Question:
Can you please give me an example of *concrete* evidence for the Theory of Evolution?
anonymous
2009-03-06 11:21:50 UTC
I want *concrete*, verifiable evidence is true. If it is concrete I won't have to look at pictures that people can draw--anyone can draw pictures. I need proof, not in evolution... everyone knows we change over time. What I want is verifiable, "concrete" evidence that the Theory of Evolution, which states we have been evolving over millions of years since "abiogenesis", is in fact, true. I need concrete evidence, because I am persuaded that the Theory of Evolution is merely one's interpretation of observation, and there actually are no concrete facts at all. But, please, prove me wrong. Give me something I can attain, so that I may "hold it in my hands." I don't want a man's interpretation of evidence... I want tangible, "concrete" evidence that everyone who thinks the Theory of Evolution is true, says exists.

Thank you.
42 answers:
anonymous
2009-03-09 06:24:34 UTC
Consider this



Creation in the 21st Century “Caught in the Act”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOdByKKvV6I (Part 1)



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CQb7tS-EjM (Part 2)



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfN3UfoDZkQ (Part 3)



Creation In The 21st Century -- From Where did these Layers ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZyoXQJ5Al0



Creation in the 21st Century - Overwhelming Evidence 1 of 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o226umqLdsU

Creation in the 21st Century - Overwhelming Evidence 2 of 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-4O7AOYLqc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXLFFduC56Y&feature=related



Evolution: Against All Odds!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IS9o9cbQDLI



Creation In The 21st Century - Palace of Dinosaurs Part 2 (1 of 3)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeK239U2fdE



Creation in the 21st Century - Explain God

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqwP3ZuZq1Y
?
2016-05-25 13:21:04 UTC
You won't find a concrete evidence to prove Creation. But you can prove that species evolve to adapt to the changes in the environment. I don't beleive that all living things came from the same cell, but instead that every existing living specie is a survivor from the evolution of their own specie. I mean the birds were always birds, and they suffered some changes throughtout the milleniums, as well as fishes, mammals, reptiles, even plants and trees. The only survivors are the strongest species. The weak ones died, (extinct). That is evolution. A NATURAL SELECTION where the strongest prevail. Want a concrete evidence. Well just observe the actual human being, and compare it to the Chromagnon ancestors....bone size, body shape, body position has slightly been changed to adapt to the new environment we live in. The same thing had happened with ALL living creatures, at least in the world we know. Keep in mind tha LIFE is in constant "change". A change is an adaptation, a modification, an EVOLUTION.!
anonymous
2009-03-06 12:26:01 UTC
OK 1st there is no such thing as micro vs macro evolution.



There is only Evolution...the rest is just time line.



If you want rock solid proof that is 100% incontestable...move to another space-time reality because in this one there is not one thing at all in any subject that is 100% concrete solid...and that includes atomic Theory, Relativity, gravity, etc.



We cannot even say with 100% certainty that the mind is seperate from the body or if there is even a soul.



Nothing in this world is 100%. All we can do is go with the information we have and our best guesses.



And the reality is all the evidence and data on the subject support Evolution while at same time there is no validated empirical evidence supporting any other idea.



So Evolution is not concrete....but compared to other ideas it is ultra dense adamantium as opposed to their water vapor state.





Oh but by the way....you admit we are evolving+changing now and since we have been as far back as we can see (height being a good measurement) it is far more reasonable to say we have been unless you have some evidence that shows exactly what day+time we started after remaining unchanged for eons
CrazedCreator
2009-03-06 11:35:05 UTC
The only way you can get what you want, or "hold in your hands kind of statement" is for you to live for millions of years and watch it happen... But the most concrete evidence for evolution would be the fossil record, or look at dog breeders or any selective breeding process. The difference is instead of humans choosing which 2 mates get to breed and which ones don't, it's nature. The ones that live get to breed, the ones that die don't and so they don't pass there genetic code and it dies there. When the environment changes, many of the species will die, but some that are slightly different and slightly more suited for that environment will make babies and so on. Over millions of years and several changes in the environment then new species arise and then when a species dies then the bones are left behind, which turn into fossils slowly. Then today we find them and compare them to other ones we have found, and see the similarities and the differences and are able to make a branching tree of similarities and differences that show the progression from one species to the next.



