“Vestigial Organ” is a term used to describe organs or functions that due to the course of evolution no longer have a use. The idea of useless organs had been around long before Charles Darwin, but his idea for why they were there was the one that stuck. In his book “The Descent of Man” Darwin named a few organs that were considered absolutely useless or had very little service such as wisdom teeth, the appendix, the spleen, and the hind leg bones in whales. While functions of some of these parts such as the appendix and spleen have been discovered, Evolutionists still believe that vestigial are great evidence for the evolution. In complete contrast, Creationists know that they are evidence for a Creator. They believe that the organs are not vestigial, and indeed have a use.
Why do meaningless organs point to evolution? In his book “Common Descent” Darwin considered the possibility of all life descending from one organism. If that were true, then as that organism evolved into other organisms, some parts would become unnecessary as the process went on. Some parts would be left over from the change. When a reptile changed into a bird for example, the fully evolved bird might have a few left over parts from the reptile that it doesn’t need.
An organ dubbed vestigial by most are the third molars or as they are more commonly called, wisdom teeth. It would seem that their only purpose is to support dentists financially. Coming in around the age of seventeen-twenty five, the wisdom teeth are known for emerging incorrectly, at an odd angle or unexpected location. They crowd the other teeth and can sometimes corrupt adjacent teeth. So why are they in the mouth? According to evolutionists one hundred million years ago, human ancesto...
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...e to prove that something (in this case a function) does not exist. You cannot gather evidence that something doesn’t exist. Everything has a use. The ones that haven’t been figured out yet point to a Creator for when their uses are discovered, it will provide evidence that reveal the complexity of the world God created and against evolution.
http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2013/07/01/flexi-feet http://www.realclearscience.com/articles/2013/06/27/why_cant_we_drop_evolutions_baggage_106576.html The Bible Genesis 1:31 http://www.answersingenesis.org/get-answers/topic/vestigial-organs Works Cited
http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2013/07/01/flexi-feet http://www.realclearscience.com/articles/2013/06/27/why_cant_we_drop_evolutions_baggage_106576.html The Bible Genesis 1:31
http://www.answersingenesis.org/get-answers/topic/vestigial-organs
In the book, Your Inner Fish, by Neil Shubin he presents the notion of evolution and how we can trace parts that make up the human body back to jellyfish, worms, and even fish. The book not only discusses how we arose to be what we are today, but also the implications our ancestors had on our current body plan. In this essay, I will demonstrate that I have digested the entirety of Shubin’s book by convincing you (dear reader) that everything in our bodies is based on simple changes to already existing systems. To make this case, I will use the evidence of limb development in a vast array of organisms, the four arches found in the embryological stage of development, the structures inside our noses, and how our ears have come about all due to modifications.
...h events on radically different timescales from those that characterize evolutionary change.” (Dawkins : 605) Even if Darwinism is a theory of slow cumulative processes, there are billions of fossils that date to millions of years ago. None of these include a structure with cumulative natural selection gradually happening to it in the process of evolving. According to Darwin, evolution and cumulative natural process is in a continual state of motion. If this is true, one might constantly wonder why we haven’t seen it or why fossil records aren’t found with examples of structures leading from the less evolved to more evolved. Therefore, until this day, we still wonder if Dawkin or Paley’s “design” theory is the proof for our existence. We may never know the truth, but at least we are exposed to these complex arguments of our existence that let us wonder continuously.
All primates have essentially the same kinds of specialized mammalian teeth adapted to eating a wide variety of foods. Beginning at the front, each quadrant of the mouth has 2 incisors, 1 canine, and varying numbers of premolars and molars. The incisors are used like scissors for nipping off pieces of food. The pointed canines are for piercing and tearing. The premolars and molars, with their cusps, are used to grind and smash food. In platyrrhine species, there are 3 premolars and 2 or 3 molars. This results in a dental formula of 2.1.3.2 or 2.1.3.3. In contrast, all of the catarrhines have 2 premolars and 3 molars, making a dental formula of 2.1.2.3. The chimpanzee shown below is an Old World anthropoid species and, therefore, has a catarrhine dental formula.
Darwin took copious notes, captured insects and animals and selected plants. These he preserved in jars and took them back to England where he thought about the implications of what he had seen. for almost three decades. What occurred to him was a simple notion: animals, plants, insects, fishes, etc., which were obviously related differed slightly and these differences seemed to be tied in with their ability to survive. Differences, which he called "adaptations," were often related to geographical factors. He also saw something similar in fossils: certainly some fish, sea shells, etc., that died and were covered up by sand, gradually turned to stone, and were caught forever in fossil form. There seemed to b...
The Proof of the Existence of God There are many arguments that try to prove the existence of God. In this essay I will look at the ontological argument, the cosmological. argument, empirical arguments such as the avoidance of error and the argument from the design of the. There are many criticisms of each of these that would say the existence of God can’t be proven that are perhaps.
