Evolution: A Theory in Crisis Revisited (Part Two of Three)
Michael Denton
THIS IS the second of a three-part essay in which I defend my 1985 book, Evolution: A Theory in Crisis (Evolution), in light of the scientific advances and discoveries of the past thirty years. 1 In Evolution, I argued that the major, taxa-defining innovations in the history of life were not derived from ancestral forms by functional intermediates.
In the first part of this essay, I considered in detail the origin of the enucleate red cell. In this part, I discuss the tetrapod limb, the feather, and flowering plants.
The Tetrapod Limb
THE TETRAPOD limb, possessed by all members of the four classes of terrestrial vertebrates (amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals), is to some extent a second-order novelty, as it is derived from an antecedent structure, the fin of a lobe-finned fish. However, for our purposes, it is an important novelty because accounting for its nature and origin poses massive problems. This has long been clear. Richard Owen noted these difficulties 166 years ago, in On the Nature of Limbs. 2
...
Read more here/Leia mais aqui: Inference
Read more here/Leia mais aqui: Inference
Michael Denton is a British-Australian biochemist who specializes in the genetics of eye disease.
