No new body parts have evolved
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Contents |
Claim
The evolution of new body parts has never been observed.
Source
- Kepler, Christian, n.d. Another False Link Discovered in the Theory of Evolution. [1]
Responses
- Fruit flies can grow new body segments or limbs by mutations to Hox genes and modifier genes.
- In humans, the current trend is for body parts to evolve out rather than in since we are physically adapted for an environment that is more strenuous than our current one. For example, the palmaris longus tendon is currently vanishing in the human population. It is no longer advantageous to have it, since we do not routinely get from place to place via overhand swinging on tree branches. Our ancestors also lost their tails several million years ago.
- The evolution of new body parts has also been observed in the fossil record many times. For example the evolution of the shell has been observed in early Cambrian strata at the beginning of the Cambrian explosion when a variety of new structures evolved.
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Fallacies contained in this claim
Related claims
- Macroevolution has never been observed
- Small changes do not imply large changes
- No entirely new features have evolved
- No new species have been observed
- New structures would be useless until fully developed
- No 2-celled life exists intermediate between one- and multi-celled
- We don't see creatures in various stages of completion
- Preadaptation implies organs evolved before they were needed
- Why aren't beneficial traits evolved more often?
- Evolution doesn't explain our using 1/10th of our brain
- Some fossil species are still living
- Some modern species are apparently degenerate, not higher forms
- Pure chance can't create new structures
- How do things know how to evolve?
- Over-specialization with no adaptive value sometimes occurs
- Long-term trends (orthogenesis) doesn't fit evolutionary theory
- Proposed evolution scenarios are just-so stories
- Biologists say there are six basic concepts of evolution
- Naturalistic mechanisms do not provide a means for making sufficient new genetic material to cause ascent from microscopic organisms to large life forms
