• Question: Do you believe in evolution?

    Asked by anon-233135 to Varun, Sammie, Rebecca on 12 Nov 2019.
    • Photo: Rebecca Shaw

      Rebecca Shaw answered on 12 Nov 2019:

      Yes I do. I feel there is strong evidence that we and organisms around us have evolved over time. Darwin used finches from the Galapagos islands as an example of natural selection evolution. He witnessed birds that were similar, but had different beaks or different bird song. They had adapted certain characteristics to be able to live alongside each other.

      One of my favourite evolution stories is that of the discovery of Archaeopteryx which was a fossil found of a bird like dinosaur! I’ve always thought that birds seem quite reptile like by the way they move and their feet with claws. This made so much sense to me and also provided scientists back then with a link to the evolution of birds from reptiles.

      We can see natural selection evolution occurring today in viruses. Viruses are able to change their genetic make up by mixing with other viruses. That’s why we need a flu jab each year as the flu virus can change over time.

    • Photo: Samantha Firth

      Samantha Firth answered on 12 Nov 2019:

      Yes, I do believe in evolution! I think it is super interesting. One of to coolest thing about evolution is when you see two completely distant animals (like a bat and a dolphin) that have evolved an almost identical trait – like echolocation (where they use sound to locate things) 😎

    • Photo: Varun Ramaswamy

      Varun Ramaswamy answered on 12 Nov 2019:

      Absolutely. I work in the field of cancer research and cancer is a disease that has been untreated for 1000s of years. Even with the development of technology and new drugs, cancer has first slowed down because of the drugs but soon enough, it comes back with a bang and is resistant to that drug! This resistance rapidly occurring in cancer is basically evolution happening in front of our eyes.
      And it is a really scary and powerful force, because that is the sole reason cancer has kept evading the cure for so long!

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