils, we can infer relationships among organisms from biochemical information.

Religious Issues

Can a person believe in God and still accept evolution?

Many do. Most religions of the world do not have any direct conflict with the idea of evolution. Within the Judeo-Christian religions, many people believe that God works through the process of evolution. That is, God has created both a world that is ever-changing and a mechanism through which creatures can adapt to environmental change over time.

At the root of the apparent conflict between some religions and evolution is a misunderstanding of the critical difference between religious and scientific ways of knowing. Religions and science answer different questions about the world. Whether there is a purpose to the universe or a purpose for human existence are not questions for science. Religious and scientific ways of knowing have played, and will continue to play, significant roles in human history.

No one way of knowing can provide all of the answers to the questions that humans ask. Consequently, many people, including many scientists, hold strong religious beliefs and simultaneously accept the occurrence of evolution.

Aren't scientific beliefs based on faith as well?

Usually "faith" refers to beliefs that are accepted without empirical evidence. Most religions have tenets of faith. Science differs from religion because it is the nature of science to test and retest explanations against the natural world. Thus, scientific explanations are likely to be built on and modified with new information and new ways of looking at old information. This is quite different from most religious beliefs.

Therefore, "belief" is not really an appropriate term to use in science, because testing is such an important part of this way of knowing. If there is a component of faith to science, it is the assumption that the universe operates according to regularities—for example, that the speed of light will not change tomorrow. Even the assumption of that regularity is often tested—and thus far has held up well. This "faith" is very different from religious faith.

Science is a way of knowing about the natural world. It is limited to explaining the natural world through natural causes. Science can say nothing about the supernatural. Whether God exists or not is a question about which science is neutral.

Legal Issues

Why can't we teach creation science in my school?

The courts have ruled that "creation science" is actually a religious view. Because public schools must be religiously neutral under the U.S. Constitution, the courts have held that it is unconstitutional to present creation science as legitimate scholarship.

In particular, in a trial in which supporters of creation science testified in support of their view, a district court declared that creation science does not meet the tenets of science as scientists use the term ( McLean v. Arkansas Board of Education ). The Supreme Court has held that it is illegal to require that creation science be taught when evolution is taught ( Edwards v. Aguillard ). In addition, district courts have decided that individual teachers cannot advocate creation science on their own ( Peloza v. San Juan Capistrano School District and Webster v. New Lennox School District ).

Teachers' organizations such as the National Science Teachers Association, the National Association of Biology Teachers, the National Science Education Leadership Association, and many others also have rejected the science and pedagogy of creation science and have strongly discouraged its presentation in the public schools. (Statements from some of these organizations appear in Appendix C .) In addition, a coalition of religious and other organizations has noted in "A Joint Statement of Current Law" (see Appendix B ) that "in science class, [schools] may present only genuinely scientific critiques of, or evidence for, any explanation of life on earth, but not religious

critiques (beliefs unverifiable by scientific methodology)."

Some argue that "fairness" demands the teaching of creationism along with evolution. But a science curriculum should cover science, not the religious views of particular groups or individuals.

Educational Issues

If evolution is taught in schools, shouldn't creationism be given equal time?

Some religious groups deny that microorganisms cause disease, but the science curriculum should not therefore be altered to reflect this belief. Most people agree that students should be exposed to the best possible scholarship in each field. That scholarship is evaluated by professionals and educators in those fields. In science, scientists as well as educators have concluded that evolution—and only evolution—should be taught in science classes because it is the only scientific explanation for why the universe is the way it is today.

Many people say that they want their children to be exposed to creationism in school, but there are thousands of different ideas about creation among the world's people. Comparative religions might comprise a worthwhile field of study but not one appropriate for a science class. Furthermore, the U.S. Constitution states that schools must be religiously neutral, so legally a teacher could not present any particular creationist view as being more "true" than others.

Why should teachers teach evolution when they already have so many things to teach and can cover biology without mentioning evolution?

Teachers face difficult choices in deciding what to teach in their limited time, but some ideas are of central importance in each discipline. In biology, evolution is such an idea. Biology is sometimes taught as a list of facts, but if evolution is introduced early in a class and in an uncomplicated manner, it can tie many disparate facts together. Most important, it offers a way to understand the astonishing complexity, diversity, and activity of the modern world. Why are there so many different types of organisms? What is the response of a species or community to a changing environment? Why is it so difficult to develop antibiotics and insecticides that are useful for more than a decade or two? All of these questions are easily discussed in terms of evolution but are difficult to answer otherwise.

A lack of instruction about evolution also can hamper students when they need that information to take other classes, apply for college or medical school, or make decisions that require a knowledge of evolution.

Should students be given lower grades for not believing in evolution?

No. Children's personal views should have no effect on their grades. Students are not under a compulsion to accept evolution. A grade reflects a teacher's assessment of a student's understanding. If a child does not understand the basic ideas of evolution, a grade could and should reflect that lack of understanding, because it is quite possible to comprehend things that are not believed.

Can evolution be taught in an inquiry-based fashion?

Any science topic can be taught in an inquiry-oriented manner, and evolution is particularly amenable to this approach. At the core of inquiry-oriented instruction is the provision for students to collect data (or be given data when collection is not possible) and to analyze the data to derive patterns, conclusions, and hypotheses, rather than just learning facts. Students can use many data sets from evolution (such as diagrams of anatomical differences in organisms) to derive patterns or draw connections between morphological forms and environmental conditions. They then can use their data sets to test their hypotheses.

Students also can collect data in real time. For example, they can complete extended projects involving crossbreeding of fruit flies or plants to illustrate the genetic patterns of inheritance and the influence of the environment on survival. In this way, students can develop an understanding of evolution, scientific inquiry, and the nature of science.

Today many school students are shielded from one of the most important concepts in modern science: evolution. In engaging and conversational style, Teaching About Evolution and the Nature of Science provides a well-structured framework for understanding and teaching evolution.

Written for teachers, parents, and community officials as well as scientists and educators, this book describes how evolution reveals both the great diversity and similarity among the Earth's organisms; it explores how scientists approach the question of evolution; and it illustrates the nature of science as a way of knowing about the natural world. In addition, the book provides answers to frequently asked questions to help readers understand many of the issues and misconceptions about evolution.

The book includes sample activities for teaching about evolution and the nature of science. For example, the book includes activities that investigate fossil footprints and population growth that teachers of science can use to introduce principles of evolution. Background information, materials, and step-by-step presentations are provided for each activity. In addition, this volume:

• Presents the evidence for evolution, including how evolution can be observed today.
• Explains the nature of science through a variety of examples.
• Describes how science differs from other human endeavors and why evolution is one of the best avenues for helping students understand this distinction.
• Answers frequently asked questions about evolution.

Teaching About Evolution and the Nature of Science builds on the 1996 National Science Education Standards released by the National Research Council—and offers detailed guidance on how to evaluate and choose instructional materials that support the standards.

Comprehensive and practical, this book brings one of today's educational challenges into focus in a balanced and reasoned discussion. It will be of special interest to teachers of science, school administrators, and interested members of the community.

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505 Evolution Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best evolution topic ideas & essay examples, 👍 good essay topics on evolution, ✅ simple & easy evolution essay titles, 🔍 good research topics about evolution, 🎓 writing prompts about evolution, 📌 interesting topics to write about evolution, ❓ evolution essay questions.

