LETTER: Evolution non-contoversial fact

Dear Editor,

I applaud Rich Timothy’s March 2 column (“So Darwin was right: Evolution makes sense”) for calling attention to the complete sequencing of the human genome. Similar complete sequences from such organisms as fruit flies, roundworms and plants will provide tremendous insights into the evolution of life on earth for more than 3.5 billion years. We can only speculate as to the medical advances that will be derived from knowing the functional genomics of our species. It is simply an exciting time to be a biologist.

I am disturbed, however, by his implication that the human genome project has “finally” shown that Darwin was right. Contrary to popular perceptions, evolution has been considered a non-controversial fact in science for more than a century. Long before we even suspected that DNA carried hereditary information, multiple independent lines of evidence from biogeography, classical genetics, developmental biology, systematics, comparative anatomy and paleontology all led to the inescapable conclusion that life has been evolving on earth for a very long time and that all living things share common ancestry in a grand tree of life. A simple example may help: One cannot publish a scientific paper with the title “New evidence for evolution” for exactly the same reason one cannot publish a paper with the title “New evidence that the earth revolves around the sun.” Each issue was settled within science long ago. Whereas we can and do fill libraries with the evidence for evolution, there is not a scrap of scientific evidence in support of creationism (I would personally love to uncover such evidence because the ensuing scientific revolution would provide me with lifelong fame and fortune).

I cannot address Timothy’s suggestion that the human genome sequence has brought a smile to Darwin in the afterlife (a clearly non-testable hypothesis). But we should be careful to distinguish between the fact that life has evolved and new discoveries that “fill in” our understanding of how life has evolved.

Frank Messina

Department of Biology