Evolution: Fact or Fiction? :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

Evolution: Fact or Fiction? One of the greatest questions of all time is: "Where the heck did we come from?" One of the most popular answers to this question is creationism, the idea that everything was created by a higher being. Another idea is evolution, the idea that all living organisms descended from a less complex organism. Up and coming in the last century, evolution possesses a new way of thinking that is being greatly accepted by the scientific community. Despite this fact many people argue that evolution has no facts to support it and there are several reasons why evolution can't happen. Evolution is the gradual change in an organisms gene pool over time, basically evolution is described in any change in the genetic makeup of an organism. The easiest way to show this is by stating examples of low level evolution as it has been observed. The best know case of this kind happened in England during the industrial evolution. There were two varieties of the English Peppered moth before the revolution, a light and a dark colored moth. The dark moth was almost nonexistent, as it was easy for predators to catch on the light colored trees. As the industrial revolution progressed, the amount of pollution in the air turned the trees a soot color, and as a result the light moths were easy for predators to spot. The light colored peppered moth all but died out, and was on the verge of extinction while the dark colored moth was thriving. In the last several decades the pollution in England has dropped and white moth is making a come back, and the dark moth is heading back towards o blivion. (Harter) Â   The moth example is considered by many to demonstrate evolution, but people against the idea of evolution say it isn't. The only thing that it showed was that nature uses natural selection to weed out the weaker of the stocks. The moth case is a clear example of natural selection not evolution because no change in the gene pool of the moth happened. Saying that the peppered moth example doesn't show evolution is preposterous. Natural selection is one of the greatest tools of evolution, as stated by Charles Darwin in his book, Origin of Species. "It may be said that natural selection is daily and hourly scrutinizing, throughout the world, every variation, even the slightest; rejecting that which is bad, preserving and adding up all that is good" wrote Charles Darwin in chapter 4:Natural Selection.