• Question: was there a perfect species in the past or can there be one anyone can answer plz

    Asked by lowkey to Vera, Steve, Sam, Katie, Ed on 15 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Sam Tazzyman

      Sam Tazzyman answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      Because the world is constantly changing there can never be such a thing as a perfect species. For example, the diseases and parasites that each species has to deal with are constantly evolving to try to beat that species’ immune system, and so it must keep evolving to try and keep up. But all species have been equally affected by evolution. So you can’t really say that a species is “perfect”. Each species has evolved in the way it has because of the environment it has been in.

    • Photo: Katie Marriott

      Katie Marriott answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      If the species was perfect surely it would still be around? This is a very thought provoking question!!

    • Photo: Steven Daly

      Steven Daly answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      Good question. In a way evolution is constantly producing animals that are perfect for their environment. So think about how birds seem perfect to fly. They have wings that are the perfect shape, bones that are hollow so they are light, and feathers to keep warm and help them fly.

    • Photo: Vera Weisbecker

      Vera Weisbecker answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      Sam and Steven are right – isn’t it good to know that we and everything else around us is perfect (that is, until it goes exctinct)?

    • Photo: Ed Morrison

      Ed Morrison answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      It depends what you mean by perfect. As Sam and Steven say, species become adapted to their environments, so they tend to be almost perfect until the environment changes.

Comments

  • Photo: Katie

    Katie commented on :

    This is a very good example of scientist seeing things in different ways! When I read perfect I thought a species that wouldn’t go extinct because it was perfect in any environment (or maybe really good at adapting to its environment). Whereas the others looked at the species in the way it is suited to it’s environment, such as a bird being able to fly.

    This is why scientists often work with other scientists. It is always good to be able to talk through ideas and see other peoples perspective!

  • Photo: kimgreenhalgh

    kimgreenhalgh commented on :

    With advancements in science do you think that ‘designer babies’ will occur in the future where parents can screen for physical and mental disabilities?

    • Photo: Sam

      Sam commented on :

      This is already possible with some genetic diseases, for example Down Syndrome:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prenatal_diagnosis

    • Photo: Vera

      Vera commented on :

      As far as I know, “Designer babies” are from embryos that were created through fertilisation outside the womb. These are screened for genetic diseases as tiny embryos before implantation in the womb. This is already possible for some diseases, but as far as I know not legal yet (at least in most countries I’d say). If it were legal, it would probably be closely regulated so it would never be the parents that do the screening. And it would only be applied to really serious cases where the baby would be severely sick – so no “blond and blue eyed” type selection would happen. That said, another type of screening much later in development is already possible – in the third month of pregnancy, when the baby is quite big already, you can have a genetic check-up of the baby called “amniocentesis”. If this shows that there is something seriously wrong with the baby, you are allowed to abort it (in most countries, that is). Personally (but many people disagree!), I’d prefer the pre-implantation screening to having to worry about aborting a much bigger baby…