• Land Transport – History, Evolution, and Development Essay The combination of the horse and the wheel made transportation system simple as it facilitated exchange of crops. This was the origin of movement of a large number of people in the 18th century.
• The Rise and Evolution of the World of Islam Prophet Muhammad, who was was born and raised in Mecca, started spreading the teachings of Islam in Saudi Arabia and this marked the origin of Islam. We will write a custom essay specifically for you by our professional experts 808 writers online Learn More
• The History and Evolution of the Visual Basic Programming Language It is a specific language that is used by users to have a flexible environment in which they interact easily with the computer it is the best programming language and the easiest to use.
• Computer Technology: Evolution and Developments The development of computer technology is characterized by the change in the technology used in building the devices. The semiconductors in the computers were improved to increase the scale of operation with the development of […]
• International Organizations and Their Evolution In this context, it can be stated that this strategy of international politics recognizes the belief that organizations and institutions are key ways of promoting peace around the world.
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• Evolution of Television Throughout the decade, the cable television was the means of transmission between the transmitters in television network premises and the receivers at the viewer’s home.
• The Evolution of the Automobile & Its Effects on Society This piece of work will give an exhaustive discussion of the evolution of the automobile and the effects it has had on the society.
• Geography, its Evolution and Future Geography is the study of the earth and the natural features that characterize it. The revolution was related in some way, to the methods in which the researchers studied the earth and the processes occurring […]
• The Importance of Teaching Alternative Evolution Theories The theory of evolution should be the basis of the entire course of biology at school. The general representation of the leading alternative evolution concepts should be provided before the arguments for these theories implementation […]
• “Why Evolution Is True?” by Jerry A. Coyne The reader is able to use this vivid substantiation of claims to understand the author’s need to introduce the aspect of God who is at the center of these natural happenings.
• Evolution of Capitalism: Concept, Origin and Development The central idea in the ‘Evolution of Capitalism’ is that western society is archetypical of a radical change and gradual development of the capitalist system.
• Controversies on Darwin’s Theory of Evolution Although there are many theories which explain the origin of the earth, Darwin’s theory evokes strong responses due to the fact that it opposes religion and it does not meet all the requirements of a […]
• The Evolution of Behavioral and Cognitive Development Theories of Crime Behavioral theory is based upon the principles of behavioral psychology and is the basis for behavior modification and change. This theory is founded on the belief that the way in which people organize their thoughts […]
• The Evolution of Electricity In one of her works Diana Bocce observes, “The kite experiment helped Franklin establish a relationship between lightening and electricity, which led to the invention of the lightning rod” This is considered one of the […]
• Sports Photography and Its Evolution The death of Niepce was announced in 1833, but the experiment was still been performed by Daguerre and he succeeded in the development of the daguerreotype finally in 1837.
• The Times New Roman Font: Evolution and Readability The typography used in a newspaper represents a sample of the state of the medium. 7There is however, a strong tendency to ensure the legibility of the style and the readability of the writing, at […]
• Embedded Intelligence: Evolution and Future The importance of mobility in the current business context has motivated the use of embedded technology to design systems. It is used in the management of energy systems such as production, distribution, and optimization.
• Internet Evolution and Structure The creation of the network was meant to be a security measure to ensure that data and information belonging to ARPA remained within the system.
• “The Facts of Evolution” by Michael Shermer The major theme of the article is the justification of Darwin’s evolution theory. The theory is based on the assumption that species are static, but the changes in species are very rapid, and, thus, the […]
• Co-Evolution: Angiosperms and Pollinating Animals The birds need nectar from the flowers, the plants that produce nectar consequently only do so to attract these birds and insects, for the process of drawing nectar from these plants to be possible, the […]
• Urbanism in Architecture: Definition and Evolution In general urbanism is a very wide concept that is used to describe an urban centre architectural system in its totality beyond the mere building structures and includes a city’s infrastructure system, economy, geography, social-cultural […]
• Principles & Concept of Total Quality Management Essay The second principle of TQM is that the problem in most companies is the processes but not the people. This was based on the fact that the quality of the products was determined by all […]
• The Private Security’ History and Evolution However, it was after this era when the parliament in the United States organized a number of security studies in order to expand the scope of security channels in various institutions including the inclusion of […]
• Evolution of Construction Management From 1960s to Today Thus, the basic features of management within the scope of construction were visible already throughout the undertakings of the first people.
• History of Hunting: Evolution and Improvement Contrary to the modern trend of hunting being more of a sport, during the pre-civilization era hunting was one of the main means of survival.
• Charles Darwin: Evolution Theory The naturalist of the time believed that everything in the world had a key role in the economic of nature and the credit was given to an intelligent creator.
• Evolution of the Clock In this light, the paper tracks changes in the operation mechanisms of the clock in the quest to provide theoretical records of evolution of engineering.
• Nursing History and Theory Evolution This paper aims to offer a comprehensive view of the history of nursing, major influences on the profession, and the evolution of nursing theory.
• Candy Evolution Through the History The evolution of candy similar to those of the organism, may explain the reason why candy has found a centre spot in celebrating Darwin’s days. Valentine candy was used in the past and presently with […]
• The evolution of McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y in relation to the development of management theory The natural response of managers was to be more stringent and consequently the employees reacted to it, resulting in a viscous cycle.
• Computer Evolution, Its Future and Societal Impact In spite of the computers being in existence since the abacus, it is the contemporary computers that have had a significant impact on the human life.
• English Language Evolution Because of the consolidation processes which England was experiencing in the course of the sixteenth century and the following strengthening of the empire, as well as the establishment of the relationships with other states of […]
• The Evolution of the Greek Temple Admittedly, the architecture of ancient Greece had a great impact on the development of the architecture of the entire western civilization.
• Horse Family and Its Evolution Fossil records reveal a wide study of the evolution of the horse. This paper examines the evolutionary trend of the horse.
• The Evolution of Harriet Tubman When describing Harriet Tubman’s psychosocial development during the first stage, it is important to examine her relationship with the parents, especially with her mother.
• Why Evolution Is True? A study of some of the fossil evidence using some of the modern tools shows a clear pattern of evolutionary change that make it easy to appreciate that evolution could be true.
• Evolution of Amazon Business Model In this whole process, it will have to entice the customers to pay for the value and so it is a proposition of what the customer expects in terms of product, how they want it […]
• Money: Evolution, Functions, and Characteristics It acts as medium of exchange where it is accepted by both buyers and sellers; the buyer gives money to the seller in exchange of commodities.
• The Evolution of Dragons in Fantasy Fiction One of the most significant figures among the range of the animals inhabiting the land of fantasy is a dragon, the symbol of wisdom and power.
