So, Darwin was right
It has finally happened, Darwin is smugly smiling in his grave at the current discovery science has made in the breakdown of the human genome. You may be asking what this means. In short, Nietzsche just may have been right when he said, “God is dead” – well, when referring to creationism anyway.
OK, to clarify one main point early off: I am not saying those who believe in a higher power are wrong or right. All I’m saying is the genome supports the theory of evolution and not creationism. For those who believe in a higher power, let’s just say the supreme “It” was not as involved in the human creation as originally thought. I would think running the known universe is a very time-consuming thing. And because of that I could see how this small pebble we call Earth might have been overlooked while humankind evolved into the upright-walking, clothes-wearing mammals we are today. By cracking the human genome our genes show creationism is as natural as Rush Limbaugh in a Speedo.
Those who argue there is no evidence supporting evolution, the genome shows, unquestionably, that Darwin was right. Humankind has evolved over long periods of time from primitive animal ancestors.
Eric Lander, of the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, Mass., said looking at our genome makes evident “evolution … must make new genes from old parts.” In looking at the genome, it shows the interior makeup of humanity carries groups of genes, proving that we are descended from bacteria. I really see no other way to put into words the pieced-together structure of the genes that control main aspects of our growth and development.
Science has taught us many important things. Cloned lamb chops taste just as good as regular lamb chops, gravity makes basketball a lot more entertaining, getting hit by lightning, more often than not, will kill you, and by looking at the way the history of life is recorded, through our genes, our genetic code tells us that we have been evolving in the same manner as earlier animals. Our genetic information has been slowly put together from the same genetic information that has created jellyfish, the Tyrannosaurus rex, saber-toothed tigers and our primate relatives. All the scientists who cracked the genome agree there are no other explanations.
Breaking the genetic code enlightened me to a number of things. First, I learned that we have twice as many genes as a fruit fly and about the same number as an ear of corn, which breaks down to around 30,000. Now don’t you feel better knowing that? Don’t you ultimately feel happier knowing that you and ears of corn contain almost the same number of genes in the cosmos?
The only way to explain the arrangement of the 30,000 genes and 3 billion letters that constitute our genetic code is the theory of evolution. Humanity’s history is written in its DNA. Those who choose to dismiss evolution as myth and insist evolution has no place in biology textbooks and children’s classrooms are wrong. The genome has spoken and it appears to be saying Darwin was right.
Rich Timothy is a senior majoring in technical writing. Comments may be e-mailed to rtimothy1@hotmail.com