The matter of the fact is that there is so much evidence that the science community considers it as a fact that evolution does happen, and the theory is stating why and how it happens. Read a few scientific papers on it and maybe you will understand how much concrete evidence there is. And it's not just one man's interpretation of the evidence but hundreds to thousands of highly educated scientist interpretation of the evidence.
sciencechick
2009-03-06 11:34:10 UTC
MRSA- Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Resistant to more than Methiciliin, this is a big problem for health care facilities and is now in the general population. YOu can't see it, but you can certainly feel it if you have it. I have been on 4 rounds of antibiotics for this crap, and I am STILL colonized for it. I have eczema on my face, so I have a place for this crap to grow into a nasty, oozy infection on my face.



And yes, drug resistant infections are evolution. It demonstrates natural selection very well.



1. In a population of staph, there are a few resistant to a certain antibiotic.

2. The antibiotic is introduced, though not finished well enough and those with variations that helped them survive live.

3. Those staph bacteria that survived reproduce, and the next generation have a higher percentage of antibiotic resistance.

4. The population is eventually resistant to the antibiotics.



THat may seem like a small change, but think about what happens when millions of these apparently small changes overlap. That is how we get new species. You won't see a fish getting out of the water and walking on land, though we do have varying fossils showing clearer speciation (where do you think they get those drawings), but this is a VERY clear example that evolution does happen.



ADD: Actually READ a list of these transitional fossils, and research them. You can find pictures of the fossils, they didn't imagine those drawing completely.



And don't assue that just because you don't understand it, no one else has studied it and has an explanation that is eithe a bit over your head or that you won't listen to
Hug Me
2009-03-06 11:53:29 UTC
Wow, this will be an easy one. I will pick humans as my example.



Creatures evolve according to their environment. The foods they eat, the weather etc. What you're asking for is evidence that this is the case.



Let's start with Siberia. Prisoners were sent to Siberia which is one of the most desolate places on earth. The chill regularly gets down to -30 degrees. Eventually some of those who were sent there settled down and started families and small cities up there. Do a search for Siberian trips. I don't want you to think I'm making up pictures. You will find pictures of some of the natives in cold which would kill someone here standing around in shorts and saddles. The reason they can withstand such temperatures has to do with blood flow. Over the last hundred years their bodies started growing larger veins in their hands and feet to increase the blood flow to their extremities warming them up. You can also look up all the information you would like on this.



For the next example we go to Iceland another area of extreme environments and we are going to talk about the heart of the people, well ok, more their digestive track and how it interfaces with their heart. The diet of this group is primarily blubber, whale blubber to be exact; yet with this as a source of food they have the lowest percentage of heart attacks of any group of people in the world. Why? it has to do with the way they digest it. Their bodies have evolved to be able to properly digest fats where as someone like me does not.



Here we are on number three and I will take you to Japan and the introduction of meat into their diet. The average height of someone from this Island has increased by 20% over the last 60 years... since... world war II. Why? their diet changed. their bodies are evolving to meet the meat so to speak. It was quite obvious while I was there the height of the young compared to the height of the older in the population.



Here is another one. Hair. we don't need it any longer, we are inside most of the time and don't need the protection it used to provide us from the elements. just 100 years ago (5 generations) our bodies were completely covered in hair, now look at us. Each new generation has less and less hair.



This is just humans, I picked them because they will be extremely easy to look up. I googled each of these and you can find tons of information on them. There are much more obvious examples in the plant kingdom and really obvious one when you start talking about single celled organisms.



Now that you know this... Which came first the chicken or the egg... the answer is the egg... with this information can you figure out why?
Robert B
2009-03-06 11:41:32 UTC
Science is nothing but interpretations of observations ... interpretations which make testable, predictive claims that can thus be corroborated or falsified with additional observation and/or experimentation.



The nested, hierarchical tree of life is concrete evidence of evolution -- it's almost literally concrete -- it's there in the rocks, in the DNA, in the natural world. If you want to preserve your intellectually honesty, you can't simply reject the tree of life as a "picture," because it's a picture that's been constructed from the meticulous collection of thousands of pieces of evidence. That's what scientific models and theories are ... collections of facts, evidence, natural laws and explanations, woven together into a consistent "picture" that gives us a broader understanding of the world that allows us to make successful predictions as to what will occur.



