Recent Problems in Evolution

Although molecular biology has been used to hasten research in many fields of biology, it has failed to confirm the evolutionary mechanisms proposed by Darwinian theory. According to Dr. Paul Sharp, "Attempt to detect adaptive evolution at the molecular level have met with little success." Although the study described one of the few molecular successes of evolutionary theory, the trend has been that molecular biology contradicts much of evolutionary theory. (Sharp, P.M.. 1997. In search of molecular Darwinism. Nature 385: 111-112).

With the recent advances in the field of molecular biology, DNA sequencing has become automated, and computer programs have been developed to analyze the large amount of data accumulated using such techniques. As a result, it has become commonplace to perform phylogenetic analyses of numerous species using a statistical method called likelihood ratio tests (LRTs). The use of LRTs has produced the following results in molecular evolutionary theory:

**Testing Theories of Molecular Evolution Using LTRs¹**
Evolutionary Theory Prediction	Result
Constant DNA substitution rate among lineages (molecular clock)	LRTs indicate that the molecular clock hypothesis should be rejected most often, since substitution rates vary widely among difference lineages of organisms (2).
A standard DNA substitution model explains evolutionary data	The current models of DNA substitution fit the observed data poorly (3).
The substitution rate is equal among nucleotides	This model usually does not match the observed data (4).
DNA substitution rates are constant among sites within a genetic sequence	DNA substitution rates vary widely among sites within a sequence (5).
DNA substitution rates are constant among genomic regions	DNA substitution rates vary widely among genomic regions (6).
DNA substitution process is identical among lineages	Methods of DNA substitution varied significantly among four of the major lineages that reportedly gave rise to present-day life forms (7).
The substitution process in the stem regions of ribosomal DNA is independent among sites	In fact, there is a correlation of substitution at pair-bonded stem sites in ribosomal DNA sequences (8).
The DNA substitution process is identical among genomic regions.	DNA substitution rates vary widely among genomic regions of transfer RNA from mitochondria (6).
Phylogenies for hosts and parasites are consistent with a common evolutionary history	For 13 sets of gophers and their associated lice, the phylogenies were different. In a small subset, they were consistent (9).

As can be seen in the above table, the logical predictions of evolutionary theories do not match the actual data. Either 1) evolution is a very random process that does not follow the usual rules of biology and chemistry or 2) life was not created through evolutionary mechanisms.

According to Richard Kerr, "But the best compilation of fossil evidence on mammal evolution to date now shows that climate had little effect on most of the evolutionary churning of the past 80 million years." Even the paleontologist who did the study, Dr. John Alroy said, "This is counterintuitive; I wanted to find a connection." (Kerr, R.A. 1997. Climate-Evolution Link Weakens. Science 276: 1968).

"Neanderthals were not our ancestors" - a quote from the authors of the recently published article, "Neandertal DNA Sequences and the Origin of Modern Humans" by Matthias Krings, Anne Stone, Ralf W. Schmitz, Heike Krainitzki, Mark Stoneking, and Svante PŠŠbo. An in-depth analysis can be found here. (Krings, et al. 1997. Neandertal DNA Sequences and the Origin of Modern Humans. Cell 90: 19-30).

The idea that "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny" (no longer taught as a paradigm of evolution) has recently been shown to be a fraud by its originator, Ernst Haeckel. Haekel's drawings, depicting embryos at similar stages of development, bear little resemblance to the actual embryos. These drawings were subsequently used in a 1901 book called Darwin and After Darwin and were reproduced widely in English language biology texts. One examples of fraud appears in Haeckel's drawings of embryos in the "tail bud" stage, which he depicted as identical for different species. While real embryos do share many features at this stage, such as a tail and identifiable body segments, they also have key differences. Human embryos, for example, have tiny protrusions called limb buds, particularly if they have developed to the point of having as many body segments as Haeckel gives them. But Haeckel did not include limb buds. And in his drawings, the chick embryo eye is blackened, like a mammal's, although it wouldn't be pigmented that early. Haeckel has also given the bird embryo a curl in the tail that resembles a human's. Not only did Haeckel add or omit features, but he also fudged the scale to exaggerate similarities among species, even when there were 10-fold differences in size. Michael Richardson, an embryologist at George's Hospital Medical School in London, the author of the original article in the August issue of Anatomy and Embryology stated, "It looks like it's turning out to be one of the most famous fakes in biology," According to Scott Gilbert, a developmental biologist at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, "There is more variation [in vertebrate embryos] than had been assumed.". (Elizabeth Pennisi. 1997. Haeckel's Embryos: Fraud Rediscovered. Science 277: 1435)

Evolutionary theory predicts that much of the speciation of North American mammals and birds was influenced by the climatic changes and geographic isolation produced by the ice ages of the Late Pleistocene. However, in examining the mtDNA differences between songbirds, the predicted divergence rate of 0.5% is exceeded by a factor of 10 (the actual rate is 5.1%). Two possible evolutionary explanations exist to explain the data - either 1) the molecular clock is improperly calibrated or 2) climate and glaciation do not effect speciation. If the molecular clock were improperly calibrated, then for two groups of songbirds, the mtDNA divergence would have to be 50%, which the researchers describe as "highly improbable," given the likelihood of multiple substitutions at the same nucleotide position for such a high divergence. (Klicka, J. and R.M. Zink. 1997. The importance of recent ice ages in speciation: a failed paradigm. Science 1666-1669.)

