Why We Don't Need To Look At The Fossil Record To Establish That The Theory Of Evolution Is Probably True

1. "Human fingernails are obviously vestigial claws that have no function."



"To grip on to things more easily. The nails also serve to strengthen and protect the ends of the fingers; since they are rigid they absorb some of the stress that the tip of the finger bones would otherwise have to bear. They also help with the general sensitivity of the fingertips. When touching something, rather than having the skin 'give' with the pressure, the nail holds the skin in place.Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_use_are_fingernails#ixzz254KlZHW6 "



2. "Why is the eye so flawed, and why does it have a gaping blind spot where the optic nerve is?"



"The human eye is an organ which reacts to light for several purposes. As a conscious sense organ, the mammalian eye allows vision. Rod and cone cells in the retina allow conscious light perception and vision including color differentiation and the perception of depth. The human eye can distinguish about 10 million colors.[1]

In common with the eyes of other mammals, the human eye's non-image-forming photosensitive ganglion cells in the retina receive the light signals which affect adjustment of the size of the pupil, regulation and suppression of the hormone melatonin and entrainment of the body clock.[2]" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_eye)

"The beginning of the optic nerve in the retina is called the optic nerve head or optic disc. Since there are no photoreceptors (cones and rods) in the optic nerve head, this area of the retina cannot respond to light stimulation. As a result, it is known as the “blind spot,” and everybody has one in each eye.

The reason we normally do not notice our blind spots is because, when both eyes are open, the blind spot of one eye corresponds to retina that is seeing properly in the other eye. (http://www.tedmontgomery.com/the_eye/optcnrve.html)



3. "What use is the appendix in modern humans?"



"For years, the appendix was credited with very little physiological function. We now know, however, that the appendix serves an important role in the fetus and in young adults. Endocrine cells appear in the appendix of the human fetus at around the 11th week of development. These endocrine cells of the fetal appendix have been shown to produce various biogenic amines and peptide hormones, compounds that assist with various biological control (homeostatic) mechanisms. " (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=what-is-the-function-of-t) />
These researchers at the 'Duke University Medical School' believe they have sufficient evidence to back up their theory, in that the appendix appears to help produce and protect the good bacteria in the intestines. The appendix, they say, acts like a "good bacteria factory" that "cultivates and preserves" good bacteria nutrition to help keep your body healthy. (http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/publish/appendix.shtml )



4. Why do we get goosebumps if we no longer have thick enough hair to be intimidating in the same way that chimps are to their peers?



I honestly do not know! the reasons why we get them medically are varied from fear to cold to arousal! goosebumps are however not limited to primates! and the reason is less of intimidation except with things like porcupines. the rest of nature uses it as a fight or fi=light repsonse. it's assumed the tingle sensation would get you to react to a situation. or in the case of cold will form extra conductive blanket by trapping air close to the body.

the real question to me is if evolution is true why have we not lost this "useless" function very very long ago?



5. Why do we have a tail bone?



"it is an important attachment for various muscles, tendons and ligaments—which makes it necessary for physicians and patients to pay special attention to these attachments when considering surgical removal of the coccyx.[2] Additionally, it is also a part of the weight-bearing tripod structure which acts as a support for a sitting person. When a person sits leaning forward, the ischial tuberosities and inferior rami of the ischium take most of the weight, but as the sitting person leans backward, more weight is transferred to the coccyx.[2]" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coccyx)



6. "Why do dolphins, whales, and other cetaceans have hand and finger bones in their fins?"



I agree these do look remarkably like big hands! they are not hoever finger bones or without functions. their fin bones and holds the structure of the fin to alow fo swimming. without the cetaceans will not be able to swim.



7. Why do bats have similar bones in their wings?



Also pertains directly to the structure of the wing. and is used to achieve flight. without it the bat won't be able to fly



8. Why do male mammals have nipples?

i have no idea! but i did find this very funny article on the matter which you gotta read and enjoy it's purely comentary but quite funny http://www.salon.com/1999/06/08/nipples/



9. Why are bird genomes much more similar to dinosaur genomes than reptile genomes are to dinosaur genomes?



"There is a reason why there are no dinosaur geneticists – their careers would quickly become as extinct as the ‘terrible lizards’ themselves. Bones may fossilise, but soft tissues and molecules like DNA do not. Outside of the fictional world of Jurassic Park, dinosaurs have left no genetic traces for eager scientists to study." (http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2009/06/21/dinosaurs-provide-clues-about-the-shrunken-genomes-of-birds/)



10.1. "For "half an eye" arguments: is there ever a point at which a developing fetus has "half a head" inside the womb? After all, the head is too complex to have come from JUST a ***** and egg cell!"

If the head and in fact the entire body does not come from JUST a ***** and egg cell then what other ingredients do you think are needed?



10.2. Feathers may have initially evolved for the purposes of regulating temperature;

is this a question or a statement?