• Nursing as a Discipline: Evolution and Education This paper aims at discussing and describing the evolution of the nursing profession to date, its mode of conduct, and the differences between associate nurses and Baccalaureate nurses.
• The Evolution of Heavy Metal Rock Music in UK and US In the United States, the tempo of heavy metal music is slower than the heavy metal rock music in Great Britain.
• Nursing Evolution Since Florence Nightingale Secondly, the environmental theory introduced by Nightingale has evolved in the course of time, and modern nurses do their best to investigate the role of nursing environments and provide their patients with the most relevant […]
• The Theory of Evolution It must be admitted that the theory of evolution has a number of legit points and has all the rights to be considered the most valid theory of all existing.
• Darwin’s Theory of Human Evolution Although Darwin seems to refute the religious claim on the origin of man, it is apparent that both religion and science share a common hypothesis that man has a distinct origin. Darwin is also concerned […]
• Creationism and Evolution The bible in the book of Genesis describes the origin of heaven and earth and everything that is in it; God created everything.
• Hebrew Monotheism: Origins and Evolution In the book of Exodus, Moses received the Ten Commandments from God and one of the commandments was to worship one God only.
• The American Military and the Evolution of Computer Technology From the Early 1940s to Early 1960s During the 1940s-1960, the American military was the only wouldriver’ of computer development and innovations.”Though most of the research work took place at universities and in commercial firms, military research organizations such as the Office […]
• Ponyboy’s Evolution in Hinton’s “The Outsiders” Two of Ponyboy’s friends die, and he sees a lot of violence in the streets. He is still a part of the gang, and he thinks that violence is a part of their life.
• Historical Evolution of Technology in Healthcare During the 18th century, the medical field was in disarray due to the lack of organization and deaths resulting from inefficiencies and negligence of doctors.
• Greek Sculpture and Its Evolution Over Time The shape of the hands was sculptured to be held close to the sides of the statue; their fists were clenched, their knees were rigid, and their hair was stylized.
• Hominids and Stages of Human Evolution Ardipithecus ramidus, Australopithecines, Homo habilis, Homo erectus, and Homo Neanderthal are stages of human evolution with distinct physical appearances and behavior. The molars and premolars of Homo habilis were comparatively smaller than Ardipithecus and Australopithecus.
• The Evolution of Nursing Overview When defining the notion of nursing in the context of the 21st century, many people fail to reflect on the historical precedents that contributed to the development of nursing as a separate qualification.
• American Popular Music and Its Evolution Compared to the country blues popular in the 1900s, classic female blues combines its features with urban theater music, and “Crazy Blues” is one of the first songs of this genre.
• Human Circulatory System and Evolution The coronary circulation involves the movement of blood through the tissues of the heart while the systemic circulation involves taking blood to all the rest of the body tissues and back to the heart”.
• Audre Lorde’s Role in the Black Aesthetics Evolution Ilmonen also observes that in her poems, Lorde often referred to the West African cultural and spiritual heritage as “the consoling arms of a mother”.
• The Evolution of Philips Organization Reorganization in the 1990s demonstrated that the company’s effectiveness of Philips was earlier reduced due to the specific approach to the senior management selection.
• The Evolution of Television The discovery of the photoconductive properties of selenium by Willoughby Smith and his assistant in 1873 completely changed the things in the history of television.
• Evolution of Predator and Prey Pairings Given the fact that prey and predator pairings threatens the survival of the prey there are other external factors that contribute to the elimination of the prey species.
• Evolution and Importance of Advertising in a Context of Modern Society It is difficult to overestimate the importance of advertising within the modern society as the main tool of persuasion of the audience and advancement of the companies and their products.Dr S.
• History and Evolution of the Guitar Instrument According to Scott, one final and significant development in the evolution of the guitar is the increasing attention given to musical composers.
• Web Form Evolution: From Web 1.0 to Web 3.0 The webmaster got concerned with updating the website and providing information to the users. This leads to the birth of web 2.0.
• Evolution of Makkah as a City The first pattern is a central business district, in this pattern the shape has been affected by the natural topography of the city of Makkah.
• Evolution of Humans: The Human Evolutionary Theory The earliest best-known theory of evolution was propounded by Charles Darwin, whose main thesis was that life has evolved from simple single-celled organisms to multi-cellular, complex living things through the process of natural selection and […]
• Evolution: Primate Locomotion and Body Configuration The idea that mobility of upper limbs was least in prosimians, greater in monkeys, greater still in apes, and most in humans was a useful idea for viewing the primates in earlier times.
• Women’s Status in the Workforce and Its Evolution However, I was interested in taking a historical excursion into the evolution of the position of women in the labor market and understanding how women of the last century felt in the labor market and […]
• Distance Learning and Its Evolution Definitions of distance education are varied and diverse, but the main concept of distance learning can be summarized from the situation wherein the student and the educator are separated by distance and time and the […]
• Canadian Child Welfare System Evolution Significant changes started with the introduction of the Indian Act, the Act for the Prevention of Cruelty to and Better Protection of Children of 1981, and the Child Welfare Act of 1922.
• Human Computer Interface: Evolution and Changes The conferences will not require members to be there in person as the events can be transmitted to people in their homes and they can make suggestions too.
• The Evolution of the Car Engine France and the Great Britain reinforced the notion of the electric powered cars in the late 1800s. At the beginning of the century, a number of 33,842 electric vehicles in the United States became registered.
• Phonograph Invention and Evolution The time period the phonograph was invented and the circumstances that led to the invention. The invention and advancement of the phonograph and its operations has had a part to play on other inventions.
• Evolution of Fire Fighting Gear The traditional shape of the helmet was created with a short brim on the front and a long brim on the back to keep embers and hot water from going down the back of the […]
• Aggression in Nonhuman Primates and Human Evolution Comparing and analyzing the sources of aggression among chimpanzees and bonobos revealed that environmental factors, such as food availability, determined key differences of social structure and aggression patterns in chimps and bonobos.
• “The Evolution of the New Environmental Metaparadigms of Nursing” by Kleffel Early nursing leaders such as Florence Nightingale and Lillian Wald had comprehensive perspectives of the environment and later on, their viewpoints on the impact of the environment of an individual helped to shape the nursing […]
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• Biosphere Evolution and Threats The biosphere, however, overlaps between all the spheres that include the lithosphere, which is found on the surface of the earth.
• Technology Evolution in The Modern Society Service perspective – which holds that e-commerce constitute a tool that fulfills the needs and desires of companies, customers and management with aim of reducing the transaction costs while at the same time being able […]
• Harry Winston Fashion Brand and Its Evolution Harry Winston Diamond Corporation was founded in the year 1932 and is headquartered in New York. Harry Winston has remained a powerful brand in the global jewelry industry.
• Psychological Perspectives Evolution and Theories Watson maintained that study of psychology should focus on studying behavior and desist from referring to mental states in the study of behavior.