If you want something you can hold in your hands, go to a local natural history museum and look at the hominid fossils, or those of any past species, and observe the clear progression that has occurred over the eons. Or look at the chickens with tooth buds, the dolphins and whales with leg buds, the human beings with tails. These are vestigial features that linger in the DNA code of living organisms that are sometimes reactivated (not recreated) by a mutation or a scientist's genetic intervention ... and not coincidentally, the vestigial features that manifest themselves in this respect are ONLY the ones that are predicted by modern theories of common descent (that is, humans have the genes for growing a tail, but don't have the genes for growing feathers -- because we evolved from creatures with tails, not creatures with feathers).



If you deny this evidence and deny evolution's validity, then you might as well deny anything a scientist ever tells you, because the standard of proof you're requiring models and theories to live up to precludes the acceptance of any theory that is not blatantly and obviously true without any additional study or abstraction (and the reason we have science is to uncover truth that ISN'T obvious or may in fact contradict fallible human intuition). If you want to reject nearly all of modern science, from biology to geology to physics to astronomy to cosmology ... that's your prerogative.



Edit: Microevolution and macroevolution have both been observed. When scientists use the term "macroevolution," what they're really talking about is speciation, which is the transformation of a population of organisms that makes it so they can no longer breed with the population they arose from. People often misunderstand macroevolution to mean "large scale morphological change," but macroevolution can often result from very tiny changes (much less visually dramatic than some cases of microevolution). In any event, there is nothing to prevent small-scale changes from eventually producing the sort of large scale morphological change that creationists demand (over a sufficiently large number of generations), and the aforementioned evidence overwhelmingly suggests that such a compounding of small changes is exactly what occurred ... yes, going back to our earliest ancestor.



Of course there isn't concrete evidence that confirms every segment of every step of the process (you have to admit that it would be ridiculous to demand a complete fossil of for every individual organism in our ancestral lineage, even though each individual contributed slightly to where we ended up) ... but there is a lot of evidence and the pattern is quite clear. As I said, though, if you don't want to believe it, that's your decision and nobody can force you to change your mind.
senor_oso
2009-03-06 11:31:55 UTC
Visit your local Natural History museum. I expect they'll be able to show you some fossils, though they'll be made of rock, not concrete. (That's a joke, for the benefit of the slow.)



Now, you'll no doubt object that evolution is merely humanity's interpretation of the fossil record and our observations of the natural world. But do you go around asking for "concrete" evidence of gravity? Can you hold electromagnetism in your hand? Nobody has ever seen an electron but our interpretation of the evidence when it comes to electricity seems pretty okay even with Christians.



We observe, sometimes we do experiments, we try to correctly interpret what evidence we have. That's science.
Incomudro
2009-03-06 11:49:50 UTC
I noticed some of these things from looking at pictures as kid before I could even read:

First of all, all vertebrae animals share the same body plan.

None are created in a differant form than any of the others.

No vertebrae animals have 4 arms, six legs etc.

The tail remnant in the human skeleton.

All animals that fly use there arms.

There are no animals with wings on there backs.

Bats wing membranes are on there fingers, pterasaurs wing membrane was supported by its index finger, birds have fused fingers.

Some whale species have hip bone remnants in their bodies.

Inside of a whales flipper are five fingered "hand bones" just like other mammals.

Seals have them too, for that matter - look at seals and sea lions in general. They are a living transitional animal.

All vertebrae animals have 7 neck vertebrae.

From the long necked giraffe to the no necked dolphins.

Pythons, Boas and Anacondas have hind limb remnants.
The incredible Satan
2009-03-06 11:39:48 UTC
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/comdesc/section4.html#retroviruses



Endogenous retroviruses are molecular remnants of a past parasitic viral infection. Occasionally, copies of a retrovirus genome are found in its host's genome, and these retroviral gene copies are called endogenous retroviral sequences. Retroviruses (like the AIDS virus or HTLV1, which causes a form of leukemia) make a DNA copy of their own viral genome and insert it into their host's genome. If this happens to a germ line cell (i.e. the sperm or egg cells) the retroviral DNA will be inherited by descendants of the host. Again, this process is rare and fairly random, so finding retrogenes in identical chromosomal positions of two different species indicates common ancestry.

