Unraveling Misconceptions about Evolution Theory

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Evolution is one of the most well supported theories throughout science and is one of the best explanations we have to help us understand the diversity of life forms. There are so many parts to evolution and with each of them having various explanations it is understandable that there are also numerous misconceptions surrounding the theory. Whilst when the theory of evolution was first introduced it produced a fair bit of controversy, it was widely accepted by many biologists. Despite this, it continues to be a difficult and debated topic and so misbeliefs about it largely exist. For these reasons it is important that we study evolution and begin to understand the truth behind these misconceptions.
One of the main misconceptions about evolution …show more content…

Whilst this is true in the sense that chance plays some part in the course of evolution, natural selection is a process that works to filter out what doesn’t work from the aspects that do work, which leads to organisms evolving in a certain direction. As well as this, when the environment which organisms are in changes different variations are chosen to be passed on which then leads to different species. When harmful mutations occurred, they often died out pretty quickly as if they didn’t they would interfere with the beneficial mutations having an effect. Some mechanisms of evolution suggest chance whereas some do not, for example random mutation is the cause of much genetic variation but natural selection is definitely not random. An example of a group of animals which have adapted in a specific way to make them more likely to survive are aquatic ones, they have altered to have increased speed as this helps them to catch prey and also escape any forms of danger. Specifically sharks and dolphins have evolved to have streamlined bodies which help them to swim faster. As they were evolving, those individuals with more streamlined bodies would have been more likely to reproduce and thus pass down their genes leading to offspring which also have streamlined bodies. This, therefore, demonstrates non-random evolution of traits as this is something useful that has been …show more content…

The concept of evolution surrounds us and is used to explain many behaviors and helps us to gain understanding of life’s history, but still people have many misconceptions when it comes to considering the theory. Some of the most common ones, which I have previously discussed, include that it is always progressive, that life evolves randomly and that survival of the fittest is simply about the strongest or biggest animals. Whilst some features of these ideas are correct to an extent, they are mostly inaccurate, and the fact that these are widely believed concepts it suggests that they are commonly thought amongst

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