Evolution

It is important to save water because one day the earth may run out of water. If you haven't noticed the oceans and rivers are slowly draining due to people using so much water. Once we don't have water we won't be able to live. One way we can save the water is by using DESALINATION. Water desalination is when you turn salty or brackish water in to fresh clean drinkable water

So it is very important that you save water not only for us but for our planet and the other living creatures as well.

The difference between growing and developing is that when you grow, your body becomes larger and developing is when you become more advanced in things, like you get more smarter or you learn more things.

As a result of Columbus's voyages to the New World, a biological pipeline between America and Europe opened up that had been apart since before humans appeared on earth. The lands had drifted apart that had once been connected. Some species of plants and animals flourished in both areas, and some did not. There were many new animals and plants in the Americas that Europeans had never seen. And, Europeans brought plants and animals to the New World that America had never seen. This includes viruses and other biological organisms. The new animals brought to America upset the ecology of the area. The people living in the Americas did not have resistance to many of the "germs" brought by the Europeans. Biologically, the Indians had not been exposed to measles, smallpox, whooping cough, chicken pox, and influenza. The effect of these diseases on the Americans was catastrophic. Bacteria and viruses killed more Native Americans than did Spanish swords. The Indians also gave to the Europeans, venereal disease. Medical historians disagree on the origins of syphilis, but it was first identified by physicians in 1493, in Cadiz, Spain, the port which Columbus returned to after his first voyage. The Colombian Exchange was also a cultural exchange. New agricultural developments were traded, economic activity and opportunities opened up between the New and Old Worlds, and new ideas were exchanged.

The evolution of the watertight egg allowed vertebrates to reproduce on land, breaking their dependence on water for reproduction. This adaptation enabled vertebrates to exploit terrestrial habitats and diversified their evolutionary opportunities.

Dragonfly fossils are formed through a process called fossilization, where a deceased dragonfly would typically be buried in sediment or mud. Over time, the soft tissues decompose, leaving behind hard parts such as exoskeletons or wings that can become fossilized. The surrounding sediment eventually hardens into rock, preserving the dragonfly remains as a fossil.

Analogous structures are features of two different species that are similar in how the function, but the structure of the two features is different. The wings of an insect and the wings of a bird are analogous structures.

The following points could be discussed under this topic:

Talk what you know about this topic . Talk of its relevance in day to day life( or irrelevance if you feel so..). Talk of its influence in literature e.g . Influence of Kant on the romantic poets especially Wordsworth or of Bacon , Voltaire et al on the "Enlightenment"period etc. Talk of its influence in politics e.g. Influence of Nietszche on Hitler and subsequent genocide during Nazi regime etc. Talk of ethics and morals and their importance in life. talk of Indian philosophy. the Gita . Discuss whether we use any of these in our lives and their importance in moulding our values...etc...

The first forms of life on Earth were likely single-celled microorganisms, such as bacteria and archaea. These simple organisms are thought to have appeared around 3.5 to 3.8 billion years ago in early Earth's oceans.

Louis Pasteur is credited with refuting the concept of spontaneous generation with his experiments in the mid-19th century. He showed that living organisms do not arise from non-living matter but instead come from pre-existing life forms, laying the foundation for the field of microbiology.

You can say that they provide the same function for the organism, but their origin i different. For example, bats, birds and dragonflies all have wings, but bone placement isn't present in dragonflies as it is in birds and bats. They all let them fly, but they evolved into that form in different ways. It's two structures (or more) that perform the same function but evolved separately.

A missing link is something necessary to complete a series, like an animal fossil that has not yet been found to prove that apes evolved into humans. A missing link is an argument against evolution, claiming that it cannot be true just because we are lacking some fossils to prove i. However it could be argued that since we haven't even found all of the animals alive yet, there is no way we could know everything that has ever lived.

Half of all missing link fossils have been found in whole or part. Tiktaalik is a very important one connecting fish to tetra-pods.

Geographic isolation refers to physical barriers preventing gene flow between populations, leading to genetic divergence. Reproductive isolation happens when populations can no longer interbreed due to differences in mating behaviors, physiology, or genetics, resulting in the formation of new species. Both mechanisms play a crucial role in the process of speciation.

Evolution is a gradual process that occurs over billions of years, requiring specific conditions such as the presence of genetic variation and environmental pressures to drive adaptation. While the principles underlying evolution are universal, the specific circumstances needed for life to evolve as it has on Earth may not be present in other parts of the universe. Additionally, the vastness of space and the limitations of current technology make it challenging to detect life and evolution on other planets.

