[allmendream]

Trying to teach biology without evolution is like trying to teach astronomy without gravity.

You can describe where things are and where they are going, but absent is the underlying explanation that makes it all make sense.

Fine, the Moon orbits the Earth and the Earth orbits the Sun; but how?

Fine, bacteria develop antibiotic resistance; but how?

[Mudtiger]

“Trying to teach biology without evolution is like trying to teach astronomy without gravity.

You can describe where things are and where they are going, but absent is the underlying explanation that makes it all make sense.”

Then where are we “going” in evolution? Can you tell me, other than just somewhere “different?” We can predict precisely where Mars will be on any future date due to our understanding of gravity. It is convenient that a theory is never called to predict anything in the future since it’s rooted in randomness and is moving too slowly to “observe.” Evolution is however unhinged at so many points that it can be made to explain any past or present observation. I have read where it can even explain my wife’s shopping habits. Even the concept of “God” is an evolutionary construct to make the community more cohesive, hence more survivable. It explains everything, hence explains nothing.

[Heartlander]

As shown in “Biological cost of rifampin resistance from the perspective of Staphylococcus aureus”… mutations that confer rifampicin resistance tend to be lost after the antibiotic is removed because the mutations significantly impair the ability of RNA polymerase to do its job.

But more importantly, when the integrity of the ‘genome’ is threatened - life fights back. Why? Is this by design?

[SeekAndFind]

RE: bacteria develop antibiotic resistance; but how?

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By that, I am assuming how, without having to insist that it is via Darwinian mechanisms where there is a resultant GAIN in functional systems.

The mechanisms of mutation and natural selection aid bacteria populations in becoming resistant to antibiotics. However, mutation and natural selection also result in bacteria with defective proteins that have lost their normal functions.

Evolution requires a gain of functional systems for bacteria to evolve into man—functioning arms, eyeballs, and a brain, to name a few.

It can be thought of as :

1) An example of Darwinian evolution in action.

On the other hand,

2) It can also be thought of a NOT an example of evolution in action but rather variation within a bacterial kind.

My point is this -— WE DON’T HAVE TO INSIST on the answer on e way or the other as ESSENTIAL to understanding bacterial resistance.