As you can see, it is a continuation of Fun Facts which contains amazing, mind-boggling, and seemingly odd science facts that can widen your eyes and mouth, and makes you question about life, and perhaps change the way you view life, the world, the...
A lot of people misunderstood evolution and I was one of them. I thought that we evolved from monkeys but it turns out I am miseducated. My past teachers had little knowledge or were scared of telling the truth about Evolution. But thanks to the internet, I was able to dig deeper into the concept of evolution and learned a lot.
Below are the lists of myths about natural selection.
1. Evolution is just a theory, not a fact
A theory is not what most people know it means. It is not merely 'a guess' because there is a word for that -- hypothesis. A hypothesis is a guess based on available evidence that has not been approved yet. If enough evidence supports the hypothesis it becomes a theory. It contains plausible explanations of a certain event or phenomenon. It is like a basket full of facts and observations. As scientists gathered more information, a theory can be modified if necessary but they cannot alter the facts. The difference between facts and theory is a fact is observable and measurable; while, a theory is an explanation and interpretation of facts. The University of California, Berkley had a wonderful description of the word, theory. "A broad, natural explanation for a wide range of phenomena. Theories are concise, coherent, systematic, predictive, and broadly applicable, often integrating and generalizing many hypotheses."
Therefore, evolution is more than a guess. I don't think scientists would fake ancient bones, plant them underground, dug them out then show the world what they discovered to support their hypothesis about evolution.
2. Evolution is about individuals adapting to their environment
When you hear evolution, an individual evolving on its own pops up into your mind. But the truth is, individuals cannot evolve alone but rather populations as a whole. It requires more than one generation to identify themselves as a new species. A certain gene of an organism is generated by random mutation. When this particular gene variant seems helpful or fitting in an environment, it will become a common trait as it passes along from generation to generation.
3. There is a yet undiscovered missing link between humans and apes
When we search evolution in Google, a popular image pops up which is the ape walking in four limbs then slowly evolved into an intelligent primate that walks upright. This creates a misconception stating that evolution is a linear progression. In fact, evolution is more like a diversified tree. We shared a common ancestor with apes, not monkeys. An evolution tree does not consist of a chain but branches, so we do not need to look for the missing link. Neanderthals and Denisovans are not our direct ancestors. We actually interbreed with them. Modern humans and these said species of hominids co-exist. But Neanderthals and Denisovans became extinct thanks to us, homo sapiens. We interbreed with them so some of us have Neanderthal's or Denisovan's genes. Thus, there is no clear division when speciation occurs. Unless we could invent the time machine to see when and how a primate chose to use its brain than swinging around the jungle.
4. Evolution occurs slowly and gradually
Evolution can also happen rapidly. For instance, the fish species in the Hudson river evolved with resistance against toxins being dumped. Microbes are getting more resistant and turning into superbugs which reduce the effectiveness of the drugs. Insects like bedbugs and crop pests are becoming pesticide-resistant. And there are several species that evolved in response to climate change. And people who look amicable turn into wild animals when they get drunk.
5. Survival of the Fittest
Two people who are highly educated decided to bear one child while an illiterate couple wants to bear twelve children. We perceived the former as a successful family, while the latter not so. But from an evolutionary perspective, the illiterate couple is more successful. This also explains stupid people outnumbered smart ones like you. :)
Anyway, the word, fitness means for us is how strong, how fast, how big, and how healthy an organism is. But in evolution's perspective, fitness does not state health but rather reproduction. It focuses on the ability to thrive in its environment and able to pass its genes to the next generation so it would continue the existence of its own species. So the more offspring an organism has, the fitter it is.
6. All traits are products of adaptations
Not all, in fact, most traits are not adaptations at all. For instance, the color of the blood is not adaptive. It does not indicate that red blood cell is better than green blood cells or blue blood. The blood's redness is a byproduct of its chemistry with causes to reflect red light. Though the chemistry of blood may be an adaptation but not the color.
It seems nature loves experimenting with the genes of a particular species randomly.
7. Organisms evolve to attain perfection or improvement to survive and reproduce
Natural selection has no intentions or senses what an individual needs to survive. It does not plan an ideal perfect final form of a certain organism. It selects among individuals in a population and randomly mutates its genes. It does not aim at an outcome. It favors the species that are "good enough" to thrive in their environment and pass its advantageous mutated gene to their offspring.
Because if it does, we might look like the picture below:
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Creepy. I know. So, learn to be content with your imperfect body.