The central idea of biological evolution is that all life on Earth shares a common ancestor. Over a large number of years, evolution produces diversity in forms of life due to gene flow, mutations, migration, genetic drift, and natural selection. Some things can be explained, for example, in geographical isolation. Over time a species which can not interbreed because of mountains, becomes less alike and can no longer interbreed to form fertile offspring.

Evolution explains how all living organisms share a common ancestor, providing the unity of life. At the same time, it accounts for the diversity of life through the process of natural selection, where variations that are advantageous for survival and reproduction become more prevalent in a population over time, leading to the wide array of species we see today. Evolutionary theory has become a fundamental framework for understanding the interconnectedness of all living beings and their adaptation to changing environments.

The scientific study of heredity is called genetics. It involves understanding how traits are passed down from one generation to the next, and how variations in genes can result in different characteristics in individuals. Genetics encompasses topics such as inheritance patterns, gene expression, and the role of DNA in transmitting genetic information.

Basically, it states there are two forms of a gene called alleles, heterozygous in this case, and one allele masks the expression of the other allele. This is simplified, as it can get complex with co-dominance and partial dominance.

Evolution is something that nobody seriously doubts, the evidence is all around. But you have in mind the Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection: a scientific theory originated by Darwin after his voyage in the Research ship Beagle. Some religious sects take exception to the element of this theory that ascribes completely new species to the mechanisms that Darwin describes, wishing to reserve the creation of species to God's work alone. Darwin's theory features: natural variation by sexual reproduction, with mutations. The elimination of most dfferent forms because they are not well-adapted to the conditions. The survival of a FEW different forms because they suit the conditions better (or the conditions have changed enough to make them more successful at present) If different forms survive and multiply, then over millions of generations, the forms of survivors can be dramatically different. It is difficult to observe the effects of millions of generations, except in creatures with very, very short lifespans - but there are many of those too: bacteria, flies and insicts for example. Even so, Darwin's theory is taught in every state of the US and every developed country because it is successful in predicting and explaining observed data: this is the test of all scientific theories. /Brian W

Distantly related organisms can find themselves experiencing similar environmental circumstances. For example, ducks rummage for food in the mud of ponds and lakes, and the shapes of their bills reflect that adaptation. There is quite a bit of variability in bird bill shape, and for ducks the varaition which works best for their habitats is a wide shape so that food can be gathered up with mud and water then strained. In Australia, the platypus--a mammal-- feeds upon similar organisms and in a similar way. It also has a bill shaped much like a duck's, but it is not made up of similar tissue. A duck's bill is made up of a hard, horny material, similar to fingernails, while the platypus bill is made up of soft tissue. The bills of these two organsisms, while completely different structurally, converged on a similar shape due to similar dietary habits. One can find lots of other examples of this phenomenon. Consider organisms that swim in water. The optimal shape for that is elongated and smooth. Fish certainly possess that shape, but so do whales, dolphins and porpoises. Yet both groups have very different evolutionary histories, and their shapes, while similar, betray their evolutionary origins with significant differences. Fish swim with a side-to-side motion, and their tail fins are vertical. Whales, on the other hand, being descended from land-dwelling organisms, do not have backbones which bend easlily from side to side, so they swim with an up-and-down motion of the tail, and their tail fins, or flukes, are aligned horizontally.

Darwin's Theory of Evolution is the widely held notion that all life is related and has descended from a common ancestor: the birds and the bananas, the fishes and the flowers -- all related. Darwin's general theory presumes the development of life from non-life and stresses a purely naturalistic (undirected) "descent with modification". That is, complex creatures evolve from more simplistic ancestors naturally over time. In a nutshell, as random genetic mutations occur within an organism's genetic code, the beneficial mutations are preserved because they aid survival -- a process known as "natural selection." These beneficial mutations are passed on to the next generation. Over time, beneficial mutations accumulate and the result is an entirely different organism (not just a variation of the original, but an entirely different creature).

The evolutionary theory called the theory of acquired characteristics. The geocentric model. Spontaneous generation. Phrenology. The Ether (theorized medium for propagation of light). Aristotle's view of gravity. Newtonian mechanics (under relativistic conditions).

Old World monkeys are believed to have evolved from ancient primates that lived in Africa and Asia around 25 million years ago. Through a process of adaptation to their changing environments, these early primates eventually gave rise to the diverse group of monkeys we see today. Key evolutionary developments, such as the development of a more complex brain and improved mobility, played a crucial role in the evolution of Old World monkeys.