Why Evolution is True

For one, he has looked to deriving pieces of evidence from rocks. In this case, he looks to dismiss the creationist’s view that evolution is not true due to the missing links. He does this by portraying the unattainability of the process of fossil formation through the use of rock evidence. He draws an association between the fossils and the rocks. He argues that one does not actually need the fossils to consent with the theory of evolution. I had never imagined in my life that such in-depth and a wide range of evidence existed in the contemporary world. Some of the pieces of evidence that comprehended by reading the book include vestiges, bad designs, the discrepancies from one species to another, and natural selection.

I have come to learn that there are lots of evidence that to the theory of evolution. Some of my doubts have also been cleared. For example, I had doubted the theory basing on the missing links; this has been cleared by the fact that Coyne has described well the complexity of the process of fossil formation. In light of this, the paper tries to explore the concept of evolution as presented by Coyne in the aforementioned book. Chapter 2 In this chapter, Coyne (2009) has extensively described the evidence of evolution derived from rocks. He tries to seal all the loopholes that have often been used by the creationists to dismiss the evolution theory, such as the missing links. The creationists normally use these missing connections to argue out that there is no evidence to back up the allegations of evolution.

Coyne has given a step by step guide on the reason why there exist missing links pertaining fossil records. The author sees the organisms as the palimpsest of their ancestors whereby the present-day organisms comprises a set of traits that override those of the past organisms. These underlying traits are said not to be completely lost and they occasionally show up in organisms due to such factors as the reawakening of ancestral genes. The chapter presents quite a number of examples to argue out its case; among them are the flightless birds. The wings of the Ostrich are said to be vestigial structures considering the fact that they have developed a new set of functions, like balancing the bird when it is running, mating, and even threatening its enemies (Coyne, 2009).

Other birds that have had their wings turned into vestigial structures are Penguins; their wings have adopted a new function, which is to catapult the bird when swimming underwater. Coyne (2009) says that the tail in the humans was reduced to the present-day coccyx due to the loss of biological usefulness. It now performs a new role of anchoring some of the muscles. This chapter also evidences evolution through such phenomena as atavisms, which entails the sporadic anomalies that occur with organisms. According to Coyne (2009), these anomalies that occur frequently are as a result of underlying genes of ancestors that have been suppressed over time by the aspect of natural selection. One common atavism that has been observed is that in every five hundred whales, one emerges that has the hindlimbs actually protruding outside the skin (Coyne, 2009).

It, therefore, follows that these genes have lost the purpose of performing its primary functions over time, an aspect that has led to their death. A dead gene in one organism that is functioning well in another signifies evolution. Coyne (2009) disbands the creationists belief by arguing that if all humans were created, then there would be absolutely no reason why the creator would provide a pathway for synthesizing vitamin C only to disable it later. Lastly, the chapter argues that evolution is true on the basis of Bad Design. Coyne (2009) says that bad design in organisms entails the imperfections that exist from one organism to another. For one, he has used the Asian giant hornet and the honeybees to depict how their surrounding played a role in the adaptive features that these animals possess.

The Hornets are predators that prey on honeybees to provide them with food. It has been established that the introduced European honeybees are the prime victims of the Hornets. Coyne (2009) argues that the introduced European honeybees provide an easy prey for the Hornets because of the fact that they lack adaptive features to counter the attacks from the Hornets. Unlike the introduced honeybees, the native bees are shown to have a mechanism of defending themselves, which entails luring and killing the scouting hornet so that it does not leave any signal, pheromone, to the others on the bee colony. Once again, the ants pick up these eggs and feed on them hence leading to the eggs hatching within their abdomens once more.

This is, therefore, a trait that the roundworm has adapted through natural selection to enhance its existence in the ecosystem. Coyne (2009) has further highlighted three basic concepts that are core to the adaptation through natural selection. Firstly, he argues that the starting population has to be variable. The population should portray diversity pertaining a certain trait, like the difference in the color of the coating of mice. He argues that this scenario coupled with mutations may eventually lead to the extinction of certain traits and emergence of new ones. He has referred to this change as genetic drift. An example that he has presented is the peculiar frequencies of the blood types in the Dunker religious community of the US. Both the change in the genes makeup and the natural selection has been argued as the concepts that instigate evolution.

Chapter 7 This chapter looks to explain the discrepancy that exists in the species that inhabit the earth. According to this concept, evolution follows such lines as the geographical isolation of organisms. He says that the ability of organisms not to confine themselves to interbreeding is the reason as to why they maintain their gene pool to avoid splitting into two species. He disagrees the view by the creationist that there is no evolution due to the fact that they have not seen one. He says that evolution just like that of the stars take a long time and, therefore, it is hard to observe such processes (Coyne, 2009). He says that several species have been able to maintain the gene pools hence making it impossible to spot any diversification during our time.

He says the view that human standout from nature is what brings about the creationism. He has used the 98. 5 percent match in our DNA sequence with that of a Chimpanzee. Coyne (2009) further argues that it is impossible to find a continuous fossil record of human ancestry. He argues that some of the fossils found are of different species, some of which died without leaving offspring. Atavisms comprise the sporadic anomalies, such as the hind limbs in a whale. Vestiges entail those structures that no longer function like they did in the ancestors of an organism; these include the coccyx in human and the wings of an Ostrich. Bad design comprise the imperfection observed in an organism, like the eyes of a flounder migrating to one side.