Unit 13: Evolution/Origins
Reading
OpenStax orange book: Ch. 11 - "Evolution and its processes"
BJU: Ch. 8 - "The history of life"
OpenStax green book: Ch. 18-20 (3 chapter section)
AP students additional reading: Princeton Review "Natural Selection"
Topics
Labs
Here is a list of possible labs for this lesson. I will choose from this list when we get here.
OpenStax orange book: Ch. 11 - "Evolution and its processes"
BJU: Ch. 8 - "The history of life"
OpenStax green book: Ch. 18-20 (3 chapter section)
AP students additional reading: Princeton Review "Natural Selection"
Topics
- Evolution/Origins
Labs
Here is a list of possible labs for this lesson. I will choose from this list when we get here.
- HHMI Bacterial ID Lab using BLAST - fulfills AP "dirty dozen lab" #3
- Hardy Weinberg mathematical modeling exercise - fulfills AP "dirty dozen lab" #2
- HHMI Transgenic Fly Lab (actually more of a Biotechnology lab)
Introduction
Origins is the term we use to mean how we got here. Talking about origins tends to be an emotional topic because it shapes how we view ourselves, how we view abstract concepts like morality and justice, and how philosophers view the ultimate purpose and meaning of life. We will outline the modern views, below.
Origins is the term we use to mean how we got here. Talking about origins tends to be an emotional topic because it shapes how we view ourselves, how we view abstract concepts like morality and justice, and how philosophers view the ultimate purpose and meaning of life. We will outline the modern views, below.
Historical perspective: "The Creation of Adam" by Michelangelo on the ceiling of the famous Sistine Chapel, depicts God giving to Adam the spark of life - and is applicable to the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim traditions. Michelangelo spent a long time studying human hands before doing the painting - obviously very concerned about accurately representing God's hand! The human hand is an intricate and versatile machine, controlled by muscles that aren't even in the hand itself, and articulated by long slender tendons which pass through a flexible wrist. Through our hands we can express a wide range of emotions, convey comfort to others, speak entire languages, play the violin and piano, and build intricate iPhones and Swiss watches; and the hand is strong enough to support a mountain climber's entire weight. It has been said that the importance of the human hand is so critical that it has converted "the being who is the weakest in natural defenses, to the ruler over animate and inanimate nature".
Lecture Outline
Note: Both textbook publishers used in this class present the topics of biological evolution, the work of Lamarck and Darwin on natural selection, the work of Hutton and Lyell on the geologic column and dating methods, fossils, and mutation-selection theory. The BJU textbook interprets these through a 'special creation' lens, while the OpenStax book does so through a 'materialist' lens. Regardless of your worldview, it's important to know the major views and arguments so you can participate in respectful, constructive discussion with others.
There are many modern views on the topic of "origins". I will seek to give a fair and balanced overview, but I can't please everyone because it's an emotional topic.
First, we need to define Origins of Life and Origins of Species.
Note: Both textbook publishers used in this class present the topics of biological evolution, the work of Lamarck and Darwin on natural selection, the work of Hutton and Lyell on the geologic column and dating methods, fossils, and mutation-selection theory. The BJU textbook interprets these through a 'special creation' lens, while the OpenStax book does so through a 'materialist' lens. Regardless of your worldview, it's important to know the major views and arguments so you can participate in respectful, constructive discussion with others.
There are many modern views on the topic of "origins". I will seek to give a fair and balanced overview, but I can't please everyone because it's an emotional topic.
First, we need to define Origins of Life and Origins of Species.
- Origins of Species: Darwin's book was called "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life". Thus, he was looking at how one species might change into another species over time. He wasn't concerned with the "Origins of Life" per se, although his fundamental idea was that all life came from a common ancestor, and it occurred in a very slow, gradual process.
- Origins of Life: Any theory on the Origins of Life has to explain how the first molecules were formed, how the first cell was constructed from these molecules, and how the molecular machinery of the cell came about in the first place. Keep in mind, you need 'molecules' and 'instructions' before you can build something as complex as a working 'cell'. In other words, the origin of complex, information-rich molecules must be explained equally as importantly as the origin of cells and complex body systems.
Second, we need to distinguish Micro-evolution from what is called Macro-evolution:
- Micro-evolution states that minor changes occur within existing species all the time. These changes come about through random changes in DNA which are acted upon by environmental (outside) pressure. They also come about through the intentional efforts of breeders, farmers, and agriculture firms. No one debates this issue. This is not where the argument is. In fact, we see micro-evolution in the different races of men throughout the World, in the different breeds of dogs and cats, the different types of apples in the store, in the different beaks of ground finches, and the constant shuffling of genetic information within bacteria and viruses.
