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Scientists Take Crucial Steps Towards Understanding Evolution |
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Written by Daniel
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Tuesday, 24 June 2008 |
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Scientist correct evolutionary theory, showcase flexibility of evolution science
Jason Mick (Blog) - June 24, 2008 8:35 AM
DailyTech While many lines of criticism have been leveled against evolution theory over the years, one of the most ironic reoccurring criticisms focuses in one of its greatest strengths -- flexibility. Frequently the theory is alternatively blasted for being too rigid and an incomplete picture and then later for changing and revising.
Flexibility is a key strength of evolution theory. DailyTech recently chronicled a major evolution observed by American researchers, believed to be the first of its magnitude to be observed. Now evolutionary biologists have made critical steps in revising the genetic side of evolutionary theory to help explain one of the most daunting questions of evolutionary history -- how prehistoric fish evolved over hundreds of millions of years into amphibians, then reptiles, and finally mammals, and eventually how apes evolved into humans.
European Molecular Biology Laboratory's European Bioinformatics Institute [EMBL-EBI] researchers have discovered and fixed critical errors in genetic comparisons between species. Genetic comparisons are frequently used to draw evolutionary conclusions about heredity and common ancestors. However, according to the EMBL-EBI researchers, these methods have been suffering silently under systematic errors.
Their findings are detailed in the journal Science this month. They don't just point out the problem either -- they provide a solution. The researchers have developed a computational tool which avoids the errors and offers key insight into how DNA and protein sequences have evolved over time. [Dailytech...] [Comments...]
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