Austin Skeptical Society

One of the most basic arguments against evolution is that “something “this” complicated (as humans)” couldn’t just happen randomly.  While genetic mutation in and of itself is random, what is constantly ignored is the fact that animals (and humans) that experience counterproductive mutations tend to not survive long enough to reproduce!  Indeed, the computer science and electrical engineering disciplines have explicitly copied nature’s approach with evolutionary and genetic algorithms.  In fact this very approach was used to design a digital filter on a product I worked on at National Instruments, as it proved a superior way to design the filter than using explicit, “designed”, approaches to designing the filter.

But if you still aren’t convinced consider this.  Although performing evolutionary experiments is difficult due to the large timescales involved, it is possible if a fast growing organism is used.  Professor Richard E. Lenski at Michigan State University has performed just such an experiment.  He raised over 30,000 generations of E. coli. and provided them an environment short on glucose, on which they subsist, but high in citrate, which normal E. coli. cannot metabolize.  One (although none of the other) of the colonies evolved the necessary mutations to utilize the citrate!  Furthermore, this required not one, but multiple mutations to be effective, proving that even such complex mutations are possible (albiet not as common/likely as single step mutations, as one would naturally expect).  Given this complication, it is not surprising that only colony developed the necessary mutations.