Posted on 01/18/2006 6:10:34 PM PST by PatrickHenry
Our ears could have started evolutionary life as a tube for breathing, say scientists, after examining the ancestral structure in a 370-million-year-old fossil fish.
Evolutionary biologists are intrigued by how complicated sensory organs evolved from structures that may have had completely different uses in ancestral creatures. The bony structures in ancient fish, which at some point turned into ears, for example, appear to have had mainly a structural function, bracing the cheek and holding up the jaw. How exactly they made the transition to their role in hearing has proved a bit of a mystery.
The ear is a relatively easy organ to study. Its evolving bones have been preserved as fossils, whereas the soft tissues of other specialized features, such as eyes and noses, have long decayed.
So Martin Brazeau and Per Ahlberg of Uppsala University in Sweden decided to take a close look at the ear-like features of an ancient, metre-long monster from the Latvian Natural History Museum in Riga. Panderichthys was a fish, but is thought to be closely related to the earliest four-limbed tetrapods that eventually climbed on to land and gave rise to modern vertebrates.
The researchers examined Panderichthys and found that the bony structures in its head combine features of fish and tetrapods, capturing a snapshot of evolution in action. "It's neat to see that transition," says Hans Thewissen who studies the evolution of the ear and other organs at Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, Rootstown.
Half-way house
Ancient fish have a narrow channel from the roof of the skull into the mouth, known as a spiracle, which is bounded by a long bone known as the hyomandibula that braces the cheek. In tetrapods, the equivalent bone is stubbier, a step towards the stirrup-like stapes bone that helps to transmit sound waves into our skulls.
The team found that Panderichthys has a wide, straight spiracle rather than a narrow one, and a shortened hyomandibula. They report their findings in Nature1.
Some have previously speculated that our ancient ears may have had a role in breathing.
On the basis of this new fossil evidence, the team speculates that the widened spiracle may have served Panderichthys much like the breathing holes used by modern-day sharks and rays. These allow the fish to inhale water over their gills while lying on the seabed, and avoid gulping in grit through the mouth.
| The demonstration of an organ evolving provides tangible evidence against the idea, put forward by some proponents of creationism, that sensory organs are so intricate that they must have been designed by a higher being. Brazeau says: "It's a slap in the face to that kind of thinking." |
No one denies any such thing. There simply is no POSITIVE evidence for that position.
There is more scientific evidence that points to that fact than the scientists can ever make up for their imaginary beliefs.
Really? And what would that scientific evidence be?
Our ears never breathed...what a bunch of hooey!
Hey, they presented their evidence. Why don't you present yours?
That's just preposterous! People go to such extremes just to not believe in the creation.
I wouldn't be so quick to write this off after seeing so many liberals talk through their ass.
That is stupid, which is why that's not what evolutionary biology actually says.
Who's responsible for your cartoon-level fantasies about biology? I'll bet it's a creationist pamphlet or website, because the Discovery Channel and so on aren't *that* bad at explaining the actual science.
I dunno, honestly - I haven't spent much time looking into the evolution of the inner ear. Lemme get back to you...
Our ears could have started evolutionary life as a tube for breathing, say scientists....
Ancient fish have a narrow channel from the roof of the skull into the mouth, known as a spiracle...
Some have previously speculated that our ancient ears may have had a role in breathing.
On the basis of this new fossil evidence, the team speculates that the widened spiracle may have served Panderichthys much like the breathing holes used by modern-day sharks and rays. These allow the fish to inhale water over their gills while lying on the seabed, and avoid gulping in grit through the mouth.
| The demonstration of an organ evolving provides tangible evidence against the idea, put forward by some proponents of creationism, that sensory organs are so intricate that they must have been designed by a higher being. Brazeau says: "It's a slap in the face to that kind of thinking." |
It's a millionth of a be: a very small level of existance
Well this article explains everything, 370 million years
from gills to ears. Why did some fish change and others
havent changed much at all?
Man, this thread has brought out the Luddite rear guard like few ever have. Congrats.
That's like asking whether the pope is Catholic. Nature is by far the most prestigeous natural science peer-reviewed journal in the world!
I beleive it. Even now there are examples of that.
I have seen several people with holes in their earlobes.
And that, MiLady, is exactly what peer review is. Exactly.
There is not a shred of scientific evidence for the existence of a Deity and you tend to demean the concept of G-d by suggesting the need for it, IMHO.
(I know, but this was taught to me years ago by an evo-teacher. Later on, I learned embryology--and the teachers of the real subject never even mentioned evolution. That's because real science--not fanciful speculation--is practical.)
ROTFLMAO!
Yeah. Well, I studied a 371-million-year-old fossil fish and concluded that our (#^% could have started evolutionary life as a $#@^ for $#@^ing.
"My question was:
"Now if somebody could explain where the first cell came from"
I don't remember it being answered, so please tell me again."
Let me refresh your memory.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1552599/posts?page=30#30
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1552599/posts?page=31#31
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1554785/posts?page=70#70
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1555226/posts?page=98#98
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1555727/posts?page=62#62
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1556243/posts?page=13#13
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1556466/posts?page=38#38
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