Posted on 10/31/2002 6:51:38 AM PST by forsnax5
Los Angeles, Oct. 30, 2002 - Scientists from the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California have, for the first time, shown experimentally the steps in the origin and development of feathers, using the techniques of molecular biology. Their findings will have implications for the study of the morphogenesis of various epithelial organs-from hairs to lung tissue to mammary glands-and is already shedding light on the controversy over the evolution of dinosaur scales into avian feathers.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...
Time for a heated discussion of chicken feathers, eh?
[/LBB mode]
When I was in college, research into the nature and origin of mamary glands was also of prime interest.
You beat me to it. But I can't help wondering ... what must it be like, trying desperately to stamp out all new discoveries, all over the world? Gotta be frustrating.
What's the new discovery, Patrick? Can you summarize it for all of us.
That should make things clearer, thanks in advance.
The evil chicken franchise that exploits the chicken for profit.
A chicken is the way eggs make other eggs.
In any case, this article gives more evidence that the Darwininian viewpoint is unfalsifiable. No matter what evidence is found, it will be used as an "I told you so" at some point even though the record will show otherwise.
From the source article.
The standing hypothesis among many paleontologists has long been that the scales on dinosaurs must have lengthened into rachides that then became notched to form barbs and barbules. But there has been no real molecular evidence to either back up or refute that argument. Until now.
In their Nature paper, Chuong and his colleagues have demonstrated just how barbs and rachides are formed in a modern chicken, and have at the same time demonstrated that the evolution from scale to feather most likely followed a path in which the barbs form first and fuse to form a rachis-rather than a rachis forming first, and then being sculpted into barbs and barbules. This interaction between evolutionary biology and developmental biology (dubbed Evo-Devo) is a relatively new marriage of two previously disparate fields.
The point I am making is that this will be used, as you indirectly infer, as evidence that supports your viewpoint. If the opposite had occurred, i.e. the rachis forming first, you would have said the same thing.
Are we not men??
We are DEVO!!
Here, we use a developmental approach to analyse molecular mechanisms in feather-branching morphogenesis. We have used the replication-competent avian sarcoma retrovirus to deliver exogenous genes to regenerating flight feather follicles of chickens.
Can you explain this to us?
And then summarize what the new discovery is?
Naturally, many characterization studies were likely required.
"While Darwin's theory has explained the 'why' of evolution, much of the 'how' remains to be learned," Chuong adds. "Evo-Devo research promises a new level of understanding."
Why is a motive, typically unfalsifiable.
Yes, that is the way I read it. My point being that this would be touted as evidence for the Darwininian view no matter what the outcome.
Setting that aside, in your opinion, what possible outcome of such a study would have undeniably falsified evolutionary theory?
No outcome. That is my point.
Anyone have a photo of the featherless chickens? (They were bred in Israel, IIRC)...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.