NationStates Jolt Archive


Science Magazine Deems Evolution Stories the Most Important of the Year

Gymoor II The Return
05-01-2006, 02:33
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/310/5756/1878

Today evolution is the foundation of all biology, so basic and all-pervasive that scientists sometimes take its importance for granted. At some level every discovery in biology and medicine rests on it, in much the same way that all terrestrial vertebrates can trace their ancestry back to the first bold fishes to explore land. Each year, researchers worldwide discover enough extraordinary findings tied to evolutionary thinking to fill a book many times as thick as all of Darwin's works put together.

One of the most dramatic results came in September, when an international team published the genome of our closest relative, the chimpanzee.

2005 was also a standout year for researchers studying the emergence of new species, or speciation. A new species can form when populations of an existing species begin to adapt in different ways and eventually stop interbreeding. It's easy to see how that can happen when populations wind up on opposite sides of oceans or mountain ranges, for example. But sometimes a single, contiguous population splits into two. Evolutionary theory predicts that this splitting begins when some individuals in a population stop mating with others, but empirical evidence has been scanty. This year field biologists recorded compelling examples of that process, some of which featured surprisingly rapid evolution in organisms' shape and behavior.

Such evolutionary breakthroughs are not just ivory-tower exercises; they hold huge promise for improving human well-being. Take the chimpanzee genome. Humans are highly susceptible to AIDS, coronary heart disease, chronic viral hepatitis, and malignant malarial infections; chimps aren't. Studying the differences between our species will help pin down the genetic aspects of many such diseases.

Plus there are a number of links in the article.

I'm sorry, Evolution skeptics. Evolution isn't only abundantly supported, but it's damn important too.

"An intelligence did it," doesn't help us cure disease.
Vetalia
05-01-2006, 02:37
Now that ID is getting thoroughly owned by the court (and a Republican judge at that, omg!) it appears this coverage of evolution is finally starting to influence public sentiment. Excellent work, Science Magazine (and Discover, and Scientific American, Smithsonian, and Astronomy)!
Kossackja
05-01-2006, 02:57
oh,wow, if evolution is the "BREAKTHROUGH OF THE YEAR", then i am allready anxiously waiting to see what will be the breakthrough of the year 2006. maybe the theory of gravity or the pythagorean theorem? this cutting edge science is so exiting.
Vetalia
05-01-2006, 03:01
oh,wow, if evolution is the "BREAKTHROUGH OF THE YEAR", then i am allready anxiously waiting to see what will be the breakthrough of the year 2006. maybe the theory of gravity or the pythagorean theorem? this cutting edge science is so exiting.

No, it's going to be the discovery of the Moon...
[NS:::]Elgesh
05-01-2006, 03:54
oh,wow, if evolution is the "BREAKTHROUGH OF THE YEAR", then i am allready anxiously waiting to see what will be the breakthrough of the year 2006. maybe the theory of gravity or the pythagorean theorem? this cutting edge science is so exiting.

I think it's the _implications_ and _applications_ of evolution that are exciting. Even in psychology, there's been moves towards using evolution and it's processes to explain us :)
Pure Metal
05-01-2006, 04:20
oh,wow, if evolution is the "BREAKTHROUGH OF THE YEAR", then i am allready anxiously waiting to see what will be the breakthrough of the year 2006. maybe the theory of gravity or the pythagorean theorem? this cutting edge science is so exiting.
:eek: the earth is not flat!!! *runs around screaming* :p
Gymoor II The Return
05-01-2006, 05:00
oh,wow, if evolution is the "BREAKTHROUGH OF THE YEAR", then i am allready anxiously waiting to see what will be the breakthrough of the year 2006. maybe the theory of gravity or the pythagorean theorem? this cutting edge science is so exiting.

You'd be surprised. There are plenty of people to whom the idea of coming out of the trees themselves and walking erect is an entirely new concept.

They're ignorant and they're ornery.
Dakini
05-01-2006, 05:04
oh,wow, if evolution is the "BREAKTHROUGH OF THE YEAR", then i am allready anxiously waiting to see what will be the breakthrough of the year 2006. maybe the theory of gravity or the pythagorean theorem? this cutting edge science is so exiting.
Well, the results from gravity probe B are supposed to come out this year...
Kossackja
05-01-2006, 06:25
Well, the results from gravity probe B are supposed to come out this year...then we will finally be able to figure out if a feather really falls as fast as a bowlingball.

youd be surprised to how many ignorant people this is an entirely new concept.
Straughn
05-01-2006, 07:12
No, it's going to be the discovery of the Moon...
Is this a case of the missing smilie/emoticon?
;)