Scott Vo

Period 1
AP Biology
May 22, 2014
Literacy Task - The Theory of Evolution

According to Dictionary.com, evolution is defined as, change in the gene pool of a

population from generation to generation by such processes as mutation, natural selection, and
genetic drift. More simply, evolution is the change of a species over time. If you take a close
look at our population today in its different regions, you can clearly see the vast diversity of our
species and lifestyles. Even though we are all humans, we are all very different. How is this
possible? The answer to that is simple: evolution.
The first piece of evidence is fossils. If we look at fossil records, they reveal species that
have become extinct or ancestor species that have evolved into some of the organisms that we
see today. Radiometric and half-life dating allow us to fairly accurately estimate the age of these
fossils. Of course, older fossils will be lower than higher fossils in layers since the bottom has to
be there first, for another layer to be stacked upon it. Prokaryotes like bacteria were the first
organisms to develop, and to this date, they are also the oldest fossils that we have discovered.
Species like the modern horse, Equus, have been linked to older fossil species like the Eohippus.
The second piece of evidence is that many species have similar comparative anatomy.
Homologous structures like the wing of a bat, the fin of a whale, and a human arm have the same
internal bone structure although all of them differ slightly in form and function. This could
represent that they have a similar ancestor species, supporting evolution.
The third piece of evidence is comparative biochemistry. Each living organism is
composed of the elements sulfur, phosphorus, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, and hydrogen. In fact,

all living organisms also contain the same ratio of these elements in their genetic material, which
is astonishing. It is also possible to test new medicines in similar species due to having similar
biochemical pathways. For example, this is why the medical field can test new medicines, for
humans, on mice. They are both humans and are in fact very similar biologically.
The fourth piece of evidence is embryology. Any organisms that are closely related will
go through very similar embryotic stages. The vertebrate embryos all develop gill pouches.
Humans are also part of this group and have gill pouches in the early embryotic stages as well.
Later on, they develop in Eustachian tubes, which are a part of the ear. The gill pouches in fish
will develop into gills because they need them for survive. For humans, they go away because
our body wouldnt need to spend
The fifth piece of evidence would be the Endosymbiotic theory, which comes from the
idea that all eukaryotes engulfed other organelles. These organelles used to be their own cell.
After being engulfed, membrane were formed which bound them to the newly, formed
eukaryotic cell. This is supported by the evidence that the mitochondria and chloroplast both
contain separate DNA from the nucleus. Because they contain separate DNA, this implies that
they could have been their own separate cell before endosymbiosis occurred.
Many people can argue that the evolution defies the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics. This
law states that if energy if added to a closed environment, there must be chaos. In the RNA
World Hypothesis, energy is added but less disorder is created. If you think about it, it makes
sense to a certain degree. However, Earth is not a closed environment where things are
constantly stable. Things are always changing, and life itself defies death. Life defies science.
More recently in day and age, there was a debate between Creationism versus Evolutionism. This
debate featured Bill Nye and Ken Ham, which aired live on the internet. Both of which are very

well known theories and have publicized many debates on the war against religion. Either way,
they are both theories in which they cannot be proven 100 percent true. Whether you believe in
creationism or evolution is your own decision, and both can deem correct depending on how you
defend your point of view. However, in terms of who technically won the debate, the audience of
Britains Christian Today website says it was Nye, hands down with 92% of 42,567 people
supporting him. Its pretty shocking as it was the likely supporters of creationism, supporting the
man debating for evolutionism. Creationism is more so the belief that everything was created by
a greater power. All around the world, religions are different forms of creationism. However, if
God created everyone and everything, why are there certain, very distinguishable characteristics
between every living thing? What we see outside of window belongs there, is a testament to
Darwins great works and his Theory of Natural Selection. Because Earth changes its living
conditions drastically, we must be able to adapt and survive. This forces the changes and
speciation in order to survive. It is hard to believe that we are so similar yet so different. Without
evolution, survival would be impossible as we would be destroyed at the first sight of any
imminent danger. It would wipe all of the identical clones that existed since we couldnt change.
Evolution is critical to the survival of our species and every species. The debate over evolution
has been the hot topic for many decades now, and it is still hard to see, even in the age of
science, the answer to that extraordinary question. However, with each day, the answer becomes
increasingly clearer: evolution.