The DNA code, that forms our genes, was the missing key for Darwin to understand how things evolved. DNA does not stay the same, it can be changed by mutations. Mutations are needed to generate variations. Without the mutations things would stay the same generation after generation. Pieces of DNA called a switch can turn certain genes on or off. Genetic Switches helps to create mutations which are sometimes responsible for an entire new species spawning from another. This is how a snake can evolve from a four legged animal, and how a whale 's front flippers has bones inside that resembles
Long standing arguments against the theory of natural selection stem from the occurrence of incipient structures and complex traits in organisms despite the seemingly stochastic nature of mutations. Many complex adaptations observed in nature today are thought to have arisen from less complex ones with simpler functions, therefore these characters are thought to have been “pre-adapted.” In order to go from a simple to a complex structures there must have been a transitional phase, where the two structures function simultaneously or where the new function is assumed without interfering with the old function. These structures are termed incipient or incomplete, and given what we know to be true of natural selection and the theory of evolution it becomes hard to reconcile the idea that natural selection continued to favor these structures despite the lack of selective value. Incipient structures are thought to be neither sufficiently large enough not elaborate enough to perform an adaptive function and thus it also becomes difficult to understand how larger complex characters arise. A discussion of morphological and developmental genetics explains that these structures have been performing useful functions since their simple origins, therefore being selectively favored while at the same time evolving to become large enough to accumulate new more complex functions. Modification of pre-existing genes and regulatory circuits in early development has been extensively studied in metazoans, Hox genes and the development of complex structures such as eyes, limbs and appendages. Phenotypic variation is therefore generated via the modification of existing genes, regulatory processes and developmental processes and this variation is acted o...
Darwin's General Summary and Conclusions of the Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex In the "General Summary and Conclusions" of The Descent of Man, and
Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection explains the general laws by which any given species transforms into other varieties and species. Darwin extends the application of his theory to the entire hierarchy of classification and states that all forms of life have descended from one incredibly remote ancestor. The process of natural selection entails the divergence of character of specific varieties and the subsequent classification of once-related living forms as distinct entities on one or many levels of classification. The process occurs as a species varies slightly over the course of numerous generations. Through inheritance, natural selection preserves each variation that proves advantageous to that species in its present circumstances of living, which include its interaction with closely related species in the “struggle for existence” (Darwin 62).
His theory of evolution is “Widely held notion that all life is related and has descended from a common ancestor: the birds, bananas, the fish and the flowers—all related. Darwin’s general theory presumes the development of life from non-life and stresses a purely naturalistic (undirected) descent with modification”. That is, complex creatures evolve from more simplistic ancestors, naturally over time. In a nutshell, as random genetic mutations occur within an organism’s genetic code, the beneficial mutations are preserved because they aid survival—a process known as “natural section”. These beneficial mutations are passed on to the next generation. “ Over time, beneficial mutations accumulate and the result is an entirely different organism (not just a variation of the original, but an entirely different
Vestigial Structures are organs which are degenerated, atrophied, or in imperfect condition or form (Miller). These organs are important to showing evolution since they are useless limbs that at one point in our ancestry were useful for our daily functions. As stated by the article on livescience.com, the function of those vestigial organs eventually ceases to help the host and as such just stops working (Miller). Vestigial structures help us trace evolution because they show how species in the animal kingdom have changed over time. The appendix for example is present in vertebrate herbivores, so at one point the human ancestors probably had a very herb based diet (Miller). Another example is the hind legs on whales (Miller). They show that at one point, whales were land dwelling creatures, possibly amphibious, that decided to return to the sea life. The hind legs are completely useless to the present day whale, also the appendix to humans, but it shows that at one point in our timeline our ances...
Charles Darwin has had the greatest influence on the world by proving the evolution of living things. Charles Darwin had first noticed the similarities of plants and animals when he took a five-year cruise on the H.M.S. Beagle, which was available to him through a friend from school. During the cruise Charles Darwin started becoming interested with the similarities between the plants and animals that were similar on different islands with similar climates, so he decided to study them more closely.
Dentists have been around for thousands of years. Dentistry got its start in the Indus Valley of India And Pakistan. “The earliest history of treating tooth related problems goes all the way back to 7000 BC, where the Indus Valley Civilization shows evidence of treating the mouth for tooth decay. The first method of treatment was bow drills, which were ancient primitive tools used for woodworking and treating tooth problems.” (http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2012/12/the-history-of-dentistry/)paragrah1 .These industrious would be dentists were master bead makers who used bow drills to cure tooth problems. From the ancient Egyptians to the Greco-Romans to early Chinese civilizations dentists have existed to aid the people with their teeth problems.
In this essay I discuss why there is proof that there is a supernatural being known as God, who has created everything we know and experience. The mere claim, that there could be a "Proof for the Existence of God," seems to invite ridicule. But not always are those who laugh first and think later. Remember how all-knowing doctors/scientists laughed at every new discovery?
Over two centuries, Lamarck’s theory of inheritance of acquired characters has been the center of controversy. The loss of the appendix’s function according to Lamarck’s theory was due to either the changing needs of humans or the changes of the environment (Burkhardt 2013:793-796). The Lamarckian explanation for the loss in functionality of the appendix can be considered an evolutionary improvement if seen through the lens of use and disuse and the inheritance of acquired traits. Use and disuse could explain why many species have lost the function of specific organs that were no longer necessary and developed new characteristics that were beneficial (Burkhardt 2013:798-801). The human appendix, for instance, is a remnant of an organ once useful for cellulose digestion.