Confirmation:



In humans, endogenous retroviruses occupy about 1% of the genome, in total constituting ~30,000 different retroviruses embedded in each person's genomic DNA (Sverdlov 2000). There are at least seven different known instances of common retrogene insertions between chimps and humans, and this number is sure to grow as both these organism's genomes are sequenced (Bonner et al. 1982; Dangel et al. 1995; Svensson et al. 1995; Kjellman et al. 1999; Lebedev et al. 2000; Sverdlov 2000). Figure 4.4.1 shows a phylogenetic tree of several primates, including humans, from a recent study which identified numerous shared endogenous retroviruses in the genomes of these primates (Lebedev et al. 2000). The arrows designate the relative insertion times of the viral DNA into the host genome. All branches after the insertion point (to the right) carry that retroviral DNA - a reflection of the fact that once a retrovirus has inserted into the germ-line DNA of a given organism, it will be inherited by all descendents of that organism.
anonymous
2009-03-06 11:27:12 UTC
Archaeopteryx.



http://www.abc.net.au/science/slab/dinobird/img/archaeop.jpg
anonymous
2009-03-06 11:45:32 UTC
Why should anyone waste their time with this? No matter what anyone says; not matter what links you are given; you will disagree with them. You don't want any evidence. You are just asking this question so that you can then say "nyah, nyah, nyah, you can't prove it". 'I" need concrete evidence...who are you? We don't really care if you believe that evolution is true or not. That doesn't change the objective facts. And your belief is not a requirement for facts to be true.
anonymous
2009-03-06 11:39:24 UTC
There's is NONE!!!

The Archeopteryx isn't evidence it's 100% a true bird.There are few living bird species today with claws on their wings.

Our appendix isn't a leftover and it has a function.

In truth there is not separate evidence for Evolution and Creation. We all have the same facts and the same fossils and the same earth. The facts are ALL the SAME just interpreted in different ways.
Bored Again
2009-03-06 11:29:53 UTC
It's called the fossil record, take a look at it some time (although by your requirements you probably won't count it since no museum will let you actually hold it). Or you can go to the Galapagos Islands and have a look at the turtles there, and see how they evolved to be able to eat the leaves on the taller bushes while any other turtle would die of starvation because they don't have the adaptions to survive.
anonymous
2009-03-06 11:28:07 UTC
If your point of comparison is to measure it against a magic man who made the world in 6 days, I would say your strong bias toward mythological explanations creates an unfair double standard by which to judge the validity of a scientifically sound concept such as evolution or even heliocentricity. Good luck finding evidence you'll ever agree with.
?
2009-03-06 11:33:23 UTC
There isn't one.

your going to get examples of the flu shot and how it (the flu) changes from year to year, they call that evolution, well it's not it is simply already existing information changing.



See evolution cannot create information, simply change what already exists which we see all the time.



if we get a flu shot our system builds immunities to it, it doesn't create immunities but simply grows more of what is already there.



atheist will also use the eye with a lot of could have or maybe this happened thining.

Then there going to say the eye is a flawed product, when in actuallity it's perfect for our environment, such as a squids eye is perfect for underwater.



There is no concrete proof, just a lot of people saying "could have, or maybe this or that."
♡Kristal
2009-03-06 11:40:06 UTC
concrete?...look around you...i mean seriously..im not sure what your comparing evolution too but if its christianity then think about what you are asking for. Any religion for that matter spirits in the trees..kindoms in the sky..its really not a matter of proof or evidence of anything..its a matter of common sence.
The GMC
2009-03-06 11:33:27 UTC
You need to be careful. There is evidence that evolution is true. Let me explain the fallacy though in terms of a syllogism.

Evolutionists claim event "A" happened. There is no observable evidence for "A". But it is presumed if "B" is true, "A" is true. Since "B" is true, therefore they argue, "A" is also true. But the presumption that "A" and "B" are related is the fallacy.

Many Christians though argue that "B" is not true either, and they end up looking very stupid. The important thing to remember is to not confuse evidence for "B" as evidence for "A".

I hope you can decode what the different variables represent.
skepsis
2009-03-06 11:36:22 UTC
The common cold virus. So simple, yet it is capable of easily mutating into a wider variety of illnesses than any single vaccine can hope to address.



Or MRSA, a nearly unkillable bacterium that developed in hospitals because of inconsistent and improper use of antibiotics.



Oh, and the growing list of transitional fossils that have been discovered:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_transitional_fossils
Michael K
2009-03-06 11:32:03 UTC
If you're looking for "Yes Man," then say you're looking for someone who doesn't think that evolution exists or that the theory is complete fail.



If you want to watch some videos, watch the "...Made Easy" series by potholer54.
anonymous
2009-03-06 11:28:35 UTC
Go to a museum and take a look at Archeoptryx.

