The video talks about dinosaurs and how it was very hard for the theory of them existing to be well respected. It was not thought that dinosaurs could exist because of their immense size and that there was no mention of them anywhere in sacred stexts such as the bible. The dinosaurs that were found though were very real and later they were respected in the scientific community as a legitimate set of creatures.
The video talks about the different theories that prove evolution. One of them is vestigial structures. This theory says that certain parts of organisms can be leftover unused parts from an earlier ancestor that actually used them. The video uses the tailbone in humans as an example for these. Another theory the video uses to prove evolution is homologous structures. These are structures in embryonic organisms that are similar and prove that they have a common ancestor.
The Ted Ed video describes the five aspects of evolution. These five aspects or factors are small population size, non random mating, mutation , gene flow, and natural selection. The video says that while all five of the characteristics of evolution contribute to evolution, only natural selection contributes to adaptation, which is how organisms become better suited for their environments.
Humans as a species are rewriting the rule book that governs the concept of survival of the fittest because to survive in the life of humans it becomes more about how much money one has to have children than actually surviving. Because by nature people who can afford to have children are more likely to have them than people without the money, being able to earn money becomes important in the rule book. Instead of dying off, most of the time a bad variation such as a reduced ability to learn or a mental illness will not always result in death, but poverty or a life without having children. Therefore, the traits passed on tend to be ones that help people make money which leads to more kids, because of the development of our society that allows for people to stay alive typically even when poorly equipped with their DNA (mental hospitals etc...).
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AuthorMichael Tellini Archives
May 2014
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