"Controlling body temperature



To keep their body temperature steady birds can either expose their heads and feet to cool down, or tuck them into their feathers to help keep warm." (http://askabiologist.asu.edu/content/23-functions-feathers)



10.3. organs and body parts do not have to maintain a singular function throughout their tenures, so rudimentary precursors to the eye needn't have been an 'eye' in the sense that we think of them today.



i don't know about you but throughout my organs tenures they have maintained their function throughout their tenures! though i am going deaf! and growing alergic to stupidity.



i'll give you 10.3 just because your so far behind and it's one of those questions like "why is the sky purple?"



All i ask is this...



1. what process negates the Law of Entropy so that randomness stops for order to occur to form any life, and or complex life from simple life?

There is nothing to accept or believe. Evolution is fact, proven over and over again. When it comes to society, this is more of a question of education or lack thereof. We unfortunately still have the majority of our country believing in supernatural gibberish because it has been drummed into them since birth. Then, be sure that those individuals are not given a proper education in the sciences and you're left with nothing but a supernatural and superstitious belief system, rather than educated brains, which require "faith" or "belief" in everything that has never been proven because it can't be proven. This generates great frustration and anger when doubted because there is no rational foundation for them to stand on. So, of course I accept evolution as fact. Also, there are those "non-believers" who should look up the word "theory" before they make bigger fools of themselves. Education people, it works!

Some more thoughts:



- Why do we breathe using the same part of the body that both chews and swallows our food? That's like if your car's windshield wiper fluid had to be poured into the gas tank.



- Why do we urinate and ********* from the same organ?



- Why do we excrete waste at all? When your computer is powered on, does it ever have to urinate in order to eliminate unused machinery?



Why are we so much better at building things than god?

Not only that. We do not have to go that far. Why do people have to be vaccinated against flu so often? You guessed right!!! because the Flu virus evolves!!! proving Evolution right!!! If the flu virus did not evolve, we would only need one single vaccine.



Why do christians hate it so much? because it challenges their view (dogma) of the origin of humans, mostly.



They have no empirical evidence of creationism, only their dogma. Some people is brainwashing them and giving wrong facts so christians can walk around saying "oh, evolution is just a theory", or "oh, apes evolve into humans." And no matter what you do to show them that Evolution is a Scientific theory, thus went through an strict process in order to be approved by the scientific community. Or that nobody (except, of course, whoever is giving them bad facts [which is a sin punished by their god]) in the scientific community is saying that apes evolved into humans, but that they probably share a common ancestor

Feel free to add whatever you want unconditionally. I just wanted to illustrate that evolution is even something that is implied by the current state of life on Earth, and not just something that we have to dig in the ground for, contrary to what many believe.



Transitional forms are always interesting to me. I think that a lot of people who misunderstand evolution don't realize that a species as defined by time is a bit different from a species as defined by space. In other words, a member of Homo erectus didn't have a baby Homo sapiens one day. Lakes exist, but when they were mere puddles, they didn't need a transitional form in order to become lakes!



But yes, if anyone wants to compile or add onto the existing list of non-fossil stuff, that's fine, too.

Oops. Sorry. I guess with that last item on my list I went outside the bounds of your non-fossil premise. Does anyone have an item #13 that doesn't involve fossils?

11. It's been observed, both in the wild and under laboratory conditions. Not just variations in the reproductive success of existing alleles, but the rise of novel new traits. The textbook example is the de novo evolution of a strain of E.Coli that can metabolize citrate. This was observed and painstakingly documented in a lab every step of the way.



12. Genetic analysis reveals countless data points supporting evolution. Our "junk" DNA is LOADED with "fingerprints" that trace both our lineage and that of other species, enough to validate evolution even in the absence of any other supporting evidence. We can track the incorporation of endogenous retroviruses into our (and other) genomes and paint a surprisingly detailed picture of our "family tree". Explained simply, if our DNA contains retroviral code A, B, and C, we can trace back and find another primate that has code A and B, but not C, and another mammal that has A but not B or C. This behavior is consistent wherever we look.



A similar non-viral example off the top of my head (and certainly not the strongest): modern humans lack the ability to synthesize vitamin C, but this is an ability that some of our great ape relatives do have. It turns out that humans actually do contain the genetic sequence that gives rise to the ability to synthesize vitamin C, but it's broken and vestigial. From this we can determine that our ancestors once had this ability, but while living in a location with no selective pressure to retain that ability (presumably due to an abundance of foods rich in vitamin C) genetic drift resulted in us gradually losing that ability. This is the same reason why there are fish that live in the very deep ocean that have non-functioning eyes. Genetic drift occurs, but in total darkness there's no selective disadvantage imposed by the environment.



13. Tiktaalik. Okay, Tiktaalik isn't actually a reason, but it is a perfect example of a reason- evolutionary theory makes testable, falsifiable predictions. Tiktaalik is a transitional form between fish and tetrapods that lived about 375 million years ago. The discovery of Tiktaalik fossils wasn't chance. Evolution predicted that fossils of a creature like Tiktaalik should exist in a particular rock strata at a particular location (northern Canada)- exactly where it was found. It really is a slam dunk for evolution, and no other explanation for the origin and mechanisms of biodiversity has ever successfully made similar claims.