PZ Myers. 2005 Dec 22. Breakthrough of the Year: Evolution!. <http://pharyngula.org/index/weblog/breakthrough_of_the_year_evolution/>. Accessed 2006 Feb 08.
Posted on M00o93H7pQ09L8X1t49cHY01Z5j4TT91fGfr on Thursday, December 22, 2005
Breakthrough of the Year: Evolution!
Science has announced their choice for the most important, the most fundamental, the most revolutionary scientific breakthrough of 2005…and their choice is evolution.
You're saying "Hold it! That was a breakthrough 146 years ago, not today!" Haven't you been listening to what I've been saying, though? We're seeing big advances in evolutionary biology. We're on the edge of a Renaissance in the discipline, if we're not already in the middle of it.
I think the announcement is open to non-subscribers, but here's the beginning, just in case it's not.
The big breakthrough, of course, was the one Charles Darwin made a century and a half ago. By recognizing how natural selection shapes the diversity of life, he transformed how biologists view the world. But like all pivotal discoveries, Darwin's was a beginning. In the years since the 1859 publication of The Origin of Species, thousands of researchers have sketched life's transitions and explored aspects of evolution Darwin never knew.
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. This year's volume might start with a proposed rearrangement of the microbes at the base of the tree of life and end with the discovery of 190-million-year-old dinosaur embryos.
Amid this outpouring of results, 2005 stands out as a banner year for uncovering the intricacies of how evolution actually proceeds. Concrete genome data allowed researchers to start pinning down the molecular modifications that drive evolutionary change in organisms from viruses to primates. Painstaking field observations shed new light on how populations diverge to form new species--the mystery of mysteries that baffled Darwin himself. Ironically, also this year some segments of American society fought to dilute the teaching of even the basic facts of evolution. With all this in mind, Science has decided to put Darwin in the spotlight by saluting several dramatic discoveries, each of which reveals the laws of evolution in action.
They single out the chimp genome sequence, new discoveries in human evolution, new ideas and evidence in speciation, and the evolution of the flu virus as highlights.
There's also a video presentation online. It seems to be busy, busy, busy right now and I've only been able to watch half of it—it's talking heads, but still, several good summaries of the significance.
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So, um, you're saying that life changes in response to changing circumstances? It adapts?
Well that's just not conservative at all. It's unamerican!
Eh, or perhaps it's the most "American" of the fundamental scientific ideas. Adapting to thrive in a new niche... give me your tired, your poor, your huddled microbes yearning to breathe oxygen...#: Posted by covington on 12/22 at 04:45 PM -
To Science list I would like to add Alan Templeton et al work on how to statistically compare the different trees of genes and test hypotheses about human evolution.
His statistical study shows that Africans and Eurasians interbred enough to let genes flow back and forth for at least 1.5 million years (with 95% confidence). Which makes it pretty much a certainty that a single Out of Africa event is a dead theory.
Carl Zimmer has a description and a link to Templetons latest paper. http://www.corante.com/loom/archives/2005/12/06/tree_or_trellis.php#: Posted by on 12/22 at 05:49 PM -
From an email from AAAS:
"I encourage you to read about, view, and listen to our extensive coverage of these discoveries online at http://www.sciencemag.org/sciext/btoy2005. There you will find an exclusive video, produced in conjunction with BioCompare, that includes insightful commentary and interviews with the researchers. At the website, you can also read the entire Breakthrough of the Year issue, free of charge until March, or listen to our related podcast."
My emphasis. Nice folks over there, sometimes.#: Posted by on 12/22 at 06:54 PM -
Look, I've read this blog for quite some time, and although it's usually interesting, it has recently become rather monotonous. I support the views espoused in this blog, however, I draw issue with the polemic, crowing attitude reiterated day after day after day.
My credentials:
Simply a rather nerdy molecular bio undergrad who finds religion as ludicrous as you.
Summarily, yes, creationists are stupid, bumbling idiots, but really, where's the dignity in reiterating that every day at the expense of truly interesting science articles?#: Posted by Toaster Sunshine on 12/22 at 07:29 PM -
That was cool stuff. Nice summary of what people learn when they apply the scientific method.
#: Posted by on 12/22 at 07:33 PM
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Simply a rather nerdy molecular bio undergrad who finds religion as ludicrous as you. Summarily, yes, creationists are stupid, bumbling idiots, but really, where's the dignity in reiterating that every day at the expense of truly interesting science articles?
well, there are a mix of good science articles here, for sure. but, (a) the attitude that this kind of examination of the issues can be left to "others" is why, in part, we have the problem with Creationism and ID in the first place, and, (b), why should PZ be the only one to take on countering ID and creationism as well as provide articles of scientific substance to read? what about you, Toaster Sunshine? you're a "molecular bio undergrad". you could write expository articles on the Web, too.#: Posted by ekzept on 12/22 at 08:28 PM -
Good stuff.
It wasn't until around 1995 when I read The Beak of the Finch by Jonathan Weiner that evolution existed in the present tense for me. It had always fascinated me but that's when it hit me that it's not all that slow; it's dynamic, with small changes occuring all the time, with populations rising and falling, and genetics roughly stabilizing around successful models.
Now if evolution can just give us better politicians!#: Posted by Craig on 12/23 at 12:34 AM -
Merry Cephalopodmas to all!
#: Posted by on 12/23 at 08:28 AM
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Look, I've read this blog for quite some time, and although it's usually interesting, it has recently become rather monotonous.
I believe the recent surge in Creationist bashing articles is due to the recent Dover trial and the resurgance of Creationism on the national stage. It has become a fairly major issue so it gets more coverage on the blogs including this one.#: Posted by on 12/23 at 08:44 AM -
"become rather monotonous"
It has to be; otherwise ID will claim the gap.#: Posted by on 12/23 at 09:26 AM -
Listen, asking a creationist to think about "genome data" is like asking my 6-yr-old to think about trigonometry.
#: Posted by beajerry on 12/23 at 09:55 AM
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#54965: Torbjörn Larsson — 12/23 at 09:26 AM
"become rather monotonous"
It has to be; otherwise ID will claim the gap.
Oh no, a monotony gap! Can we compete? Science has to find a different solution to each problem, but Creationists use the same "God did it" explanation to cover everything. I think we are seriously outgunned when it comes to monotony.#: Posted by on 12/23 at 10:10 AM -
Interesting perspective - I was aware that the filed of evolutionary biology had had some pretty big discoveries in recent years, but I didn't realize that it could be considered a Renaissance of the discipline.
#: Posted by on 12/23 at 11:15 AM
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FAO Toaster Sunshine.
There is a science only link on teh top lef area of the page, which will filter for you.
this might also work.
http://pharyngula.org/index/science/#: Posted by on 12/23 at 11:41 AM