Rick is a geneticist, and a BHT Lurker.

Gentlemen,

The discussion re ID is interesting, but you are both missing (or overlooking) some serious concepts. One, there is a relatively constant rate of mutation in all genomes. As a plant breeder, I usually use 1 in 3×10e6 as an estimate of background mutation rate. This background mutation rate is the core of evolutionary “choice” by natural selection (NS). You need variation to enable NS to work; the variation comes from a baseline mutation rate. Cause? Good question: UV from the sun, natural radioactivity from the rocks, exposure to natural or synthetic compounds, genetic replication errors. All of these are real and contribute.

Josh, you waved the “big gap” flag earlier today. Valid consideration. Darwinists and neo-Darwinists like to think of evolution as occurring in tiny increments. Sometimes, maybe most of the time, that’s how it happens. But sometimes it occurs in great big steps. Creationists and ID proponents want to point to these as evidence for “design.” As a Christian, I can certainly see that perspective, and can praise God for His wisdom in creating those mechanisms and events. But that doesn’t negate His use of evolution as a tool.

I want to tell you a story that you probably haven’t read before. I’ve attached an article that was recently published in Nature. The work was done here at Penn State, by the grad student of a friend of mine. Here’s the quick version: during the past 250 years a new species of fly evolved in central PA. Two fly species, using two different plant species as food-host, interbred. The hybrid 1) was able to reproduce; 2) feeds on an entirely different host plant from its parental species; 3) looks and acts distinctly different from either parental species. What’s cool here is that you can date the evolutionary event because the new host plant is an introduced (and invasive) species, one of the Japanese honeysuckles (Lonicera), which only became resident in central PA within the past 250 years.

250 years is the blink of an eye in evolutionary time. On a typical evolutionary scale, 250 years is “appearing out of nowhere.”

This kind of event happens frequently in plant evolution. I’ve done it experimentally in my backyard. It happens less frequently in animal species, since interspecific hybrids are often sterile. Indeed, a sterile species really isn’t, since it can’t reproduce. But it does happen.

Good discussion, guys. Thanks.

Rick Grazzini