Biologists Replicate Key Evolutionary Step in Life on Earth (dog, look)

[Hueffenhardt]

"To understand why the world is full of plants and animals, including humans, we need to know how one-celled organisms made the switch to living as a group, as multi-celled organisms," says Sam Scheiner, program director in NSF's Division of Environmental Biology.
"This study is the first to experimentally observe that transition," says Scheiner, "providing a look at an event that took place hundreds of millions of years ago."

nsf.gov - National Science Foundation (NSF) News - Biologists Replicate Key Evolutionary Step in Life on Earth - US National Science Foundation (NSF)

[rifleman]

Thanks for this one! Good find!

When coupled with Lenski's research where he watched, saved and later had DNA-mapped, 22,000 generations our of his 32,000 kept in freeze-storage for >> 25 yrs, and where he showed that one species can and did mutate into a new species, well... there yah have it, don't'cha?

Let's see now; a sort of short & undeniable evolutionary history:

1) British researchers get simple chemicals to form into amino acids in a typical oceanic primordial chemistry mix, then later into...

2) primitive TNA, then...

3) RNA then...

4) DNA.

5) Craig Venter wraps some up in a non-living lipid balloon, and it closes up and starts reproducing all on it's lonesome. Then..

6) these guys in your post show it can agglutinate into colonies of interdependent cells that sacrifice themselves for the common reproductive good. Then finally..

7) Lenski shows these colonies do speciate, given an unoccupied but available eco-niche.

And the rest, as they say, up to "us", is but a blip on the historical timescale of life here on earth. No Godz required!.

(And perhaps more significantly, all of these baby-steps have taken place in the last 3 - 4 years! Just imagine what focused, dedicated research will discover & produce in the next 5, 10 or... God Lord... 20 years! We'll be growing anything our little researching hearts might desire! New body parts. The oft-mentioned overnight Dog-Catz that theists insist they see to "prove" their brand of pseudo-evolution, and so on!

All of these discoveries hastened onto the stage to the constant background jungle drumbeat from the hysterical natives that "It can't be done! Evolution and abiogenesis without God is a false lie, the result of unending and pervasive bias in all of the sciences!" Etc., Blah blah blah.)

_________________________________________

But meantime, what do we call of these stunning scientific accomplishments? All together now:

Evolution

(And they said it couldn't be done! ...)

(When the theists predictably dismiss all these achievements as "not conclusive", I'd ask them if they'd like to bet a significant amount of $$$funds$$$$ that scientific research such as we see here will NEVER fully accomplish the entire a-biogenesis process. NEVER is a long time, esp. given such results as we see here.

As in: The complete lineage of life & subsequent evolution, from simple chemicals to a living reproducing organic entity. NEVER?

Alternately, they will likely claim they knew it as true all along, but that, still,, it's just God playing with His Cosmic Chemistry Set... sigh).


Wanna bet!

[achickenchaser]

Now sit back and enjoy the irony of doubters continuing to disbelieve it while still believing literally in the Bible.

[TRANSPONDER]

It was always known that those who asked why Scientists could do this in the lab would, when it was done, argue that just because it was done in a lab doesn't mean that it happened in the past.

[wilsoncole]

Originally Posted by AREQUIPA

It was always known that those who asked why Scientists could do this in the lab would, when it was done, argue that just because it was done in a lab doesn't mean that it happened in the past.

Oh, how very silly!
Incidents do not happen. They are caused!

The ONLY thing they proved is that it could not happen on its own.
The ingredients were selected and combined by intelligent minds.

The question therefore remains:
WHO did it?



Wilson.

[NoCapo]

Originally Posted by wilsoncole

Oh, how very silly!
Incidents do not happen. They are caused!

The ONLY thing they proved is that it could not happen on its own.
The ingredients were selected and combined by intelligent minds.

The question therefore remains:
WHO did it?



Wilson.

For the experiment referenced in the OP, no one did it. The point was under an external pressure, a group of single celled organisms evolved the capacity to function like a multicellular organism. We don't know that this specific set of conditions ever existed on earth, we don't know that this was the way multicellular life was formed, but now we know that it is possible.

Compare this to any to any religious explanation. We can't even demonstrate that it is possible for God to create animals, or for Brahman to dream a universe, much less demonstrate that it actually happened.

This does not definitively prove anything about evolution, but it one more component of the theory that has been demonstrated to be real. This just increases the plausability of evolution being the mechanism by which we are all here.

NoCapo

[elamigo]

Originally Posted by Hueffenhardt

nsf.gov - National Science Foundation (NSF) News - Biologists Replicate Key Evolutionary Step in Life on Earth - US National Science Foundation (NSF)

It is interesting that something like this is replicated by intelligent minds, not by pure chance, is a great thing but if someone sayst that thousands of years ago another intelligent mind did the same in nature, makes no sense. It is not even considered as a a possibility or another theory to put in the discussion table.
Arbitrarily it is accepted by pure chance in nature but not in a laboratory. take care.

[doss1]

Why do you guys say that "No God" required? Where in the Bible of Christianity does it say evolution did not happen. There's no problem with evolution and Genesis. What Christians have a problem with is naturalism, the unguided mutation of organisms.

[wilsoncole]

Originally Posted by NoCapo

For the experiment referenced in the OP, no one did it. The point was under an external pressure, a group of single celled organisms evolved the capacity to function like a multicellular organism. We don't know that this specific set of conditions ever existed on earth, we don't know that this was the way multicellular life was formed, but now we know that it is possible.

Wait one pea-pickin' second! You're not even listening to yourself.

Didn't you just say it was an EXPERIMENT?


Wilson.

[Make me a believer]

Originally Posted by wilsoncole

Oh, how very silly!
Incidents do not happen. They are caused!

The ONLY thing they proved is that it could not happen on its own.
The ingredients were selected and combined by intelligent minds.

The question therefore remains:
WHO did it?



Wilson.

I don't see how this proves that anyone did anything.

I think it's showing us the how rather than the who.

This article reminds me of an interesting documentary I watched last year.
David Attenboroug's First Life Series
In this documentary he explores the evolution from single cell to multi cell organisms and beyond.