In The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin presented nature as a constant struggle, often coined as the “war of nature” or the “survival of the fittest.” As one dominates and eliminates others through a continuous process of competition and change, Darwin argued, “extinction and natural selection go hand in hand.” Recent freshwater studies, however, on algae defy Darwin.
“All these facts, consistent among themselves,” Cuvier argued, “seem to me to prove the existence of a world previous to ours… And what revolution was able to wipe it out [extinction]?”
Natural selection emerged as the cornerstone law of evolution following the publication of The Origin in 1859. “I do believe,” Darwin argued, “natural selection acts slowly by accumulating slight, successive, favorable variations.” Natural selection, the tenet of Darwin’s theory, when viewed through the lens of twenty-first-century technologies, increasingly faces scientific challenges.
Scientists last week proposed new evolutionary relationships among all 9,993 of the world’s known living bird species. In a letter published in the prestigious Nature journal, scientists reported on the use of DNA-sequence data to create a radiating phylogenetic tree, a revolutionary new bird tree of life (pictured left).
Walter Jetz (pictured right), an evolutionary biologist at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, was the leading author of the letter entitled “The global diversity of birds in space and time.” In an interview with science writer Virginia Gewin for Nature News, Jetz explains –
“This is the first dated tree of life for a class of species this size to be put on a global map.”
Deciphering evidence for sea star evolution has long intrigued biologists. To explore speciation between two similar-looking sea stars, Jonathan Puritz (pictured below) of the Institute of Marine Biology at The University of Hawaii coordinated a research team to correlate the genetic and geographic differences between two Coral Seaspecies.
The team’s report, entitled “Extraordinarily rapid life-history divergence between Cryptasterina sea star species,” was published last week in the Proceedings of the Royal Society.
Darwin, Then and Now, the Most Amazing Story in the History of Science, is a chronicle of who Darwin was, how he developed his theory, specifically what he said, and what scientists have discovered since the publication of The Origin of Species in 1859.
The book traces the rise and fall of evolution's popularity as a scientifically valid theory. With over 1,000 references from Darwin and scientists, Darwin Then and Now retraces developments in the most amazing story in the history of science. DarwinThenandNow.com focuses on understanding the intersection of biological evolution and science.
In The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin presented nature as a constant struggle, often coined as the “war of nature” or the “survival of the fittest.” As one dominates and eliminates others through a continuous process of competition and change, Darwin argued, “extinction and natural selection go hand in hand.” Recent freshwater studies, however, on algae defy Darwin.
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Scientists last week proposed new evolutionary relationships among all 9,993 of the world’s known living bird 
Deciphering evidence for sea star evolution has long intrigued biologists. To explore speciation between two similar-looking sea stars, 