• Evolution of Planning and Design It has been argued that, ‘While Environmental Planning emerged as a profession in the 1970s, the environmental planning movement was evident sometime before this.’ The main purpose of this paper is to explore the origins […]
• How the Way of Reading Books Changed due to Rapid Evolution of Technology The introduction of digital reading has led to an increase in the number of readers because e-books and other online publications are cheap and more accessible.
• Classical Symphonies: Investigating Style Evolution of Western Classical Music The formative period of classical music was between the 18th and 19th centuries. Beethoven wrote music slowly and purposely with the romantics’ guidance.
• Modernist Movement in Music: Investigating Style Evolution of Western Classical Music The modernist movement in music seems appropriate for this paper because of the unique and exciting styles of composing modern-era music, such as jazz, pop, and rock.
• Evolutionary Psychology and Christian Worldview Since psychology studies the human mind and behavior of people and thus it incorporates and implements various scientific fields and methods to do so.
• The Automotive Technology Evolution This marked the beginning of the car industry, which ultimately led to the development of modern automobiles and opened the way for their production. The reliability and safety of automobiles have increased due to technological […]
• Hominin Evolution: Biological and Cultural Aspects The brain capacity of Homo habilis creatures was greater compared to their ancestors enabling them to become more intelligent. The locomotion of Homo habilis was aided by their legs and forelimbs.
• The Evolution of Boy and Girl Characters Through the Decades That depiction of the boy character reflects the expectations for boys in the 1940s, which were heavily influenced by the traditional values of the time.
• The Juvenile Justice System Evolution Process The notion of due legal process, in turn, implies the maturity and autonomy of the person involved in the due process.
• Linguistic Evolution: Language Development The ability to acquire new things and keep the brain active and healthy is greatly enhanced by acquiring a second language other than one’s native tongue. Identifying language as a tool for forming connections and […]
• Unveiling the Evolution of Geography Much of the Middle Ages’ astronomy and geography may be traced back to the claims of Claudius Ptolemy, a Greek mathematician, astronomer, and geographer. He wrote about it in The Almagest, a book about the […]
• Transhumanism and Its Impact on Human Evolution The same thoughts began to spread within the framework of eugenics in the early 20th century in the form of various conferences and meetings.
• Human Evolution and Bio-Cultural Changes The concept of the human sphere was introduced in the 30s of the XX century simultaneously in different countries by several scientists.
• The Origin of Man and Primates’ Evolution However, one can merely comprehend the origin of man if one considers history from the beginning of the evolution of the order of primates. Primates are masters of living in the trees due to their […]
• The Evolution of Modern US Society: The US Foreign Policy The economy of the antebellum era was characterized by significant growth, which was attributed to the slave economy, which was common among the southerners and the family farms in the northern states, and the waged […]
• The Evolution and Impact of Advertising in the Medical Sector The negative impact of advertising has often been a myth and has not been adapted to the specific influence in the area under consideration.
• Telehealth’s Evolution: Navigating Health and Equality Across Pandemic Phases By offering estimates of the effect of improved access to telehealth services on the general public, this research adds to the larger body of work on telecare.
• Aspects of Human Evolution and Progress The concepts of human evolution and progress have evolved throughout history leading to different perspectives on the scientific, agricultural, and language themes resulting in universal similarities that have shaped the nature of the world today.
• The Evolution of Private and Public Unions Public sector unions first appeared in the 1900s, after private sector unions in the middle of the 1800s. Since the middle of the 20th century, the membership of unions in the public and commercial sectors […]
• Primal Vocal Communication and Evolution of Speech The focus on primate vocal communication and its significance to the evolution of speech, the main form of human communication, led to the selection of a paper by Fischer J, “Primate Vocal Communication and the […]
• Philosophizing About Music and Its Evolution Applying the cultural lens to the notion of music and the associated concepts implies revisiting the current understanding of the specified notions.
• Theories of Galaxy Evolution: Looking at the Bigger Picture From the point of galaxy evolution, it means that the stellar mass of the galaxy also intensifies with time due to the existence of trends in the spectral energy distribution.
• Evolution of Humans: The Main Theories The process of evolution is one of the closest to the human being as people constantly invent new technologies and expand their minds.
• Evolution of Political Philosophy: Smith & Arendt The flowering of the ideas of political economy in the historical sense came in the works of the eighteenth-century English economist Adam Smith.
• Artificial Intelligence: The Trend in the Evolution Thus, the lens of history is a great way to consider knowledge and understanding of society and technology from a different angle in terms of comprehending the dynamics of society and the importance of technology […]
• The Video Game Industry Evolution The first mention of the creation of such games dates back to the 1940s, but it was in 1952 that Alexander Shafto “Sandy” Douglas officially presented his dissertation at the University of Cambridge. One of […]
• Social Darwinism: Evolutionary Explanations in Sociology In order to understand the reasons behind the failure of social Darwinism to describe society objectively, it is essential to review this ideology’s common arguments.
• Hyper Evolution: The Rise of the Robots From the video, the robots look like real human beings, and they have been capacitated to act in a human way in what is known as machine learning technology powered by artificial intelligence. Hyper evolution […]
• Analysis of Nursing Practice Evolution Nursing started as a profession in the middle of the 19th century, with most historians crediting Florence Nightingale as the person who founded nursing.
• Evolutionary and Revolutionary Models of Change in Management At the same time, the rush and the absence of back-and-forth communication usually mean that revolutionary change has to be maintained to prevent the company from reverting to the old ways.
• Technical Evolution of Automobiles In 1888, the practically of Benz’s car would come to test when his wife, Bertha, and their two sons embarked on a journey using a better version of the car.
• Creation and Evolution According to Holy Bible This doctrine has been validated by the Church, based on the first passage of the Bible: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the world”. Overall, being in line with the biblical viewpoint, both […]
• Evolutionary Psychology and Psychological Anthropology Coupled with the tendency to avoid uncertainty and the positive activation of the emotional system by fantasies about winning, humans’ reliance on crude calculations of odds makes lottery gambling something attractive.
• Computer Usage Evolution Through Years In the history of mankind, the computer has become one of the most important inventions. The diagnostics and treatment methods will be much easier with the help of computer intervention.
• The US Federal Authority: History and Evolution Moreover, according to Grodzins, the sheer force employed in persecuting African-Americans in their movements for Civil rights was also facilitated by Federalism.
• Evolutionary Biology and Darwin The lack of knowledge about the laws of heredity, the genetic and ecological structure of species, and the lack of experimental evidence of natural selection served as the basis for the growth of critical attitudes […]
• Early Evolution of Parole in the US In Chapter 3, there is a discussion on the early evolution of parole in the US, as well as its utilization in the current sentencing practices.
• Study About the Greek Evolution Following the development of the polis, the Greeks initiated the formation of different political structures in the country. Athens played a vital role in the Persian war by defeating the Persians in the salamis and […]
• Sociology: History, Early Theories, and Evolution In the middle of the first millennium BC, the awareness of the inevitability of social inequality resulted in a conceptual justification of its necessity.
