Ancient Microbe Resistance

Microbe ResistanceA new study challenges the time-honored validity of microbe resistance as an example of biological evolution.

Christina Warinner of Harvard University led an international research team that investigated ancient microbes extracted from fossilized human teeth. The team included thirty-two investigators from twelve institutions in seven countries.

By comparing the microbes on fossilized human teeth, the research team found ancient microbe resistance using the exact molecular mechanisms of microbial resistance, as seen in today’s microbes.

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Reptile Embryos

Reptile Live BirthNew fossil discovery in China stuns Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution acting through “slight successive changes.” An international team led by geologist Ryosuke Motani from the University of California at Davis published a paper in the PLOS journal earlier this month on new evidence of reptile embryos that foils previous evolution paradigms.

Bordering on the Yangtze River in eastern China just north of Chaohu City, Motani’s team discovered by accident what is thought to be the oldest known reptile. While working systematically through a slab of entombed fossils looking for a ray-finned fish known as Saurichthys, the workers accidentally fractured the slab.  

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Was Darwin a Scientist?

Darwin Tree of LifeNew Jersey U.S. Representative Rush Holt, a Democrat, introduced on the house floor a resolution to designate Charles Darwin’s birthday, February 12th, as a national holiday. In a Huffington Post interview, Holt said the day should symbolize “the importance of science in the betterment of humanity.”

“It was his thirst for knowledge,” Holt continued, “and his scientific approach to discovering new truths that enabled him to develop the theory of evolution.” Fortunately, most of the representatives doubted Holt’s assertions. In the U.S. courts, however, evolution by natural selection is a proven scientific theory. Known as the “father of evolution,” Darwin must have been an exceptional scientist. For good reasons to be discussed, however, the answer to “Was Darwin a scientist” is one of the evolution industry’s best back-story secrets.

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Gene Duplication-Driven Evolution

gene duplication
Charles Darwin‘s first reference to a “gene” appears in the 4th Edition of The Origin of Species in 1866.  Since then, the gene has emerged as the essential molecular mechanism driving Darwin’s theory.

This intersection of natural selection with Gregor Mendel‘s theory of genetic inheritance was later named Modern Evolutionary Synthesis or The Modern Synthesis, largely based on Julian Huxley‘s 1942 book entitled Evolution. The Modern Synthesis.

A gene mutation-driven evolution theory gained increasing popularity. However, by the 1960s, using emerging genomic technologies the model began encountering challenges.

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Ancient DNA Stability

Jurassic ParkPristine preservation of DNA is of critical importance in the study of ancient DNA. The structural integrity of the DNA molecule, contrary to the Jurassic Park tale, is not infinitely stable.

Damage to the DNA molecule in living organisms occurs naturally from normal metabolic and hydrolytic processes and from environmental factors such as ultraviolet light and radiation.

Damage to DNA in mammalian cells is known to occur 1 million times daily.  While alive organisms can identify and correct these damages, the evolution industry has been reticent to address the stability of ancient DNA in the fossil record.

 

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