Posted on 12/07/2005 5:47:32 PM PST by neverdem
A Conversation With Michael R. Rose
In the 1970's, Michael R. Rose made scientific history with experiments manipulating the life spans of fruit flies.
Through selective breeding, Dr. Rose was able to create a long-lived line of creatures he called Methuselah flies. He then put his research into reverse and developed flies with much shortened life spans.
All this was accomplished within 12 generations by accelerating the evolutionary processes in a laboratory setting.
These days Dr. Rose, who is 50, breeds fruit flies at the University of California, Irvine, where he is a professor of evolutionary biology. From there, he also directs the Intercampus Research Program on Experimental Evolution for the University of California system.
Dr. Rose, who was born in Canada, was in New York recently to promote his book "The Long Tomorrow: How Advances in Evolutionary Biology Can Help Us Postpone Aging."
Q. You are an evolutionary biologist by profession. As a researcher trained mostly in Canada and England, are you astonished by the American battles over Darwinism?
A. Not since coming to California. In 1987, the first day I ever gave a class at Irvine, there was a riot in my classroom. I was introducing the basic principles of evolution, and pandemonium broke out - yelling, students pounding the tables. That was the day I learned about evolution in America.
Recently, I was watching President Bush speak on the potential bird flu epidemic. Pandemic bird flu is exactly a question of evolutionary biology because grave danger will come only if the virus evolves into a form that can spread from human to human.
Of course, Bush couldn't use the word evolution. There were a few key points where I was waiting for him to use the word. Nope! The virus would "develop" the ability to move from...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
IIRC, fruit flies have been workhorses in genetic research. Enter genetics and drosophila melanogaster into Google, PubMed, etc.
Twelve generations? Don't see how that will do me any good?
workhorses? oh -- horseflies, I get it.
"Time flies like the wind. Fruit flies like a banana".
Sorry, I couldn't resist.
I'll believe evolution is the sole source of life when the scientists are able to show me how random lightening can creat a self-breeding cell.
YEC INTREP
What does YEC stand for?
YEC = Young Earth Creationist
?
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