• Healthcare Evolution and Its Effect on the US Thus, presuming inequality in the fabric of the nation and lack of the feeling of “sameness” is one part of the reason for the lack of unified healthcare.
• Materiality, Agency and Evolution of Lithic Technology The authors’ hypothesis is to conduct a re-assessment of materiality theory and to broadly re-articulate the debate about the evolution of the human species.
• The Historical Evolution of Perceptions Towards Gender Some of the main questions of what is appropriate to the people of certain gender have been present and debated about for a long time.
• Origin of the Earth: The Creation and Evolution Theory The Catholic Church believes in both the creation and evolution theory. According to the Catholics, all Christians believe in a unique creation carried out by God in six days, and there is a strong belief […]
• Racism Evolution: Experience of African Diaspora As a result, distinct foundations fostered the necessity of inequality to establish effectiveness of inferiority and superiority complexes. To determine the effect of slavery and racism to modern society.
• Emotional Evolution and Mental Problems in Postmodern Literature For the first time, the authors started talking about the horrors of war and the animal fear that a person experiences.
• Researching of Evolution of Love Intimacy, as a component of the triangular theory of love, is the feeling of bondedness, connectedness, and closeness in a relationship.
• Northwest Coast Masks: Evolution of Cultural Complexity According to Coupland, “the development of the Northwest Coast ethnographic pattern those uniquely complex ethnographic hunting-and-gathering societies has been the focus of many archaeological investigations on the Northwest Coast of North America”.
• The Evolutionary Theory in the Context of Modern Sociology A theory is a connected system of general concepts, constructs, or propositions presenting a systematic view of phenomena through the specification of variables to explain the phenomena.
• History: Evolution of Humans The first picture demonstrates the areas of the settlement of modern humans’ predecessors, namely, Homo erectus, Homo neanderthalensis, and Homo sapiens, as well as the times of the migration of Homo sapiens to different regions.
• Evolutionary Ethics vs. Belief in God In addition, the disadvantage of the evolutionary theory is that moral and ethical norms cannot be determined only to a biological degree.
• First Reptiles Adaptation: Amniotic Egg Evolution The amniotic egg evolution is an adaptation that allowed the first reptiles to thrive in a dry land the development occurred over 300 million years ago. The robust shell protects the egg from drying out, […]
• The Evolution of Computers and Digitalization The evolution of computers was a long process, which started with the emergence of calculating machines. The repeated operations, which were the basis of their functioning, determined further progress.
• Lenski’s Theory of Sociocultural Evolution An evaluation of the progression of crime, deviance, and social control through these stages is demonstrative of the theory’s applicability. The forms and means of crime and deviance were rudimentary during the pre-industrial age, and […]
• Categorizing Human-Made Objects: How It Shaped the Evolution of Display Spaces Due to the introduction of museums and display spaces in the 1500s-1830s, the opportunity to apply the historical lens to historical objects has emerged, helping to discover and appreciate the information about the specifics of […]
• The Evolution of Women’s Rights Through American History From the property-owning women of the late 18th century to the proponents of the women’s liberation in the 1960s, women always succeeded in using the influential political theories of their time to eventually make feminist […]
• Aspects of Evolution and Creationism The adheres to the theory of divine spark and pays special attention to the ability of organisms to adapt to various conditions and the complexity of their structure.
• Evolution: Natural Selection in Action The population of these moths will have both dark and white moths at the starting point. The dark moths reproduced successfully due to lack of predation.
• Evolution of Public Policies in Healthcare – Role and Impact of Nurses In California in the 1990s changes in health care delivery resulted in reduced nursing jobs and consequent higher stress for nurses, affecting the safety of patients.
• Evolutionary Changes of Animals and Plants This presentation will show how animals and plants evolved with time passing. It is critical to examine the factors that underlie these processes and their outcomes.
• The Evolution of Human Skin Color The amount of UV light depends on the latitude: the highest concentration is spread throughout the equator, while the areas close to the Earth’s poles had it in scarcity. Both folate and vitamin D contributed […]
• Evolution of Autonomous Driving Technology The torpedo could travel hundreds of meters while maintaining underwater depth due to its pressurization system known as ‘The Secret.’ The Secret was a combination of hydrostatic and pendulum that gave the hydroplane stability to […]
• Anthropology: Evolution of Human Language and Tongue According to the anatomical characteristics of humans the ability to produce speech was pursuant to them. They lived among hominids which noise and sounds they tried to come after.
• Evolutionary and Socioemotional Selectivity Theories Namely, interpersonal relationships in the family are the basis of socialization and intellectual development as they connect a person with other people, allowing the developing of a personality and forming an identity.
• Evolution: Taxonomy, Primate Physiology The bones in the snake are the last remaining parts of the pelvis though the snake’s bones however, the snake does not have bones.
• Nigeria’s Economic Evolution and Future Growth The Federal Republic of Nigeria is a country located in the western part of the African Continent. The paper is going to tackle the economic evolution and the current economic status of Nigeria.
• On the Evolution of MTV and Music Videos The nature of the music industry had a great transformation with the birth of MTV and acquired a glory in the next several years.
• The Evolution Of Cell Types: Evolution of a Menace Antibiotic resistance The capability of a bacterial species to survive the impact of the administration of chemicals that are designed to induce death is known as antibiotic resistance.
• Organ System and Evolution The resistant bacteria can survive and continue to multiply even in the presence of the antibiotics that were once used to eradicate them.
• “Molecular Insights Into Classic Examples of Evolution” Current research, as discussed by the symposium speakers explicitly cited in this article, reveals that genetics plays a fundamental role in evolution science and it is indeed the mutation of genes that actually allows organisms […]
• Evolution of Community Correctional Programs One of the varieties of the sanctuary was applied to all members of the public while the other was reserved to the church members only.
• Evolution of Understanding of Medical Ethics From Past to the Present A look at the concern about the treatment of human subjects, the history of human subjects, the current treatment of human subjects and the real impact of the treatment of human subjects and research done […]
• Do Parasites Become Less Toxic to Their Hosts Over Evolutionary Time? The most devastating effects of a parasite to the host are related to the toxicity of the parasite. The phenomenon of natural selection leads to the molecular evolution and ultimately changes the chemical and biological […]
• Parasites and Hosts Relations Over Evolutionary Time Subsequently, within the secondary host, the behavior of the parasite that makes the secondary host more at vulnerable risk to being consumed by the primary host would be anticipated to evolve.
• How Biogeography Supports the Theory of Human Evolution This segment of the study reveals variation in biological communities of organisms in the lines of geographical gradients of elevation, habitat area, isolation, and latitude.
• Emerging Infectious Disease: Epidemiology and Evolution of Influenza Viruses The chain of infection of H1N1 influenza is hard to break because it is transmitted through the respiratory system and contact. When a human being is infected with the H1N1 virus, is mainly due to […]
• Humans Are Not the “Last Point” in the Evolution of Vertebrates This paper focuses on the evolution of animals and in precise the evolution of the vertebrates. It shows that the mammals were are not the highest evolution of the vertebrates but some more animals and […]
