>> What am I saying? Just giving the answer "mutation followed by "natural
>selection" isn't scientific anymore. I think it's well known that
>mutations are very hard to come by and have never been known to produce
>anything remotely usefull. Mutations translate to cancer. Skin cancer is
>a result of DNA modification. A host of other diseases are results of
>mutations. The formation of cancers is a far cry from the formation of new
>organs and organ systems.
I would not say that mutations have never been known to produce anything
good for the organism which possess it. Over the past 60 years, mankind has
waged an unrelenting battle against the microbes of this planet. We have
killed them with penicillin, streptomycin, vancomycin, and many other
antibiotics. Because of this onslaught, mutations have produced immunities
to each of the antibiotics which we have thrown at them. This is quite
beneficial to the staphylococcus aureus whuch was just found to be resistant
to all known antibiotics. It is now a super bug with the same killing power
that staph had before the advent of antibiotics. Staph was one of the
leading killers during World War I when a mere scracth had the potential to
kill you.
The implications of this are scary. These changes are brought to you by
those mutations which are quite capable of producing beneficial changes in
the organisms. (See "A new Gap in the Antibiotic Arsenal", Science News,
June 7, 1997).
Another mutation which was beneficial to its owner is the mutation in which
the chromosome number suddenly doubles in a single generation. Going from a
normal chromosome complement to a tetraploid condition has allowed some
plants to spread widely. Obviously colonizing a larger area is beneficial.
"A particularly instructive example is that of the diploid and
tetraploid races of tradescantia caniculata, The chromosome
numbers are twelve and twenty-four. This species is widely
distributed over the great plains from the Rocky Mountains
eastward to the Mississippi River. Over most of this area the
plants are tetraploid, but in a small area in northern Texas, the
diploid race is found. Geologically this area is the oldest part
of the total range. It appears that only the tetraploid race has
been able to invade those territories more recently opened up to
floral colonization. The greater aggressiveness of polyploid
plants is quite characteristic."~Edward O. Dodson and Peter
Dodson, Evolution: Process and Product, (New York: D. Van
Nostrand Co., 1976), p. 383
glenn
Foundation, Fall and Flood
http://www.isource.net/~grmorton/dmd.htm