Mutations in Nature and Culture Essay

Evolution is a change in the characteristic of living organism through time. Modern synthesis, one of the greatest intellectual achievements of biology, could explain how mutations and natural selection could produced large-scale evolutionary change. There are 4 mechanisms for evolution to occur; mutation, gene flow, genetic drift and natural selection.
Although, there are a number of misconceptions about evolution; it does not explain the origins of life, it is not progressive, natural selection is not about the survival of the fittest individuals in a population, humans are not currently evolving, it does not make organism better designed nor does it gives organism what they need to survive. This essay will describe further, 3 common misconceptions

Mutations occur in the DNA sequence of a gene in an organism. When it comes to the importance of mutations, evolution is the

According to Dr. James Krupa of The University of Kentucky “evolution is the foundation upon which all biology rests.” In biology, evolution is the genetic change in characteristics over generations and is dependent on the process of natural selection. ‘The theory of evolution is based on the idea that all species are related and gradually change over time’ (Genome Campus, 2017). Genetic variation is vital to evolution as it affects the physical characteristics or phenotypes of morphology. Natural Selection is affected by environmental factors that act upon a population and result in the mutation of organism through offspring. These mutations enable individuals to adapt to their environments in order to survive, find food, avoid predators and

Evolution is the idea of a living organism adapting or mutating to gain beneficial physiological, psychological and structural features. The genetic makeup of all living things is constantly changing, due to DNA replication errors or outside factors, some of these changes impact drastically on the organism changing it for the better or worse. Typically when an organisms genetic code is changed for the better and it reproduces and outlives its unchanged counterparts this process is called evolution.

Throughout history, there has been a major debate on the theory of evolution. Is it true? The term evolution has been defined many ways, and for the purpose of this paper, I will use the fourth definition from the Merriam-Webster dictionary. “Evolution is the descent with modification from preexisting species: cumulative inherited change in a population of organisms through time leading to the appearance of new forms: the process by which new species or populations of living things develop from preexisting forms through successive generations.” (Merriam-Webster, 2017) What does this mean and how could it possibly be true? In this paper, I will explain the different ideas

The four common forces of evolution are: mutation, natural selection, genetic drift, and gene flow. Evolution transpires when one or more of instances occur. Mutations are a random hereditary change of DNA capable of passing from the parent to the off spring within each person’s own DNA. Natural mutations occur when cells are copied and begin to divide. The Genetic drift is a random change in allele frequency from one generation to the next and will have a greater impact in smaller populations. However, the genetic flow is a separated population of species that come in contact and will begin to breed and exchange DNA but also works to decrease the variations between the two different kind’s species. Natural selection is the process that

The word “meme” was coined in 1976 by biologist Richard Dawkins in his book The Selfish Gene. The word is meant to describe something that is transmitted in any way other than genetically. According to Dawkins, the word meme isn’t necessarily intended to be used exclusively for scientific purposes. “Examples of memes,” Dawkins writes, “are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes, fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches. Just as genes propagate themselves in the gene pool by leaping from body to body via sperms or eggs, so memes propagate themselves in the meme pool by leaping from brain to brain via a process which, in the broad sense, can be called imitation.”

Natural selection; Darwin’s natural selection has by individuals better adapted to their environment with survival and reproductive success. (Than, 2005) Variation is an example of Natural Selection. Variation shows that the outcome of an organism changes. The outcome will be found by existing genetics and there will not be any invented characteristics. As a result of variation varieties that have long tails or shorter tails may appear in certain species’ gene pool. (____________). With that being said though that is not saying that variations can change a bird into a reptile. Heredity is another way natural selection plays a part in evolution. Heredity is the passing on a physical or mental characteristic genetically from one generation to another. Humans are an example of heredity, by children get genes from their parents. When you look at the genes from both your parents, they are not the same. Parents genes change over time, to show this look at a family with two kids, they I’ll not have the exact same genes, because the kid 's genes will have some of the different parental genes but some will be the same. Which is why the two kids can look similar. People that do not believe in evolution would use the argument