• Impact of Specialization and Evolution in Law These changes include increased demand for legal services from the ever-expanding corporate world and individuals who were previously underrepresented, an increase in the number of female lawyers, and an increase in the number of minorities […]
• The Evolution of Probation, Parole, Prisons, Jails, and Sentencing The evolution of probation started in England and later spread to America as recognizance upon release and bail on condition that the suspect would avail him/herself before the court.
• Evidence for Biological Evolution
• The Theory of Evolution. Gene Responsible for Hairiness
• Structure and Evolution of Plants
• Evolution: Debunking Darwin’s and Lincoln’s Contributions
• Theories of Galaxy Formation and Evolution
• Biological Diversity Origin and Evolution Directionality
• Evolutionary Theory: Misconceptions Analysis
• Darwin’s Theory of Evolution and Natural Selection
• Healthcare Evolution and Current Financial Decision-Making Situation
• Healthcare Facilities’ Design Evolution
• Summary Article and Video of Evolutionary Process
• The Role of Certain Genes in the Process of Evolution
• Evolution of Segmentation Among the Chordates, Annelids, and Arthropods
• The Origin and Evolution of Segmentation by Davis and Patel
• The Origin and Evolution of Segmentation: Analysis
• Origin and Evolution of Segmentation
• Finches and Worms’ Evolutionary Pattern
• Technological Evolution in the Financial Industry
• Evidence of the Evolutionary Process
• Evolution Development: Introducing New Species
• Personal Computer Evolution Overview
• Patterns of Evolution in Humans and Other Organisms
• The Evolution of Vertebrae Teeth
• Evolutionary Analysis of Asymmetric Limits
• Evolutionary Biology: Sleep Patterns in Mammals
• Darwin’s Ideas of Natural Selection and Evolution
• Evolution of Computers in Commercial Industries and Healthcare
• Human Evolution and Animal Extinction
• Society and Evolutionary History: The Question of the Origin of Life
• Evolution and Natural Selection
• The Evolution of Insect Wings
• The Evolution of Communication Structures in Animals
• Evolution of the Cichlid Fish Species in Lake Victoria
• Prison Gangs’ Evolution and Solutions to Them
• Evolution of the Caregiving Experience in the Initial 2 Years Following Stroke
• Duty of Obedience in Charitable Organizations Evolution
• Photosynthesis Rate Determination From the Oxygen Gas Evolution
• Insect Evolution
• Evolution: Three Different Modes of Selection
• Medicare: Comparison With Medicaid and Its Evolution
• Evolutionary Theory and Linguistics in Africa’s Historiography
• The History Of Drag Queens and The Evolution Of Drag
• Microeconomic Perspective on Poverty Evolution in Pakistan
• How Customer Evolution Has Affected Airlines
• The Evolution of Marketing Activities
• Convergent Evolution of Health Information Management and Health Informatics
• Transgenic Organisms and Evolution
• Evolution of Clothes and Fashion in Twentieth Century
• Screen Readers’ Evolution and Their Current Usability
• Hip Hop Evolution and Racial & Political Conditions
• DNA and Evolution – What’s Similar
• Evolutionary Biology: Program Model at Genetic Level
• Creationism and Evolution Theories
• Human Evolution: Electronic Immortality
• Evolution of Mating by Charles Darwin
• The Positive Evolution of Art in the Twentieth Century
• Primate Evolutionary Context
• Criminal Justice System in the United States Evolution
• Morality Evolution, Its Explanations, and Definitions
• Franklin Roosevelt: The Evolution of an American Idea
• “Why Evolution Is True” by J. A. Coyne
• Evolution of Social Behaviour and Attitudes
• History and Evolution of the Public Policy
• Evolutionary Explanation for Sex and Gender Differences
• “Evolution of Federal Cyber Security” by J. Roth
• The Evolutionary Psychology Key Points
• Evolutionary Paradigm Theory by Alan Malachowski
• God and Darwin’s Evolution Theory: A Theological Approach
• The Evolution of the Chinese Brush Painting
• The Origin and Evolution of Religious Pro-sociality
• Evolution Process and the Study of Hominids
• The Evolution of Terrorism on the World Stage
• The Super Continental Cycle and Evolution
• Leadership Evolution in Public Administration
• Lamprell Company: Company’s Evolution
• Evolution of Icon Painting: Hans Belting’s “Likeness and Presence”
• Earliest Humans and the Evolution of Humans in the Region of Africa
• Child Development and Evolutionary Psychology
• Scientist Charles Darwin & Evolution
• Judaism: Religious Beliefs Evolution
• Understanding the Evolution of Trade Deficits
• A Perspective on the Evolution Marketing Management
• Intelligent Design and Evolution
• Popular Culture in America Today: Evolution, Features, and Impact in Other Parts of the World
• Evolution Essays and Their Components
• Anthropology: Genus Homo and Human Birth Evolution
• EPA and the Evolution of Federal Regulation
• Biological Anthropology, Lamarck’s and Darwin’s View of Evolution
• Evolution of Formal Organizations
• Evolution of Chevrolet Camaro. Historical Analysis
• Evolution: Different Types of Selection
• Evolution and the Cognitive Neuroscience of Awareness and Consciousness
• Sociology. Evolution of Formal Organizations
• Misconceptions About the Evolutionary Theory
• Dove as a Brand and Its Evolution
• Music: Evolution Factors of Technology and Drugs
• Evolution: Gene Variations Among Different Species
• Alternative Theories of Evolution
• Stephen Jay Gould, Evolution, and Intelligent Design
• Grandmothering and the Evolution of Homo Erectus
• Music, Its Definition and Evolution
• Television Systems: Innovation and Evolution
• Science Provides Evidences to Idea of Evolution
• Hominoid Evolution: Intelligence and Communication
• Theory of Evolution and Religion
• The Expression of the Bmp4 Gene and Its Role in the Evolutionary Process
• Telemedicine: Evolution Today of This Form of Trade With Development of IT and E-Commerce
• The FBI and Its Evolution Through the History
• Scholars on Philosophy and Evolution
• Outsourcing Evolution in Poland
• The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Origins and Evolution
• “Why Evolution Is True” by Jerry Coyne
• The Evolution of Music: Brief Review
• Evolution of a Media Sources
• The Network and Architectural Issues of Enterprise System Evolution
• Modern Corporate Marketing Departments Evolution
• Evolution of Warfare and Weapons
• Bergson’s and Whitehead’s Philosophy of Evolution
• Soccer in America: Its History, Origin, Evolution, and Popularize This Sport Among Americans
• Theology of the Old Testament. Religious Evolution
• Communication Evolution and Media at the Wartime
• Evolution of Formal Organizations Paper
• Mexico’s Economic, Social and Political Evolution
• The Analysis of Tendencies of Evolution of Global Governance
• Evolution of Limbs: Fossil and Genetic Information
• “The Historical Evolution of Black Feminist Theory and Praxis” by Taylor
• Film Music Evolution in the United States
• The Turtle Evolution Concept
• Tesla: Testing a Business Model at Its (R)Evolutionary Best
• Cartesian Dualism and Human Evolution
• Intelligent Design vs. Evolution Theory
• Learning Assessment Evolution and Current Trends
• The Importance of Studying Creation and Evolution Theories for a Christian
• Body Shape Evolution in African Sympatric Congeners
• Darwin, Evolution, and Modern History
• Personal Legend and Journey of Evolution
• Evolutionary Psychology and Natural Selection Theory
• Tectonics and Geology: Landscape Evolution
• Human Societies Evolution and the Role of Innovation
• History and Evolution of Lipsticks
• Contrast Evolutionary and Social Psychology
• Instructional Design Approaches and Evolution
• Russian Ideas’ Evolution in Politics and Economics
• Anthropology: Homo Erectus in Evolution
• Balanced Scorecard Evolution as a Management Tool
• Evolution of Project Management Research
• The Evolution of Software Attacks
• Evolution With a Human Face: Biological and Cultural
• The American Revolution and Political Legitimacy Evolution
• Ardipithecus Ramidus in Language Evolution
• Fibrous Aerosol Filters and Their Evolution
• Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Supply Chains’ Evolution
• The Evolution of Leadership Theory
• Durkheim’s Labor Division Theory and Legal Evolution
• Kent Flannery’s View on the Evolution of Civilisations
• The Study of the Civilizations Evolution
• Evolution of Psychology and Social Cognition
• The US Foreign Politics Evolution
• Globalization Evolution in the UAE
• Emirate Post Group: the Pace of Evolution
• Television, Its Invention and Technical Evolution
• Evolutionary Theory in Biology and Anthropology
• Graphic Card Industry and Evolution
• Human Brain Evolution: External & Internal Factors
• Native Americans’ Evolution in the XIX Century
• Human Brain Evolution and Shrinking
• The Islam Nation Rise and Evolution
• The Evolution of Finches and Their Feeding Habits
• Evolution of Close Binary Stars
• Darwin’s Evolutionary Theory and Creationism
