Mutation and Evolution...

[Rockhopper]

A video that explains how mutations and evolution often work hand in hand.



Tim.

[Rogue]

I will watch this another time, its late here and had a big night. Funny kinda synchy though, saw a photo of that double headed snake just a day or so back. Was gonna follow up on its story but lost where the article was.

[Agartha]

Not about mutation but still related (I didn't want to start a new thread):

Newly discovered fossil could prove a problem for creationists.

Researchers report that they've found the missing link between an ancient aquatic predator and its ancestors on land. Ichthysaurs, the dolphin-like reptiles that lived in the sea during the time of the dinosaurs, evolved from terrestrial creatures that made their way back into the water over time.
But the fossil record for the lineage has been spotty, without a clear link between land-based reptiles and the aquatic ichthyosaurs scientists know came after. Now, researchers report in 'Nature'
that they've found that link — an amphibious ancestor of the swimming ichthyosaurs named  Cartorhynchus lenticarpus.


"Many creationists have tried to portray ichthyosaurs as being contrary to evolution," said lead author Ryosuke Motani, a professor of earth and planetary sciences at the University of California Davis. "We knew based on their bone structure that they were reptiles, and that their ancestors lived on land at some time, but they were fully adapted to life in the water. So creationists would say, well, they couldn't have evolved from those reptiles, because where's the link?"
Now the gap has been filled, he said.


Motani and his colleagues, who include researchers from Peking University, Anhui Geological Museum, the Chinese Academy of Science, University of Milan and the Field Museum in Chicago, found the fossil in China's Anhui Province in 2011. The creature is about a foot and a half long and lived 248 million years ago.


"Initially I was really puzzled by this fossil," Motani said. "I could tell it was related [to ichthyosaurs], but I didn't know how to place it. It took me about a year before I was sure I had no doubts."


Intense analysis put it smack dab in the middle of the ichthyosaur family. But unlike previously discovered fossils in the lineage, this one wasn't perfectly suited to life in the ocean. The key differences between this specimen and previously known ichthyosaurs set it up as the perfect amphibious intermediary.


Whole article here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2014/11/05/newly-discovered-fossil-could-prove-a-problem-for-creationists/?tid=sm_fb

[Rockhopper]

Yep Ags, as we get more info and more fossils the various links come to the fore.

Interesting article!

Tim.

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