Yes! The theory of Evolution shows that a species will thrive if it has favorable characteristics.
A simple way of explaining it is this: Say that when humans are still in the trees, one pregnant mother is hit by a stray photon of radiation (OK I'm dumbing it down here) and her child is mutated. The child has received the 'Sleepy Smoker Gene' (OK I'm REALLY dumbing it down here. This gene may consist of nicotine sensitivity and associated drowsiness but you get the idea).
This isn't very important at the time as nobody smokes, but fast forward to 2010. Say that the sleepy smoker gene has been inherited by every 1 in 1000 people because they are descendants of this mother primate. Now, smoking is popular and more people are likely to fall asleep while smoking. These people may eventually die off and the more favourable genes in the human race will replace them. The sleepy smoker gene will disappear into obscurity and no more people will fall asleep and die while smoking.
Acquired characteristics acquired during an organism's lifetime cannot be passed on to offspring according to modern evolutionary theory. Evolution is driven by genetic variations that are inherited and can lead to changes in a population over time through natural selection.
Jean Lamarck's theory of evolution is known as zoological philosophy or the inheritance of acquired characteristics, and stated that changes to an organisms phenotype (basically what it looks like) will cause changes to it's genotype (DNA). This has been disproved of by modern scientists, with natural selection as the main theory.
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, a French biologist, proposed the idea of the inheritance of acquired characteristics as part of his theory of evolution in the early 19th century. He believed that traits acquired during an organism's lifetime could be passed on to offspring.
Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution. Strictly speaking, Charles Darwin did not put forward the "theory of evolution". He publish a book called "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection OR The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life". The theory of evolution had been around for a long time, in fact, his grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, had proposed evolution 75 years before Charles published his book. Charles Darwin gave us the driving force for evolution - Natural Selection. There had been suggestions for evolution and evidence in fossils well before Charles Darwin. It is just that nobody could work out why until Charles.
Jean-Baptiste LaMarck's evolution theories included soft inheritance, Lamarckism. The idea that an organism can pass on characteristics it acquired during it's lifetime onto it's offspring, a use/disuse theory(i.e., burrowing animals such as a mole now have small eyes due to disuse). In 1801, he published a major work in the classification of invertebrates, a term he coined. In 1802, he was one of the first scientists to use the term biology in modern sense.
This is the theory of Lamarck and it is long refuted.
Acquired characteristics acquired during an organism's lifetime cannot be passed on to offspring according to modern evolutionary theory. Evolution is driven by genetic variations that are inherited and can lead to changes in a population over time through natural selection.
French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck's theory of evolution conflicted with Darwin's theory. Lamarck proposed that acquired characteristics could be passed down to offspring, while Darwin's theory emphasized natural selection and gradual change over generations.
Scientists do not prove things. Lamarck's theory is long refuted as acquired characteristics and the use and disuse concepts are not explanations for evolution of populations.
Larmark's theory was based on the idea that organisms inherited characteristics that they had acquired in life - so, if you have a scar your offspring will have scars. Darwin's theory assumed that offspring inherited characteristics from their parents, but they were more likely to survive to breed if there was advantage to those characteristics.
lemarck ideas of evolution are known as the inheritance of acquire characteristic what was incorrect about his theory of how organisms evole
Lamarck believed in the theory of inheritance of acquired characteristics, which suggests that organisms can pass on traits acquired during their lifetime to their offspring. However, modern science has rejected this theory because it does not align with the principles of genetics and natural selection, which are the driving forces of evolution.
His theory of use and disuse was rejected.
He incorporated the Acquired Traits theory into evolution, which Darwin's research proved as BS.
His two main concepts, acquired characteristics and a innate " desire " to evolve, were both unsupported by any evidence and were not the way evolution happens. So, Lamarck's " theory " ( in the vulgar sense ) was utterly refuted by the actual evidence and process of evolution.
Larmark's theory was based on the idea that organisms inherited characteristics that they had acquired in life - so, if you have a scar your offspring will have scars. Darwin's theory assumed that offspring inherited characteristics from their parents, but they were more likely to survive to breed if there was advantage to those characteristics.
What is the mechanism that causes evolution. Both knew evolution occurred and occurs but did not know how or why. Lamark's " desire to evolve " and " acquired characteristics " failed to explain evolution. Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection was the better explanation.