Posted by Bob on 10/18/2007, 6:04 am, in reply to "Re: Infection Worse than AIDS" In my genetics class we raised several generations of fruit flies after exposing the initial parents to radiation. There were radical changes in form. But the result was fruit flies, not some other creature. Evolution theory predicts the gradual accretion of random mutations over millions of years, eventually resulting in a distinctly new gene pool that is not readily compatible with the precedent gene pool from which the new species evolved, nor with other descendant species of the same ancestor. Such accretion requires many intermediate variant forms, which are lacking in the geologic record. Resistant staphylococcus aureus is the same species as the non resistant variety. What I find interesting in this article, along with a great many others, is the growing awareness among scientists of historic catastrophism, which has frequently punctuated the history of the planet. According to my old genetics professor, we live in a tiny sliver of space-time in which we have enjoyed uncharacteristic stability (comparatively speaking). But the human gene pool is increasingly burdened with fragile members (dependent on medicines, technology, etc), and a single significant catastrophe could bring about plagues and deaths of (excuse the term) Biblical proportions. Pun intended. The prof thought that this inevitable event would occur in the 20th century. He got it wrong, but it's a bit too soon to breathe a sigh of relief. We are not out of the woods, and to stretch the metaphor, it's a jungle out there.
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That's because there is a vast difference between variation (for adaptation) and trans-speciation.
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