Scruffy little weed shows Darwin was right as evolution moves on

Times Online | 2003-02-20 | Anthony Browne, Environment Editor

[Junior]

The URL (which I forgot) is http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-584528,00.html

[mallardx]

Put that in your pipe and...oh, never mind! :)

[balrog666]

This should be an interesting thread!

[dead]

A friggin' weed?

Oh no! We're evolving the wrong way!!

[SunStar]

The discovery of the York groundsel shows that species are created as well as made extinct, and that Charles Darwin was right and the Creationists are wrong.

Discovery of a new weed proves that human beings weren't created? Uh huh... Sure.

[Cicero]

the York groundsel is a natural hybrid between the common groundsel and the Oxford ragwort

Charles Darwin would have been the first to say that this has nothing to do with his Theory of Evolution.

The Theory of Evolution posits the gradual transformation of one species into another owing to the "survival of the fittest." If the analysis is correct, this is an instance of a hybrid of two species that unusually proved to be fertile.

It actually accords better with Medieval science, which posited creatures such as the gryphon, a cross between an eagle and a lion, than with the Theory of Evolution. In itself, it neither proves nor disproves the T of E.

[Junior]

Nope. The theory of evolution deals with organisms changing over generations. Daughter species may arise from parent species through these changes, but the parent species may still exist -- one species does not evolve into another, but the other species does evolved from the first. There is a difference. And it may not happen gradually (in geological time); indeed rapid speciation may take part after particularly nasty environmental disasters.

[Onelifetogive]

Charles Darwin was right and the Creationists are wrong...

I don't recall Creationism addressing what's happening now, only what happened then.

This dolt thinks he has proven what happened then by a single data point from now. That would take a much larger "leap of faith" than believing in God ever has.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

New species? Impossible. Everyone knows that man's nefarious activity has reduced biodiversity. Species can only be rendered extinct, no new ones can come into existence!

[Junior]

You're right. This is most definitely going to get interesting...

[MEGoody]

"It ended in the discovery of a “scruffy little weed"

That came from some other scruffy little weed, not a marigold, not a mum, not an oak tree. A weed came from a weed. Big deal.

[StriperSniper]

If this weed was in the US, I'd say kill it before it is added to the endangered species list! ;-)

[f.Christian]

Another nail in the coffin of God and the creationism hoax .. .. .. I'm beginning to wither // melt !

[Con X-Poser]

A weed changed into ... a weed - and this is supposed to confirm that weeds and worms, walruses and whales and women & men all came from a common amoeba?

Tune in next week when a foraminifera evolves into ... a foraminifera! Coming soon - a sparrow evolves into ... a sparrow! That proves forams and birds have a common ancestor with apes and college professors!

[Dataman]

Charles Darwin would have been the first to say that this has nothing to do with his Theory of Evolution.

You're right. A hybrid weed isn't exactly proof of evo any more than a mule is.

“At a time in Earth’s history when animal and plant species are becoming extinct at an alarming rate, the discovery of the origin of a new plant species in Britain calls for a celebration.” The creation of new species can takes thousands of years, making it too slow for science to detect.

The above statement is itself a problem for evolution: If species are dying out at an alarming rate (which was as true 200 years ago as it is now) and new ones take thousands of years, is this not evidence that things are devolving?

[Con X-Poser]

<< If this weed was in the US, I'd say kill it before it is added to the endangered species list! ;-) >>

Well, they found too many of those blasted spotted owls to keep them on the endangered list, so they gotta do SOMETHING!

[Junior]

As usual, you completely miss the point. Of course a weed species has, for its immediate ancestor, another weed species. Only creationists think whole new styles of critter spring full blown. You just keep on using your strawman version of evolution to argue against, and folks who know what they are talking about will continue to laugh at you and consider you thick.

[CalConservative]

Come see me when it establishes its own new phylum. Then we are talking evolution. Once again we confuse variations (micro-evolution) with macroevolution. Yawn.

[TheBattman]

Oh great....more liberal puke in an attempt at giving evolution credibility.

So no-one noticed this little weed - that suddenly makes it a newly evolved species? Yeah - right.