• Darwinism and Creationism in “Evolution” Documentary
• Darwin’s Theory of Evolution
• Evolution of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Evolutionary Time Lag and Good Genes Selection
• Criticism and Discussion in Science Evolution
• Jerry Coyne’s Book “Why Evolution Is True?”
• An Evolutionary Window on the Worlds of Pornography and Romance
• Modern City and Human Society Evolution
• Languages, Their Evolution and Importance
• From Classics to Our Time: the Evolution of the Cinema
• Money Evolution in Ancient Times and Nowadays
• Biodiversity, Its Evolutionary and Genetic Reasons
• American Finance Evolution and Its Stages
• Money Evolution in the 21st Century and Before
• Nazi Anti-Jewish Policy and Its Evolution
• Creationism, Evolution and Intelligent Design
• Starbucks’ Brand Evolution and Redesign
• Language: Evolution and Universal Features
• Parity Conditions and Country’s Evolution
• American National Security and Technology Evolution
• The Evolution of Human Rights: France vs. America
• Process of Evolution: Organisms Structure Modifications
• US Militia System Evolution to US Military
• Evolution of a Firm: Linear Regression
• The Process Market Relations Evolution in Modern World
• Terrorism: the Evolution of ISIS
• Evolutionary Driving Forces
• Habeas Corpus: History, Evolution and Significance
• US Policing Evolution Since 1963
• Performance Measurement Evolution
• Ecocide, Human Social Evolution, and Globalization
• The Evolution of Lean Six Sigma by Pepper & Spedding
• Automotive Industry Evolution
• Anti-Defamation League: Evolution and Definition
• Evolutionary Psychology: Science or Pseudoscience
• The Solar System Formation and the Earth Evolution
• Culture of Italy: History and Evolution
• Social Networking Evolution: GeoCities Analysis
• The Evolution of the Race Meaning
• Neurophysiological and Evolutionary Theories
• Evolutionary Theory and Genetics
• Evolutionary Psychology: Cognition and Culture
• The Future of Islam: Evolution and Changes
• The Evolution of Human Rights in Canada
• Hotel Electronic Distribution Channel Strategy Evolution
• Evolution and Speciation’s Four Forces
• India and the UAE: Evolution Ways
• History of the Race Evolution
• The Concept of Design and Its Evolution
• Why Medicine Needs a Dose of Evolution?
• Athletic Training Evolution
• Evolution Role in the Humanity and Planet Development
• Cognitive Psychology Evolution Aspects
• Celtic Christianity Evolution
• Formal Organization Structure
• The Instrumental Music of Baroque: Forms and Evolution
• Forbidden Archeology Against Mainstream Evolution Theories
• Commoner, Darwin and Paley’ Theories on Humans Evolution
• Culture and Human Evolution – Personal Psychology
• Andy Clark on Human Mentality and Technology
• Canadian Social Democracy Historical Evolution
• The Evolution of the LGBT Rights
• History: Evolution of the Scientific Revolution
• Economic Issues: The Evolution of Usury
• The Crime Fighting Evolution
• The Human Morals Evolution
• Evolution Process Definition
• Mi’kmaq People: History and Evolution
• Biological Anthropology: Hominid Evolution
• Evolution of Cognitive Psychology
• 4G Network Adaptation and Evolution
• Evolutionary Psychology: Short-term Mating in Men
• Evolutionary Psychology: Definition and Key Concepts
• Phyletic Gradualism and Punctuated Equilibrium Evolution Theory
• Language Evolution in Human Being
• Analysis: “Pandora’s Growing Box: Inferring the Evolution and Development of Hominin Brains from Endocasts” by Zollikofer and Ponce de Leo´n
• The Evolution of Organizational Knowledge Creation Theory
• The Evolution Future Architecture
• Office Depot’s E-Commerce Evolution
• Does Evolution Explain Why Men Rape
• “The Link Between Fire Research and Process Safety” by Cadena and Munoz
• Balanced Scorecard Concept Evolution
• Plantinga’s Evolutionary Argument against Naturalism
• The Evolution of Education in Hong Kong
• Impressionism and Post-Impressionism: Technique Evolution
• Industrial relations-Evolution of labor movements
• Evolution and Revolution as Organizations Grow
• Evolution of Organizational Knowledge Creation Theory
• Evolutionary Psychology: Depression
• History and Evolution of Health Care Economics
• Evolution of Fire Protection Codes
• Evolutionary Psychology Issues
• Evolution of Imperial Rule in Japan and China
• The Problem of People’s ‘Dangerous Evolutionary Baggage’
• The Reasons for Amazon’s Evolution of Supply Chain and Distribution Systems in the United States
• Earth Atmospheric Evolution
• Evolution of ERP system
• Incident Command System History and Evolution
• Human Evolution and Archaeology
• The Four Forces of Evolution and Variation
• The Individual and Game Theory Criticisms and the Evolutionary Theory
• Childhood Evolution and History
• Evolution of Charitable Self-Guidelines in Europe
• Evolution of the Incidents Command System
• History of the Gradual Radical Evolution in America
• The Evolution of Gun Control Policy in College Campus: The Path to Better Policy Making
• West Coast Jazz: History and Evolution
• Major Historical Vents: Evolution or Revolution
• The Evolution of the Personal Computer and the Internet
• The Concept and Effects of Evolution of Electronic Health Record System Software
• Theories of the Language Evolution
• Illustration’ Evolution in 20th Century
• Evolution of the Chilean Government After the Ruthless Regime of Augusto Pinochet
• How primary resources can debunk the misconception that Darwin proposed the first theory of evolution
• The Evolution of American Slavery
• Capitalism Concept Evolution
• Evolution in the English Language
• The background and evolution of British policy regarding the Palestine issue
• The Evolution of Industrialized Workers in Chicago
• The Evolutionary Genetics of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis
• Evolutionary Account of Female Mating Preferences
• The Four Forces of Evolution
• The Development and Evolution of the CIA’s Directorate of Science and Technology
• Feminism and Evolution or Emergence of Psychology
• Paleontology and The Evolutionary Theory
• Global Evolution in “Midaq Alley” by Mahfouz Naguib
• Women and the Evolution of World Politics
• “The Indian Challenge: The Evolution of a Successful New Global Strategy in the Pharmaceutical Industry” by D. Jane Bower and Julian C. Sulez
• The Evolution of the Division of Labor Theory Starting From Ancient Greek Economists to the Present
• The Evolution of Woman’s Work From the 19th Century
• Evolution of Solar Energy in US
• Evolution of the IRA
• The Evolution of US Military Logistical Procurement
• Does Evolution explain human nature?
• The Evolution of the American Hero
• Evolution and History of Fire Science
• Evolution of Dogs from the Gray Wolf
• Comparing Knauft’s Study on Violence and Sociality with Darwin’s Evolutionary Perspectives
• Evolution of Power Production
• Evolution of Photography: Trying to Seize the Moment
• Evolution of Hospice Care
• Natural Selection: Darwin’s Theory of Evolution
• The Evolution of American Federalism
• The Relevance of Evolutionary Psychology
• The Evolution of the iPhone from Inception to Today’s iPhone 4
• Are Economic Crises Inherent to Capitalist Evolution?
• Are Spatial Planning Objectives Reflected in the Evolution of Urban Landscape Patterns?
• Can Evolution and Creation Co-exist?
• Can Evolution Ever Explain Why Men Rape?
• Can Evolution Fit Into Christianity?
• Did Climate Effect Human Evolution?
• Did “Desert Storm” Represent a Revolution or Evolution in Air Power?
• Does Evolution Make Reasoning Improve Learning?
• Does Evolution Solve the Hold-up Problem?
• Does Molecular and Structural Evolution Shape the Speedy Grass Stomata?
• Ecological Rationality and Evolution: The Mind Works That Way?
• Evolution Versus Creation: Does Biblical Religion Unravel the Mysteries That Science Forbids?
• Host-Microbe Interactions as a Driver of Brain Evolution and Development?
• How Does Bioarchaeology Reveal the Evolution of Disease?
• How Do Body Plans Relate to Nervous System Evolution Biology?
• How Did the Evolution of Oxygen-Releasing Photosynthesis?
• How Did the Evolution of the Amniote Egg-Free Amniotes?
• How Does Evolution Tune Biological Noise?
• How Does Kin Selection Explain the Evolution of Altruism?
• How Does Teilhard Justify Placing God Christ in Evolution?
• How Does Transduction Contribute to the Rapid Evolution?
• How Has Evolution Affected Our Lives Today?
• How Did Evolution Transpire?
• How Finding Yourself Comes Through the Evolution of Thought?
• How Genetic Evolution Alters Brain Development?
• How Has Mankind’s Perception of Evolution Impacted Society?
• How Human Disease Impacted Our Evolution?
• How Humans Became Athletes Through Evolution?
• How Learning About Evolution Challenged My Religious Upbringing?
• How Have Male and Female Gametophytes Changed During Evolution?
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

