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Darwin – the facts
I do feel so sorry for your correspondent Gordon Rees (Letters, March 16) and those like him who quite deliberately ignore facts in order to stick to their dogmas.
No evolutionary biologist would claim that the coelacanth is the ancestor of any other species; it has merely evolved its morphology less from an ancestral form than most other descendant species, so it retains more of the postulated characteristics of that ancestor.
And nobody has ever found a 'missing link', presumably in the evolution of man from ape-like ancestors? Really? How about Australopithecus afarensis, Homo erectus, Homo neanderthalis and all the other forms along the line from the last common ancestor of Homo sapiens and the other great apes? Aren't they the 'missing links' in the line of human evolution that Mr Rees claims don't exist?
Finally, what's all this about Homo sapiens being uniquely endowed with god-given wisdom? What kind of wisdom is it that makes our species over-populate and poison our own planet?
Alan Radford, Horsforth
I run a masters course in research methods at the University of Leeds and present Darwinism as the best example of a robust theory since it has been challenged and challenged since his death and still remains unscathed.
I invite course participants (Mr Rees too) to look at the evidence and discuss what they think of it. The conversations are interesting as some people come from families who promote religion while others are incredulous that people can believe 'fairy stories'.
I am impressed, however, at the way they listen with respect to each other's views. I leave them to make up their own minds. However, I ask your readers this: when the oldest human remains found in the UK are 700,000 years old, why should we have holidays (Christmas and Easter) which belong to a religious group that has been around for only a few hundred? I know they do this in totalitarian countries but this is the UK! How about winter, spring, autumn and summer hols? Could anyone really complain?
John Vaughan, email
The theory if evolution seems quite logical to me, and there is no missing link. Perhaps the only missing link is Gordon Rees's lack of knowledge.
According to the Jewish calendar man (Adam) was created around 6,000 years ago, yet Homo sapiens have been in existence for over 100,000 years according to modern science. The oldest bible has been dated as being only 1,800 years old.
The Bible is a very good teaching tool for youngsters, and without the Bible there would be a very large hole in our society.
In time our schools may also teach morals, but until that time we need to get away from our competitive rat race culture, that seems to teach us every man for himself.
N Bywater, Morley
Mr Gordon Rees's letter requires a reply, because he may not have given sufficient thought or study to the subject.
Firstly, he says that the recent finding a coelacanth fish, previously only known in a fossil dated at 400 million years, somehow blows a hole in Darwin's theory. Well not at all, say I. Scientists welcome new discoveries of any description and are not against modifying their views accordingly.
Secondly, one of the simple rules of Darwinism is to evolve only when necessary, not as a matter of course.
Mutations occur regularly in the reproduction of species, some of which may, or may not, give an advantage in the struggle for survival. If they do, they change, if not, they don't have to. Simple! For example, cockroaches have not changed in millions of years, whereas the peppered moth (Biston betularia) was, before the industrial revolution, predominantly light grey to match the grey-barked trees that it dwelled upon. As trees in industrial areas were blackened by the the outfall of factory chimneys, so the moths mutated to dark grey to avoid predators, but only in industrial areas. Is this not an example of a species in a transitional stage?
Finally, let me comment on the time scale of evolution. Because our own average life span is somewhat less than a hundred years, it can often blinker our opinions on evolution. What at first seem as unbelievable or impossible, can, with time, become really quite believable and simple. Take the case of finding a needle in a haystack, how long would it take? Let's suggest a year. Well maybe yes it could be found, with a bit of luck.
Now let's suggest a million years! So now one could for example, remove a piece of straw per day, walk say a mile, burn or bury the said piece of straw, sleep for the rest of the day, then repeat the same exercise every day until the needle is left. Evolution is no watcher of the clock.
John McGuinness, email
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