Small claims vs. large

News & Observer, The (Raleigh, NC)

December 25, 2004

Small claims vs. large

Edition: Final

Section: Editorial/Opinion

Page: A18

The first and foremost task of the new National Evolutionary Synthesis
Center in Durham is to clarify the equivocal use of the word "evolution"
(Dec. 18 article "Grant will aid evolution studies").

The examples given -- insects becoming resistant to pesticides, animal
breeding, etc. -- deal with microevolution, which represents small-scale
changes in gene frequencies in a population over a few generations. On
the other hand, macroevolution deals with the occurrence of large-scale
changes in gene frequencies in a population over a long period. The
latter is claimed to culminate in the evolution of new species and, even
perhaps, the creation of life from non-living matter.

The center will also serve to "strategize good ways to educate
policymakers and schoolteachers about evolution's findings." Let us hope
that this does not mean using observable instances of microevolution to
prove supposed issues of origins that arise in macroevolution, e.g., the
theory of common descent.

Questions of origins have little effect on experimental science. In
physics, the notion of a Big Bang origin of the universe plays hardly
any role in 99.99 percent of the achievements that have given rise to
all the technological advances we now enjoy. I believe the same is true
in the biological sciences and its technological applications in
medicine, genetics, etc., with regard to evolution. Evolutionary theory
ought to be taught as a working assumption and not necessarily a
historical fact.

Moorad Alexanian

Professor, Department of Physics and Physical Oceanography,
UNC-Wilmington

Wilmington

Copyright 2004, 2005 by The News & Observer Pub. Co.

Record Number: i9ftc389

 
Received on Mon Jan 24 14:07:38 2005