Birds are dinosaurs. This has been the pervasive dogma of the last decade, due to apparent homologies of digits in the avian hand with that of theropod dinosaurs. Theropod hands retain only digits I-II-III, so digits of the modern bird hand are often identified as I-II-III. However, studies of the developing hand in bird embryos, from a variety of species, shows that the digits of the avian hand are II-III-IV. This new report cast serious doubt upon the idea that birds evolved from dinosaurs and leads evolutionists to conclude that birds are examples of convergent evolution from some unknown ancestor. A complete report, " Demise of the "Birds are Dinosaurs" Theory" can be found at this site. (Richard Hinchliffe. 1997. EVOLUTION: The Forward March of the Bird-Dinosaurs Halted? Science 278: 596 and A. C. Burke and A. Feduccia. 1997. Developmental Patterns and the Identification of Homologies in the Avian Hand. Science 278: 666.)

A new theory of evolution (or lack thereof) has developed from recent studies of the fossil record. Previous studies have indicated species arose and remained unchanged for millions of years before becoming extinct or followed by the appearance of new species. This observation led to the theory of punctuated equilibrium. A recent report furthers this idea with the concept of "coordinated stasis," where entire communities of species remain unchanged for millions of years. These periods can be followed by periods when "upwards of 60% of species seem to be replaced over a period of a few hundred thousand years." (Richard A. Kerr. 1997. Does Evolutionary History Take Million-Year Breaks? Science 278: 576)

A complete report, "Demise of the "Birds are Dinosaurs" Theory" can be found at this site. (Anne Gibbons. 1997. Lung Fossils Suggest Dinos Breathed in Cold Blood. Science 278: 1229. Ruben, J.A., T.D. Jones, N.R. Geist, and W.J Hillenius. Lung structure and ventilation in theropod dinosaurs and early birds. Science 278: 1267.)

Paleontology tells us that there was a major change in the climate of Africa between 2.8 and 2.5 million years ago. Evolutionists have suggested that this change promoted early human evolution and a turnover of mammalian species at this time. However, a thorough study of mammalian fossils (over 10,000 specimens) from the period of 3.0 to 1.8 million years ago reveals that there was "no distinct turnover pulse between 2.8 and 2.5 Ma." Instead, the most significant period of change in mammalian species occurred between 2.5 and 1.8 million years ago. (Behrensmeyer, A.K., N.E. Todd, R. Potts, and G.E. McBrinn. 1997. Late Pliocene faunal turnover in the Turkana Basin, Kenya and Ethiopia. Science 278: 1589)

A recent study examined the epipubis or so-called 'marsupial bone,' which has been thought to have been associated with the suckling of young in a marsupial pouch. It was assumed that the epipubis was required to support lactating young for the lengthy period after birth in which considerable growth took place. However, in the platypus (monotreme), there is not pouch. In addition, not all marsupial species have a pouch in females, and it is not found in males and yet all these groups have an epipubis. Therefore, the bone and the pouch do not appear to be functionally associated in any simple way. According to the authors of the study, "It is difficult to visualize how, early in the evolution of placental mammals, diverse groups could have started from the marsupial pattern and arrived independently at the quite different plan found throughout present placentals... The challenge highlighted by these new fossil findings is that we do not know what any possessor of the epipubis does with it, let alone what all possessors do with it." (Presley, R. 1997. Evolutionary biology: Pelvic problems for mammals. Nature 389: 440-441.)

Biologists are now examining the relationships between developmental stages of organisms in order to attempt to determine evolutionary relationships. However, what they have found "is that, unexpectedly, there is no incremental progression from one developmental type to another." The reason proposed is "that it is more difficult for complex larval structures to be gained than lost during evolution." This rather startling revelation from evolutionists, if it is found to apply to all organisms, would overthrow the entirety of evolutionary theory. In the current study, the authors propose that developmental modes should more often go from complex, feeding larval forms to morphologically simpler, non-feeding types. The authors indicate that the "early developmental patterns are evolutionarily labile" They ask the question, "If early developmental events are not evolutionarily sacrosanct, are there any rules at all for the evolution of developmental systems?" They conclude that evolution of larva is not linear, but modular - a sort of punctuated evolutionary scenario. As usual, when evolutionists fail to find evolutionary relationships between obviously related organisms, they evoke a non-linear evolutionary mechanism. (Palumbi, S.R. 1997. Evolutionary biology: A star is born. Nature 390: 556-557)

The analysis of HLA allele frequencies (HLA-DRB1 alleles) in various American Indian populations suggests that these alleles may have been generated since the colonization of the Americas (about 20-30,000 years ago). It was originally thought that human DRB1 alleles are "ancient", that is, predate the divergence of the hominoids (4-7 myr). Recent analyses of DRB1 intron sequences indicate that the alleles within a lineage (> 90% of the DRB1 alleles) have arisen relatively recently. (Erlich HA, Mack SJ, Bergstrom T, Gyllensten UB. 1997. HLA class II alleles in Amerindian populations: implications for the evolution of HLA polymorphism and the colonization of the Americas. Hereditas 19-24.)

Recent Problems in Evolution - 1997