- Macro-evolution is a different thing. Macro-evolution states that entirely new species and new Body-Plans with vastly different design features are caused by random mutations in DNA which are acted upon by environmental pressure in a process which Darwin termed "natural selection" (to distinguish it from "artificial selection" or "selective-breeding"). This is known as the "Modern Synthesis" or "Neo-Darwinism". In Darwin's time, the cell was thought of as a blob of protoplasm, and Darwin didn't know about genes or DNA, or the complex mechanisms of the cell. He thought every creature had "pangenes" and "gemmules" which passed acquired characteristics on to its offspring. However, by 1900 it was known that "acquired characteristics" weren't inherited. You could chop off the tails of many generations of lab mice (this was done in 1880 on over 900 mice by a very famous evolutionist named August Weismann), but the mice-offspring always had normal tails. Thus, Lamarck was proven wrong, and there wasn't a valid mechanism for Macro-evolution to occur. Later, in the 1950's, with the elucidation of DNA's structure and coding mechanism, it was thought that random mutations in the DNA of germ cells (sperm and egg) could be the source of new genetic information which fueled speciation (made new species, genera, families, etc). But by the 1980's it was known that DNA is not the sole source of Body Plans and complex 3D morphology; and random mutations in DNA do not supply innovative, useful designs necessary for new body plans. Random mutations are almost always harmful (bad, sticky folds), or lethal (cancer), or at best neutral (no useful folds). They are corruptions in the computer code, in other words, and if enough lines of code are corrupted you lose functionality. Interestingly, we now know that the carbo-lipids involved in cell-to-cell communication contain vastly more specified-information than proteins, and are not subject to the mutation-selection paradigm. In other words, the cell somehow contains lots of really high-order information which has nothing to do with the DNA - thus DNA is not the "blueprint of life" after all; it is merely the recipe for proteins. Because of these discoveries - known since the 1970's - the scientific community is currently searching for a "New Synthesis" or "New Conceptual Framework" to replace - or modify - NeoDarwinism. Other names given to this effort are "The Extended Synthesis" or "The Third Wave". There are many groups devoted to this quest (The "Altenberg 16" was only the first of many), and they are openly hostile to organized religion, and they have nothing to do with "Creationism". Replacing NeoDarwinism isn't a Creationist quest for them, in other words.
Major views on 'Origins'
Please be respectful of others as we go over these in class.
Please be respectful of others as we go over these in class.
- Neo-Darwinism - more accurately called The Modern Synthesis - states that new species originate(d) from random mutations occurring in germ cells - acted upon by environmental pressures - so that the "fittest survive". The environmental pressures could take the form of a prolonged drought on a Pacific island chain, or a change in the quantity or type of food supplies, or an evolutionary change that occurs in a predator species, or smokey air caused by the burning of coal which turns tree-trunks dark, or two populations of the same species being separated by a mountain range or body of water or shifting continents, to list a few examples. Over long periods of time, new species are formed from this process, and older - less fit - species cease to exist. That is why Darwin entitled his first book, "On the Origin of Species.... and the Preservation of Favored Races". In Darwin's second book, "The Descent of Man", written 10 years later, he worked out the implications of his theory as it relates to humans; namely, that the races of men we currently see in the World are themselves "incipient species" - that is to say that the different races are moving along the evolutionary timeline with everything else - with some races more advanced than others - and at a future time "not very distant as measured in centuries..... the civilized races of man would exterminate and replace the savage races throughout the world". This is indeed the logical conclusion of Darwin's theory; Darwin believed the Englishman was at the top, and the Australian Aborigine was at the bottom; with the African, Asian, and Slav in the middle. I don't need to highlight the inherent racism in these ideas.
- Panspermia is the belief that we were "seeded" - either accidently or purposely - from outer space. Francis Crick - the Nobel winning scientist who elucidated the structure of DNA in 1953, invented the concept because he believed that this was the only way DNA - with its information-rich structure - could have occurred! Carl Sagan - a very famous Emmy Award winning, MIT scientist who promoted the SETI Institute, also believed in Directed Panspermia - that life was deliberately seeded on planet Earth by an alien civilization. Francis Crick wrote an entire book devoted to Panspermia, and Dr. Sagan spent most of his professional career promoting the search for our extraterrestrial origins. The well-known SETI program, partly funded by NASA and the National Science Foundation, is dedicated to the idea of Panspermia. There are innumerable scientists devoted to the idea that life **did not** solely evolve on earth; that it was seeded from outer space, and that earth is either a "colony", or an extremely fortuitous beneficiary of complex life from the outside. Note that these scientists believe in intelligent design(!); they just push it back in time to another planet. Don't laugh, the College Board (AP Biology) presents "panspermia" as one of two possible mechanisms for the origin of life.
- Creationism is the belief that God created the World according to the account given in Genesis in the Bible. God speaks creation into existence in a short period of time, creating the World "ex-nihilo" (out of nothing). 'Young-earth' Creationists believe the earth is relatively young - generally less than about 10,000 years; they believe that the Deluge described in Genesis (the Great Flood) was responsible for the major geological features we observe on Earth today. On the other hand, 'Old-earth' Creationists generally hold to a longer time scale - known as 'geologic time'; they hold that the six-day Creation and Flood accounts in Genesis were written to convey truths about the nature of God and man, without necessarily being 'scientific' accounts.
