Darwin evolve game

A Darwinian view of giraffe evolution, according to Quanta Magazine , would be that giraffes had natural variation in their neck lengths, and that those with longer necks were better able to survive and reproduce in environments full of tall trees, so that subsequent generations had more and more long-necked giraffes.

The main difference between the Lamarckian and Darwinian ideas of giraffe evolution is that there's nothing in the Darwinian explanation about giraffes stretching their necks and passing on an acquired characteristic. According to Pobiner, Darwin did not know anything about genetics.

That came later, with the discovery of how genes encode different biological or behavioral traits, and how genes are passed down from parents to offspring. The incorporation of genetics into Darwin's theory is known as "modern evolutionary synthesis. The physical and behavioral changes that make natural selection possible happen at the level of DNA and genes within the gametes, the sperm or egg cells through which parents pass on genetic material to their offspring.

Such changes are called mutations. Mutations can be caused by random errors in DNA replication or repair, or by chemical or radiation damage, according to Nature Education. Usually, mutations are either harmful or neutral, but in rare instances, a mutation might prove beneficial to the organism. If so, it will become more prevalent in the next generation and spread throughout the population.

In this way, natural selection guides the evolutionary process, preserving and adding up the beneficial mutations and rejecting the bad ones. But natural selection isn't the only mechanism by which organisms evolve, she said. For example, genes can be transferred from one population to another when organisms migrate or immigrate — a process known as gene flow.

And the frequency of certain genes can also change at random, which is called genetic drift. The reason Lamarck's theory of evolution is generally wrong is that acquired characteristics don't affect the DNA of sperm and eggs. A giraffe's gametes, for example, aren't affected by whether it stretches its neck; they simply reflect the genes the giraffe inherited from its parents. But as Quanta reported , some aspects of evolution are Lamarckian.

For example, a Swedish study published in in the European Journal of Human Genetics found that the grandchildren of men who starved as children during a famine passed on better cardiovascular health to their grandchildren.

Researchers hypothesize that although experiences such as food deprivation don't change the DNA sequences in the gametes, they may result in external modifications to DNA that turn genes "on" or "off. Such changes, called epigenetic changes, do not modify the actual DNA sequence itself. For instance, a chemical modification called methylation can affect which genes are turned on or off.

Such epigenetic changes can be passed down to offspring. In this way, a person's experiences could affect the DNA he or she passes down, analogous to the way Lamarck thought a giraffe craning its neck would affect the neck length of its offspring. The Theory of Evolution is one of the best-substantiated theories in the history of science.

It is supported by evidence from a wide variety of scientific disciplines, including genetics, which shows that different species have similarities in their DNA. There is also evidence supporting the Theory of Evolution in paleontology and geology. This is through the fossil record, which shows how that species that existed in the past are different from those present today, according to Bruce S. Lieberman and Roger L. There is also evidence for Darwin's theory found in developmental biology.

It has been discovered that species that seem very different as adults pass through similar stages of embryological development, suggesting a shared evolutionary past, according to the open-access textbook " Concepts of Biology. The critical piece of evidence was discovered in , when paleontologists found the fossilized remains of Ambulocetus natans , which means "swimming-walking whale," according to a review published in the journal Evolution: Education and Outreach. Its forelimbs had fingers and small hooves, but its hind feet were enormous relative to its size.

The animal was clearly adapted for swimming, but it was also capable of moving clumsily on land, much like a seal. When it swam, the ancient creature moved like an otter , pushing back with its hind feet and undulating its spine and tail. Modern whales propel themselves through the water with powerful beats of their horizontal tail flukes, but A. In recent years, more and more of these transitional species, or " missing links ," have been discovered, lending further support to Darwin's theory.

For example, in , a geologist discovered the fossil of an extinct aquatic mammal, called Indohyus , that was about the size of a cat and had hooves and a long tail. Relevant PhysicsForums posts Does the immune system go inside of tumors?

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Your friend's email. Your email. Coral reefs, often called the rainforests of the sea, provide food for humans and marine animals, shoreline protection for coastal communities, jobs for tourist economies and even medicine to treat illnesses such as cancer, arthritis and Alzheimers disease.

A recent report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other research organizations concluded bleaching events are the biggest threat to the world's coral reefs. Van Oppen said there were concerns about losing genetic diversity and critics who said the scientists were "playing gods" by tampering with the reef. Rather than editing genes or creating anything unnatural, researchers are just nudging what could already happen in the ocean, she said.

Corals have been on Earth for about million years and their genetic code is not fully understood. And if there weren't a disadvantage, they'd all be heat resistant.

But Palumbi thinks the assisted evolution work has a valuable place in coral management plans because "reefs all over the world are in desperate, desperate, desperate trouble. The project has gained broad support and spurred research around the world. Scientists in the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Germany and elsewhere are doing their own coral resilience work. The U. Scalability is one.

Getting lab-bred corals out into the ocean and having them survive will be hard, especially since reintroduction has to happen on a local level to avoid bringing detrimental biological material from one region to another. James Guest, a coral ecologist in the United Kingdom, leads a project to show selectively bred corals not only survive longer in warmer water, but can also be successfully reintroduced on a large scale.

Scientists are testing delivery methods, such as using ships to pump young corals into the ocean and deploying small underwater robots to plant coral. No one is proposing assisted evolution alone will save the world's reefs. The idea is part of a suite of measures — with proposals ranging from creating shades for coral to pumping cooler deep-ocean water onto reefs that get too warm. The advantage of planting stronger corals is that after a generation or two, they should spread their traits naturally, without much human intervention.

Over the next several years, the Hawaii scientists will place selectively bred coral back into Kaneohe Bay and observe their behavior. Van Oppen and her colleagues have already put some corals with modified symbiotic algae back on the Great Barrier Reef. With the world's oceans continuing to warm, scientists say they are up against the clock to save reefs. A coral reef is shown in Kaneohe Bay on Friday, Oct.

For the past five years, researchers in Hawaii and Australia have been conducting experiments to prove their Darwinian theories work. They say they do, and now they're getting ready to plant selectively bred and other lab-evolved corals back into the ocean to see if they can survive in Nature. If successful, the scientists say the more heat tolerant corals could help save vital reefs that are dying from climate change. Kira Hughes, a coral researcher at the University of Hawaii's Institute of Marine Biology, uses a satellite map on her cellphone as she navigates her boat to a reef in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii on Saturday, Aug.

Kira Hughes, a coral researcher at the University of Hawaii's Institute of Marine Biology, looks at a test tube full of coral eggs and sperm collected from a reef in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii on Saturday, Aug.

Coral researchers shine a flood light into the Kaneohe Bay as lights from Kaneohe, Hawaii, are seen in the distance, Saturday, Aug. Scientists pass a test tube of coral eggs and spawn collected from a reef in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii on Saturday, Aug.