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To: Alamo-Girl
Darwinism needs to make predictions about the future of species ...

That's about as difficult as predicting the future history of America. But if you can tell me what environmental changes will occur, I can make general predictions as to what will be the result -- if the environment changes slowly to allow evolution to take place. We do see some changes with predictable results. Where the climate is becoming more dry (or wet), there are observed changes in vegetation. What had been adapted to live there dies out, and better-adapted species take hold. The fossil record, and the geological record, tell us what's happened in the past. I can't predict the future. If the changes are gradual, life will probably adapt. But no one can tell you what, say, horses will look like in a million years.

350 posted on 11/14/2004 2:29:25 PM PST by PatrickHenry (The all-new List-O-Links for evolution threads is now in my freeper homepage.)
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To: PatrickHenry
Thank you for your reply!

No doubt predicting the future for species would be difficult, but I don't think it would be impossible - especially considering the advancements made in developing specialized lines for laboratory research - transgenic mice, knock-out genes, etc.

Seems to me it would be part and parcel of environmental research, e.g. how many generations for a line a mice to adapt to a change in air quality, food source, lighting, etc.

366 posted on 11/14/2004 8:35:06 PM PST by Alamo-Girl
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