- Theistic Evolution is the idea that God directed the process of Macro-evolution over a long period of time - usually thought to be about 4 billion years in the case of planet Earth. It is an attempt to reconcile or 'fuse' the concepts of Evolution and Theism. It is a belief held by numerous scientists and Biologists the world over. Francis Collins - the director of the National Institutes of Health and the past Director of the Human Genome Project - is a prominent Theistic Evolutionist. He believes that Evolution created life, and God set it in motion. He wrote a very influential book in 2007 dedicated to this idea. The prominent "think tank" devoted to this view is called BioLogos, if you want to look it up.
- Intelligent Design is the belief that we can see evidence all around us for an 'intelligent designer'. Whether we are looking at the machinery of the cell, at plant and animal life, or at the solar system, we see "teleological purpose" everywhere we look. We rely on the principles of intelligent design all the time without even realizing it: if an archaeologist finds a rock etched with certain sharp edges he concludes it's random, whereas if the rock has sharp edges that look chiseled into a point he concludes it's designed by an intelligence even though he can't see the designer and he wasn't there to witness it. He says to himself, "this object was made with a purpose in mind, there must have been a designer". If an historian drives past a mountain which has been carved into interesting patterns by the wind, he concludes it's random; if he drives past a mountain carved with patterns looking like the faces of four U.S. Presidents he immediately assumes an intelligent designer, even though he never met the designer and wasn't there to witness it. He says to himself, "The nose on Washington and the glasses on Roosevelt are specified features, therefore there must have been a designer". ID simply says that 'highly specified information' - such as a computer code in the cell having 3 billion bits of information - always come from a 'mind'. There are numerous scientists and researchers within the Intelligent Design movement - Jonathan Wells, Michael Behe, Stephen Meyer, and William Dembski to name just a few. It includes researchers from the most prestigious universities in the world. The prominent "think tank" devoted to this view is called The Discovery Institute, if you want to look it up.
- Islam: Islam believes God is the "Creator and source of all goodness". God is immutable (doesn't change), omnipresent (everywhere), indivisible (not Trinitarian), and eternal (has always existed). Thus, God is the source of life. Modernly, you will find all sorts of variations among Muslims on the question of "Origins", just as you will among Christians or any other group.
- Hinduism and Buddhism: In Eastern thought, life moves in cycles - not so much in a straight progression; therefore, not much emphasis is placed on exactly "how biological life began", although modernly you will find all views.
- Pagan and Classical creation stories center around a pantheon of Gods or a Chief Spirit who create everything using various colorful methods. In Greece and Rome, matter makes the gods, and then the gods make man; it is "materialistic" in other words. Matter comes first, then spirit, then mankind. By contrast, in the Christian, Jewish, and Islamic traditions, God exists at the beginning - and He then makes matter including man; i.e. 'matter had a beginning". It is highly significant that the Big Bang Theory requires that "matter had a beginning" - it was not preexistent - and this realization was a major stumbling block for Einstein and for Steven Hawking, who was forced to come up with his "Multiverse" theory to get around it.
Theory of Evolution assignment
Instructions:
Refer to Chapter 8 "History of Life" in the BJU textbook (also posted below).
Answer the following 13 questions:
Instructions:
Refer to Chapter 8 "History of Life" in the BJU textbook (also posted below).
Answer the following 13 questions:
- Section 8.4: Review Questions 1-3
- Section 8.5: Review Questions 1-10
| Ch. 8 History of Life.pdf |
Icons of Evolution assignment
The Icons of Evolution keep showing up in textbooks as "proof" of Macro Evolution. The ten (10) icons are - The Miller-Urey experiment, Darwin's Tree of Life, Homology in Vertebrate Limbs, Archaeopteryx, Peppered Moths, Darwin's Finches, Four-Winged Fruit Flies, Fossil Horses, and From Ape to Human.
Instructions:
Watch the video. Choose any one (1) of the Icons and prepare a 1-1/2 page executive brief using 1.2 spacing and 11-pt font. Your brief should 1) describe what the Icon is, 2) how it supposedly offers "proof" of Biological Evolution, and 3) why it has been discredited according to the video. Use suitable pictures/diagrams to illustrate. I will share the best examples at a future class, so put some effort into this!
Instructions:
Watch the video. Choose any one (1) of the Icons and prepare a 1-1/2 page executive brief using 1.2 spacing and 11-pt font. Your brief should 1) describe what the Icon is, 2) how it supposedly offers "proof" of Biological Evolution, and 3) why it has been discredited according to the video. Use suitable pictures/diagrams to illustrate. I will share the best examples at a future class, so put some effort into this!