We look to metaphors as a way to understand one thing by comparing it to another thing, and in this case, we compare knowledge within a discipline to the principles of natural selection. The principles of natural selection are the “Principle of variation”, the “Principle of heredity”, and the “Principle of selection”. These principles are evidently shown with the development of knowledge in disciplines with sciences and history as different areas of knowledge. Though, in the development of the knowledge in science are more apparent that the development of knowledge in history. While technological and biological advancements are evident in our modern world observations, human advancements are more difficult to measure as how much change is required

The theory of evolution in itself is an evolution. The way humans understand how life came to exist and how it has changed along the way reflects the different socio economic environments we have created. For any scientist, previous theory’s and ideas from historians or other scholars are used in part to form the basis of understanding of new information (Klyve, D. k. 2014). The understanding of evolution as we see it today comes from many areas of the world amid varying time periods. The most famous and current understanding is that of Darwin, in 1859 his book On the Origin of Species revolutionized the way we see life and its continuity through natural selection. In this essay I will look at a project pertaining to the observational study of tropical fish that have changed through time with natural selection and divergence of geographical isolation. Scientists have found that by comparing genome scans, links in different lineages of Pacific reef fishes give an example of how isolating barriers contribute to morphologic changes in the species, (Gaither, M. R.,2015). I will also look at another study which suggests that natural selection is flawed as it does not take into account the current understanding of genomics. this study suggests that instead of natural selection and the process of evolving traits through the added complexity of structures in a species, species evolve due to random changes from the evolution of genomes (Randall JE 2007). Their idea if genomes

Evolution= Something that changes over a period of time.We can see this more in animals.

When identifying what a meme is, one should consider the fact that a meme is not just a circulating picture of a cat deemed grumpy. A meme is much more complex in the sense that exist as many different entities ranging from new concepts to new slang words, to even a development of a new behavior that has become popular within a culture. Richard Dawkins, author of the book “The Selfish Gene” who is also credited for the creation of the word “memetics” states that memes act as units that house ideas, symbols, and behaviors that are distributed from person to person via word of mouth, tv, magazines. According to Dawkins’s theory, there is a tremendously positive correlation between cultural evolution and biological evolution. He claims that memes are ideas that act as genes in the sense that they begin with one person and travel to the

manifestations. We therefore have a framework in which natural selection and drift can count as

During ancient archaic times, several species existed in the Old World including Homo sapiens in Africa and the Middle East, Homo erectus inhabited Asia, and Homo neanderthalensis flourished throughout Europe. These species however, all lacked a cognitive flexibility which would destroy the blinding walls that blocked any connection between their multiple intelligences. All of science agrees that Homo erectus originated in Africa and expanded to Eurasia one million years ago. However, around 30,000 years ago, taxonomic diversity suddenly disappears and humans evolved into their modern form, signified by their fluent speech,

A meme is described by Dawkins as a “unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation,” and the occurrence of the meme is rampant in contemporary society. Today, “tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches,” seemingly last no longer than the blink of an eye before they are replaced by the next new innovation (Dawkins 206). Rather than drifting toward having the most fit genes, we seem to be shifting toward the most fit memes and ideologies. Instead of being worker drones fighting to allow the propagation of genes, we offer our lives as a sacrifice for the propagation of our society’s ideology. Consequently, societal and ideological evolutions appear to closely follow the three main Darwinian tenets of evolution. What are colloquially referred to as memes (images, typically with a caption, that are valued for their comedic appeal) will serve as the quintessential example of the psychological phenomenon called memes to show what I am talking about on a small scale. The first of the Darwinian tenets holds that more individuals are produced each generation than can survive (Darwin 539, 588). This applies to memes in the sense that many are produced, but not all are as successful, widely shared, or parodied, as others. The second and third tenets of Darwinian evolution provide an answer as to which memes do get transmitted and which do not: variation exists among individuals, and if they vary in a way to make them more likely to survive, then they will also be more likely to propagate themselves into the next generation (Darwin 540). In terms of the evolution of memes, this means each meme has its own traits, and, should one have some quality that makes it more appealing to