I got a tan this summer, then when i stopped going out into the sun as much, it went away. I evolved then de-evolved apparently.
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you fail biology forever.
(seriously, i managed to wrap my head around common descent, mutation, and natural selection when i was in high school, while being taught biology by a creationist fundy teacher --- who, thankfully, had the professional integrity to stick to the curriculum. it just isn't that hard to grok. why do people keep failing this?)
What the fucking fuck did I just read, and how can I un-read it?
Edit: Bloody hell! I made the horrible mistake of going in to read the original thread. So much stupidity ... it will never wash off!
Exposure to ultraviolet radiation causes a special type of skin cells called "melanocytes" to produce a dark-colored chemical pigment called "melanin", which has a natural capacity to absorb UV radiation. This is one of skin's natural defensive countermeasures, nothing more. The evolutionary process, on the other hand, happens across thousands of generations and is completely unobservable in individuals.
You are a fucking idiot.
After it was pointed out to her that tanning is not evolution, she replies with:
Angel: "Sure it is, its micro-evolution, the same way the finches who beaks changed and adapted did and then went back under different conditions, which is part of what the TOE is based around."
Brother Vinny: "An individual finch did not grow a longer beak under one set of conditions and then shorten its beak under reversed conditions. The finches' beaks micro-evolved across several families and down several generations."
Angel: "No, it wasnt several generations and they became smaller again like they were initially. "
image
An existing creature adapts to conditions with their currently physiology. Muscled become stronger, lung capacity increases, the top layer of skin tans as a temporary barrier... but none of that is evolution. A creature does not actually evolve in it's own lifetime.
When it passes on it's genes and reproduces however, their offspring may have a physical trait such as an entirely new gland, or organ, or an existing structure in the body may behave in a new way to cope with an environmental hazard the parents were constantly exposed to.
For example, the way our bodies produce fat has changed recently due to the problem of obesity. The brown fat cells, previously only present in infants, retains heat. This is vital for a baby, but in an adult seemingly exists for the sole purpose of burning itself off. For most people in North America obesity is a physical stress experienced constantly from early childhood until death unlike your limited exposure to sunlight which you artifically mitigate with sunscreen or by seeking shade. As such, your kids wouldn't be born with increased melanin or similar mechanisms to protect against exposure.
That's right. And it's apparent you haven't used in your brains in some time because you've lost those as well.
And if you're wondering why every one is laughing at you instead of with you for your little bon mot, look up the word Lysenkoism in Wiki.
You old commie, you.
Melanin. Fake tan. A sunny place such as, say... Africa: The Cradle of Humanity.
One of these things is not like the other, Angel4Lies . Which is it?
Jusanotheratheist beat me to it, but I'll say it anyway.
Angel, when you were out in the sun, did you feel your brain shriveling up?
No... you couldn't evolve if you tried.
Evolution is pretty much decided at conception, it works through genes.
Now, in theory, mutation could occur during cell division and the mutant cell stain could become the dominant genetic signature in your body. But it would have to occur either during the double/triple digit cell phase, or (extremely unlikely) occur convergent in many cells.
Effectively, evolution is the result of who has sex with who, and who can produce the most viable offspring.
You're confusing 'adaptation' and 'evolution'--they're two different things.
Adaptation operates at the level of individual organisms, does not involve a change in genetic composition, and is not inheritable. Tanning is a really weak example of adaptative change--a better example would be the physiologic changes an athlete undergoes when training at higher altitudes, resulting in improved aerobic capacity.
Evolution on the other hand operates at the level of a population of organisms, it always involves changes in the genetic composition of that population, and is always inheritable. The classic example is industrial melanization in peppered moths.
@Passerby
"When it passes on its genes and reproduces however, their offspring may have a physical trait such as an entirely new gland, or organ, or an existing structure in the body may behave in a new way to cope with an environmental hazard the parents were constantly exposed to."
Actually no, Passerby. That's what Lamarck thought was happening, but further study has provided strong evidence it not the case.
It would be more accurate to say that sometimes a novel structure or behavior will arise (thanks to mutation, copying errors, etc) that will either give an organism an advantage (which will allow her/him to thrive and reproduce) or a disadvantage (which will get in the way of an organism thriving and reproducing). This way, the novelty will either get passes along or stamped out. Of course, that was a ridiculously over-simplified description, but hopefully you get the idea.
@ CMatherly
As Lamarck was explained to me he believed offspring inherited the direct adaptations of the parents, that's not what I'm saying at all.
I believe environmental factors precipitate the mutation by encoding new DNA into reproductive material based on the environmental stresses suffered by the parents (not the parents personal adaptation to these stresses as Lamarck posits) until a viable mutation manifests but it's the process of natural selection and proliferation of simarly coded DNA that standardizes the change across a species.
The way you explained it just sounds like the nature of all mutation is entirely random and only coincidence determines if it is beneficial to surviving the daily routine of an organism.
I wanted to share my own personal evolution story...I ate lots of chips and soda, and gained about thirty pounds. Then I started working out, and lost the weight. But then it gets weird. I started getting this row of hard, parallel ridges down the center of my stomach. I think I'm developing, like, gills or fins or something.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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