• Question: May you talk me through the process of evolution? C:

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      Asked by ALOrona to John, Laura, Luke, Rob, Ruth on 15 Jun 2016.
      • Photo: John Fossey

        John Fossey answered on 15 Jun 2016:

        The organisms that are the strongest, fittest and best adapted fro their environment are the most successful and reproduce more. Small changes occur often, if that change gives some advantage it has a greater chance of being carried onto the next generation.

      • Photo: Laura Finney

        Laura Finney answered on 15 Jun 2016:

        As John said, if you can see better or run faster, then you would survive and be able to reproduce. this would let you pass on the gene that made you run faster/see better. That means all after that will have that gene… over time many of these events happen and the “good” genes are passed on, eventually leading to something you would recognise as evolution.

      • Photo: Luke Williams

        Luke Williams answered on 17 Jun 2016:

        Only thing I would add to the comments is that a common mistake is that people think evolution is some sort of active process, that there is someone or something driving it – that’s not the case.

        In each of us there are advantages and disadvantages which are passed down from our parents, but we also contain quite a few mutations too. These are unique to you.

        These mutations may not do much – those are called silent mutations. Others might result in you having a disease or something, which is obviously not good. Others still may give you the ability to run a bit faster or something else useful.

        Each person and each organism has these mutations, which may be similar or different from each other – they are random after all. Then if you were to step back and compare ALL organisms of the same species then those who are best suited for the environment will be more likely to have children and more likely to pass on their genes, which include their mutations. This is how evolution happens, by passing on these mutations, which accumulate.

        Evolution = random mutation + natural selection

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