• Question: Isn\'t evolution just a theory left unturned

    Asked by amango to Betul, Bridget, Ceri-Wyn, Laurel, Maria on 18 Jun 2010 in Categories: . This question was also asked by zachthomas, chandler, chad, tiyamikee, ashleighlou.
    • Photo: Bridget Waller

      Bridget Waller answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      There is a huge amount of evidence for evolution – the fossil record, laboratory studies of evolution in action (changes over time in laboratory populations), artificial selection of domestic animals, changes in bacteria as they resist our antibiotics… so I don’t think there is any question that evolution has occured.

    • Photo: Laurel Fogarty

      Laurel Fogarty answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      Ooh I’m not quite sure what you mean by unturned. The idea of science is to come up with theories and test them. If they pass the tests and are not shown to be false they get stronger and stronger. The evidence for evolution is so strong at this point that it is almost undeniably how life came about in such varied forms- importantly, other explanations for how life came about can either not be tested or have already failed

      So in short it is a theory (that is how we do science) but it is a very very strong one.

    • Photo: Ceri-Wyn Thomas

      Ceri-Wyn Thomas answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      Really when we talk about the Theory of Evolution we don’t mean that it is something that still needs to be proved. As a society we have now collected and observed SO Much evidence for evolution that scientists say that evolution IS happening and HAS happened. We have enough evidence of it happening from all corners of life on this planet.

      The word ‘theory’ also has two very different meanings- 1) A question or hypothesis to be tested and verified AND 2) A synthesis or collection of knowledge that supports a hypothesis. When we talk about the Theory of evolution we are using theory with it’s second meaning- as a synthesis of knowledge.

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