Intelligent Design Of The Universe

7 Pages 1781 Words

m. "Gradualism is the idea that evolutionary changes do not occur suddenly but over large amounts of time, ranging from decades to millions of years" Genetic drift is another way that scientists define evolution. When two of a species mate, their offspring gets 23 chromosomes from both parents. When a gene does not split and combine correctly, a mutation occurs. This mutation will get passed down from the creature to its offspring. In this way a species can permanently be changed. Scientists who have accepted the general theory of evolution as fact disagree among themselves about the ratio of importance between natural selection and genetic drift. They also disagree about what caused the apparent gaps in fossil layers. New species "abruptly" appear in the fossil record with no apparent mutation from another species, then remain unchanged for long periods of time. They do not seem to exhibit the gradual changes that would be expected by modern evolutionists.

Many people, including those in the scientific community, do not accept the theory of evolution as fact. When Darwin was alive, his theory was attacked by many scientists and religious leaders. In the 1900's, United States public high schools began teaching evolution in science classes. By the 1920's, laws in twenty states to ban the ...