I Am Evolving Even As I Write This

The thing about evolution is that it's not obvious, no matter what the Richard Dawkinses of the world may think. Only a few animals have a complete fossil record of growth and change. More often, it seems as if species have flourished out of relative obscurity and then died out. Evolution as a process must take place relatively quickly, which doesn't make sense if we follow the original Darwinian theory. If evolution were a random process, based merely on "survival of the fittest," it would be extremely slow. The reason, I think, that Darwin retains so many staunch defenders is a) that he was mostly right, and b) that the alternative of the moment is, for all intents and purposes, biblical literalism, which won't wash with anyone with a vaguely scientific mind.

So what's the solution? For a long time, scientists have been proposing something called "punctuated equilibrium", which involves many changes taking place rapidly due to a sudden change in enviroment. However, this strikes me as mostly a case of verbal gymnastics, as it doesn't explain how species would be able to adapt quickly rather than just, you know, die. But yesterday news out of Princeton shed new light on the matter for me, and I'm sure many others as well.

Researchers were studying the electron transport chain in cells (this is the system that regulates energy use), and discovered that the chains were able to correct any artificial mutations imposed on them. They looked at how the chains did this, and found that they were making minute corrections all the time. Basically, organisms naturally make changes at the cellular level in order to better fit their environment, which makes them, hey, one of the fittest who gets to survive.

If this sounds like "intelligent design," that's because it is. But it's intelligent design by our own DNA, rather than some invisible person in the sky. What this really does is provide an explanation for how evolution works, rather than an alternate theory. Some more fascinating details can be found here.