Not only is it a fossil, it is a transitional fossil that creationists deny.

See? All done.



Clearly the LAST thing you are looking for is evidence. It's there but you simply won't look, or if you do, you're just not educated enough to recognize it as such.

Honestly, you have my pity.
anonymous
2009-03-06 11:34:44 UTC
Quick example: AIDs has swept through Africa causing an enormous amount of death and suffering. African prostitutes are at extreme risk to contract the virus. Yet it is becoming more common for these prostitutes' bodies to develop the needed anti-bodies to keep them safe. Often the ones who die lacked these anti-bodies, contracted the virus and died without procreating. The ones with the anti-bodies (a mutation in their DNA) survive and have children who are thus born with the resistance.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/nov/23/kenya.aids
gjmb1960
2009-03-06 11:27:05 UTC
You are completely right :



"Theory of Evolution is merely one's interpretation of observation"



every theory is.



we observer make a model/theory based on these observations and verify the model by letting the model predict some unobserved phenomea. if these phenomea are found the theory gains credibility.



What kind of evididence are you looking for ?
The Paul
2009-03-06 11:28:39 UTC
You can't hold a fossil record in your hands. Or genetics. Or any of the experiments in which new traits appeared in accordance with the predictions of the theory of evolution.



*However* unlike God just because you can't hold these things in your hands doesn't mean you can't find them if you take an honest look.
anonymous
2009-03-06 11:27:48 UTC
Which theory of evolution? There are many. Some are true, but several are not.
anonymous
2009-03-06 11:29:18 UTC
I want concrete evidence that Jesus ever existed. What's that? You have none.



Please provide your alternative sound scientific theory to Evolution without attacking it. Please provide us with evidence, artifacts and all sorts of samples to be tested and repeatedly retested, along with your peer reviewed scientific journal/paper/book. We'll study your evidence. We'll wait.
Super Atheist
2009-03-06 11:27:07 UTC
It's a big, sprawling theory with mountains of data from almost every scientific discipline - from geology to sociology. To discover its fundamentals in detail you'd have to read volumes, which is not something you will do if you're intrinsically hostile to it.



But mark this: if you have a specific issue, you WILL find an answer if you look for it.
Johnny Y
2009-03-06 11:48:23 UTC
Oh, a "Micro-evolutionist".



Bacteria adapting to resist medicine IS EVOLUTION.



If you don't accept that information, it's not our problem. It's all yours.
Prometheus Unbound
2009-03-06 11:28:09 UTC
You can hold a transitional fossil in your hands, if you can persuade the museum director to let you. With your obvious wealth of charm shouldn't be a problem.
Freethinking Liberal
2009-03-06 11:34:04 UTC
Try this:



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

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

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

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



There you are, that should lead to the million of so facts that back up evolution.



By the way I know you are not really interested in the answer because you would have asked this in science.



Now, please can we have a single fact that supports Creationism.
Leo
2009-03-06 11:31:12 UTC
I'm not here to educate you. If you're to lazy to read the wealth of information on the subject then I can't help you.
anonymous
2009-03-06 11:28:57 UTC
You see. This is exactly why people like you need an education. Try learning rather than being spoon fed the nonsense you swallow so willingly.
Religulous 2
2009-03-06 11:29:50 UTC
So you want a religious interpretation of science?



Edit: No offense.
anonymous
2009-03-06 11:27:11 UTC
Talkorigins.org is full of concrete evidense, that you can spend months studying.



The fact that you ask this question in a religion section speaks volumes about your willingness or ability to actually understand it.
Paolo
2009-03-06 11:27:03 UTC
Well, here's an example using eyes
anonymous
2009-03-06 11:25:26 UTC
When you get a flu shot in the fall, which one are you getting? The one for last year's bug, or the version its become this year?
anonymous
2009-03-06 11:25:25 UTC
Spartina anglica
Travyt12
2009-03-06 11:29:13 UTC
If there was concrete evidence then there would be no debate between creation and evolution. There isn't concrete evidence for either.
kstonely
2009-03-06 11:29:19 UTC
go read some peer-reviewed literature.
*Lucky~Star*
2009-03-06 11:26:02 UTC
lemme guess?

your a smart **** christian trying to prove that their religion theory is correct and not scientific theories
Footy
2009-03-06 11:24:43 UTC
Cut yourself open and have a look at your appendix.



Done.
anonymous
2009-03-06 11:27:25 UTC
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/evo_01



Start there please.


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