There’s no doubt that humans are far more intelligent than chimps. It still remains a popular debate on whether or not we evolved from chimps. A fair amount of people fall on each side of this debate, but what is really the truth? Did we really evolve from these animals, or do we follow the ideas of creationism? Brian Thomas, a science writer at the Institute for Creation Research, is a young Earth creationist. He wrote the article, “God’s Threading Machines.” It starts off questioning why humans have finer precision when dealing with needles and threads, whereas chimps and apes cannot perform this task. He mentions how a factory loom knows how to perform such a task with precise motion, meaning the person who designed it should also have precise motion. He further compares this threading machine to RNA; ribosomes are the needle’s eye as the strands are pulled through to construct a final product (protein). Thomas concludes that God is the ultimate Genius for the ability of humans to perform such tasks. However, I’ve always been a firm believer of evolution. While I understand the comparison he is making, I don’t think it’s valid to conclude that it was God’s creation, something that is based solely off of someone's religious beliefs. Thomas actually received his bachelors degree in Biology, so I find it quite funny that he doesn’t think there is enough information to support that evolution is indeed real!
Moreover, Jianzhi Zhang wrote an article, “Evolution of the human ASPM gene, a major determinant of brain size,” that can be found at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/, a trusted site that I’m sure we’ve all used some time in our life (especially you science majors!). In the article, he provides evidence that ASPM underwent evolution of its sequence that led to increased brain size. These mutations were only seen in the genomes of lineages that split from chimps and apes, leading to the first humans. The increase in brain size also roughly correlates with the development of speech/language, as well as many other advances in cognitive functions. With these advances in human abilities, it makes sense that we are far better problem solvers than any chimp, and we a owe a big thanks to evolution!
Article sources:
http://www.icr.org/article/9857
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1462882/
Image source:
http://www.billfrymire.com/gallery/precision-needle-thread.jpg.html
Posted by Natalie Nou (Week 6)
Wow, that's crazy that a biology major who has probably gone over the theories of evolution numerous times in his academic career still believes that creationism is a plausible reason as to how humans evolved. It is astounding that with all the evidence scientists have produced that there are still religious folk that refuse to even listen or try to understand that evolution is certainly the most proven method of humans evolving to what we are today. My hope is that one day this can be completely proved that way we can put this whole argument to bed. Regardless, I enjoyed reading your blog and appreciate anytime a fellow scientist can disprove a fake news story.
ReplyDeletePosted by Nicolas Baltayan (Group A)
I know, right?! After I declared myself a biology major and had several classes on evolution, I can't understand why anyone would argue against it, especially being a biology major. I ran across some articles of people finding evidence to support their argument on disproving evolution. While I agree that you cannot find the evidence to support evolution of every entire organism to have ever lived, there's much more evidence to support evolution of many more known organisms than there aren't. Plus, there are probably many unknown organisms that we haven't discovered that are too complex for us to understand. One of the organisms discovered was a type of centipede-looking underwater creature (don't remember its name) that hadn't evolved for over millions of years. But that shouldn't be enough evidence to discredit evolution entirely.
DeletePosted by Natalie Nou (Group C)
While I reading this my first thought was "this guy probably has no background in biology to make these claims" however, I was shocked when you mentioned he actually received a degree in biology! Religious motives has been a constant theme in most of these fake news websites and to go against evolution is ridiculous! As you stated in your post, the evolution of brain size contributed to advances in development which could explain how humans could do more precise things compared to chimps. I doubt he has any sources for these claims which makes it even harder to believe haha!
ReplyDeletePosted by Angela Driscoll (group A)
Totally agree where you said religious motives have been a constant theme in most of these fake news websites because many of the blogs following mine had to do with God! Lol. I feel like this will always be one of the main arguments again evolution. Christianity is the most populated religion in the world today, and you cannot change the minds of some of these people who have always supported the bible, no matter what!
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