Coelacanths As "almost Living Fossils"

[Brewcuse]

Perhaps this will help correct the notion that coelacanths are proof of Noah's flood?

http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fevo.2014.00049/full

cheers

[tmaier]

Probably not... some people believe things because they want to, and you can't argue with that.

The article makes brief mention of this, but to people who have had only a one day introduction to the theory of evolution often end up with the false impression that all organisms are climbing a ladder of ascendance. This makes it seem like organisms that not seeming to change are freaks or defy the theory. Why aren't they climbing the ladder to a higher form? They must be stuck and therefore inferior.

The reality of it is that evolution is a game where sometimes you are already doing well, and it is the best strategy to stand pat rather than change. This creates long periods of stasis, or no change for a species. They might be a "lower life form", but they are quite happy there.

Biochemical changes happen continuously withing the population, but morphological stasis wins out because the organism is already good enough for his niche. Genetically changes are accumulating, but certain genes are selected specifically for lack of change, rather than "climbing the ladder".

The whole ladder concept is what throws people off course. Unfortunately the real nuances of evolution take much longer to present and understand than the time alloted to teach it. People walk away with half-baked ideas.

I think a good way to present the theory of evolution would be to come up with a board game of "evolution", similar to monopoly, but you have the ability to roll the dice and NOT go around the board, if you don't feel it is to your advantage.

[Oxytropidoceras]

A related article is:

The Falsity of Living Fossils (New studies of tadpole

shrimp and other organisms show that the term “living

fossil” is inaccurate and misleading.) by Ed Yong,

April 2, 2013, http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/34927/title/The-Falsity-of-Living-Fossils/

The above article discusses coelacanths.

A related thread is “Not Living Fossils” at

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/36308-not-living-fossils/

Yours,

Paul H.

Edited September 7, 2014 by Oxytropidoceras

[Raggedy Man]

Every time I go to our library those people sit out front ranting about this and that. The first few conversations were entertaining so to say...but it developed into a thing of beauty when I pulled a fossil out and learned Satan has demons making them in factories...totally blew my mind!!

[tmaier]

I was cornered in a bathroom at a national park by an evangelist who had a bible and a box of fossils. He wouldn't let me out until I heard his whole spiel, so we sat on a park bench and he showed me his collection, which was quite nice. Then I got a lesson on the flood and a new theory of geology and the chemistry of petrification. He was actually a very nice person, but really keyed up about spreading this good news.

I was very educated then.

[Auspex]

There is a futility in using science to invalidate faith (and vice-versa); these are completely separate matters.