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IvyPanda . "505 Evolution Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." February 28, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/evolution-essay-topics/.

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Essays on Evolution

Do you need a hand with your evolution essay? See the evolution essay samples below for more information. Word evolution derived from Latin “evolutio”, which means “unrolling”. Evolution essays describe evolution as a process of change and development of nature and society, which consists of a gradual change. Some authors of essays on evolution define it as the movement in nature and society, a slow, gradual quantitative change, leading, under certain conditions, to a qualitative change by way of a leap, a break in gradualness, a revolution. Evolution was first introduced by English scientist Charles Darwin in 1859 when he established the ideas that representatives of the same species are different, traits pass through generations, evolution is gradual and done through natural selection. Many essays on the topic explore Darwinism. Check essay samples here for inspiration!

Evolution can be defined as the process by which change is accumulated over time. The change is gradual and leads to a more complex form. Charles Darwin who is a British is said to be the father of evolution theory, his theory of natural selection brought a great revolution in...

Words: 1096

Rationality can be defined as the ability to make sound decisions depending on one’s beliefs. Rationality relates what is true and what actions to take. It provides bases for actions taken by a person (Hale, 24). Human rationality can be identified by the logic deployed in their judgment. A rational...

There has been a lot of debate on the qualification of the concept of intelligent design in the science realm. While some scientists and philosophers argue that the arguments presented in the intelligent design context cannot be observed and tested and can only exist as a quasi-religious doctrine, others hold...

Words: 1356

A Psychosocial Theory Concept Paper – AnnotatedBibliography Dissanayake, E. (2017). Ethology, Interpersonal Neurobiology, and Play: Insights into the Evolutionary Origin of the Arts. American Journal of Play, 9(2), 143-168. The article provides a deep description of the theory of human evolution and its relation to ethology, which is the study of social...

Dissanayake, E. (2017). Ethology, Interpersonal Neurobiology, and Play: Insights into the Evolutionary Origin of the Arts. American Journal of Play, 9(2), 143-168.             This article journal explores the theory of evolution tenet of ethology. Ethology is the study of behavior based on social contexts and adaptive significance. According to the author...

Words: 1815

Technology and the Evolution of Society Technology is advancing day to day following the scientist efforts and innovation skills globally. The theory of technological evolution has been clearly discussed by the various scientist who showed their interest in formulation of evolution perspectives like Gerhard Lenski, Leslie White and Alvin Toffler whom...

Words: 1384

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There is no doubt that evolution of human being is characterized by meat eating in various ways. Human’s digestive track is not obligatory. The body produces enzymes that are meant to digest meat, which aids in better physical growth and higher cephalization. Traditional practices were significantly based on the domestication...

Words: 2075

Over the decades, communication has been one of the most evolved aspect with reference to human life. Today, with the press of a button, any form of message is sent regardless of the physical location or distance form the sender of the recipient. This has been the case with today’s...

Words: 1433

Most creative people in history had their life organized around their work, but not their days.This is a paradox deemed true since they centered their life on their work but they did not have deadlines on when a job should be done. Take Einstein, for example, and he would doze...

Words: 1933

The future of humanity has been a topic of interest for most individuals as it is a mystery (Xue, online). In the past, natural selection and random mutation determined what lives and what dies such as through the cretaceous-tertiary extinction that occurred about 65 million years ago (Enriquez and Gullans,...

Words: 1305

Darwin's Theory and Controversy Darwin's theory claims that the ability of species to adapt makes it able to survive. A species can adapt in many ways like self-defense and its ability to survive under different environmental conditions. The theory was considered controversial because it ignored the role of God in creation....

Genetic Variation Genetic Variation is the differences in and among the human population, a situation where no two humans are genetically identical. The traits in human beings show significant variation between the population and sexes. A heritable trait may be acquired through genes that pass from parent to offspring, others through...

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Theory of Evolution essay

Evolution as defined in biology, the continual process by which one form of life changes, or evolves, into another form. Some religious groups deny that evolution exists, but most scientists accept it as fact. The theory of evolution suggests that all plants and animals descended from one or several kinds of simple organisms. It also explains why there are so many different kinds of plants and animals. The inherited characteristics of nearly all living things change from generation to generation. In most cases, this change is so gradual that it is noticeable only after many years.

Eventually the accumulated changes may become so great that the descendant bears little likeness to its remote ancestor and may belong to different species. II. Discussion A. How evolution takes place? Natural selection. There are more plants and animals produced than can possibly survive, because there is not enough space and food to support them. The result is competition between living organisms in the struggle for survival. The individuals in each group are not all exactly alike. They have varying characteristics, and these variations may either help or hinder them in their struggle to live.

Organisms become extinct and die out, if they do not have enough of the kind of characteristic that enable them to get sufficient food and other necessities to withstand the climate, or to compete successfully with other forms of life. Mutation. To explain how plants and animals develop variations, biologists turn to genetics, the science of heredity. Genetics shows that characteristics are passed from parents to offspring by means of genes. When a gene is altered in anyway, the offspring acquires a new characteristic not possessed by either parent. This change in the genes is called mutation.

Sexual Recombination. The combining of genes from two parents is called sexual recombination and controls the rate at which variations occur. It permits enough variation to allow progressive evolution but not so much variation that the changes would be chaotic. The survival value of recombination is indicated by the fact that the large majority of plants and animals produce sexually. Isolation. New species of plants and animals can appear only when a genetically distinctive population is prevented from exchanging genes with closely related populations.

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Geographic isolation, or the separation of related groups by some kind of physical barrier such as mountain or desert, is the most usual type. Genetic isolation is the inability of the members of two related groups to bear fertile offspring when mated. B. History of the Theory of Evolution Many ancient myths were attempts to explain how the various plants and animals were created. Thales suggested that all life came from water. Aristotle believed that living things could arise out of non-living matter, and that more complex forms of life probably arose from simpler forms.

With spread of Christianity, men throughout the Western World accepted the story of Creation as told in Genesis, the first book of the Bible. For hundreds of years no further scientific though was devoted to the origin of life. By the 18th century scientists had again begun to investigate the development of living things. George Louis Buffon thought that environment acted directly to change the structure of plants and animals. Erasmus Darwin and Jean Baptiste Lamarck each advanced the now discredited theory that organisms inherit adaptations acquired during the lifetime of their parents.

The basis for the modern theory of evolution was formulated independently by Charles Darwin, grandson of Erasmus Darwin, and by Alfred Russel Wallace. They introduced their ideas about natural selection in joint papers read to a London learned society in 1858. Darwin’s Origin of Species in 18599, made the theory very famous. The Darwin- Wallace theory was incomplete, however, because neither man knew much about genetics. Gregor Mendel discovered the laws of heredity in the 1860’s, but his findings were neglected until 1900.

In 1937 the theories of natural selection and genetic variability were fused by Theodozius Dobhanzsky, a Russian born American biologist, in Genetics and Origin of Species. Dobhanzsky’s theory, called the Synthetic Theory, states that evolution is a two- step process. In the first step, genetic variations occur through mutations or by a chance combination of inherited genes. In the second step, desirable variations—those that produce traits that help the organism survive—are passed on to the next generation and become permanently established in the species.

When the theory of evolution first came to public attention in 1859 it was met with a storm protest and ridicule. Some people, misinterpreting the theory, thought it claimed that man was descended from apes. One religious objection to evolution was that it conflicted with the story of Creation as told in Genesis. In the United States some states passed laws making it illegal to teach evolution in public schools. Most religious denominations now accept the theory, but in varying degrees. Some see no conflict between evolution and theology.

Others accept the theory only as an unproved hypothesis still others accept only those parts that do not apply to man. A theory called Scientific Creationism states that scientific evidence points not to man’s evolution from lower species but to his creation by some external power or intelligence.

References: 1. Benton, Michael. The Story of Life on Earth. Watts, 1986. 2. Stein, Sara. The Evolution Book: the Story of 4000 Million Years of Life on Earth. Workman, 1986. 3. Whitcomb, J. C. , and H. M. Morris. The Genesis Flood: the Biblical Record and its Scientific Implications. Presbyterian & Reformed, 1982.