Charles Darwin brought something new to the theory of evolution, a mechanism called natural selection.
He noticed the competition between the species happens due to each specie produce more offspring than can survive in a given environment, therefore the amount of food available it is not enough for all the members of the specie, so the ones that have any advantage over other members like the strongest fit member will be more likely to beat the others members, survive and reproduce, passing his characteristics to their offspring. The member of the specie that does not have any advantage will probably die out. For Darwin the fittest member was not necessarily the strongest but the ones which were most fit to survive and reproduce.
He believed that was sexual reproduction that leads to variations in specie. This random variations can be passed through successive generations and any change which are greatly beneficial may eventually become permanent, because life is a struggle for survive those born with favourable characteristics will survive and those without them will die out.
Charles Darwin theory of evolution is based on his experiments by travelling around the world, on the beagle voyage where he visited many countries with different climates and environmental. He saw evidences that there are many differences between species and as well within the species. The best example of the theory is that of the Galapagos finches, he collected 13 different types and at first he believed to be completely different kind of birds because they did have different characteristics, the most striking difference was in their beaks, each bird had a different type of beak that was adapted to the way they obtained food. The Galapagos Islands are isolated from each other by powerful ocean currents and have all developed different habitats. The finches are probably evolved from one species that arrived by change from South America, borne on the wind or ocean currents. Each of the current species adapted to the habitat on their island and developed a different type of beak.There are also other areas that he found to support his idea: fossil evidence, geological theories and biological observations made by others.
Darwin believed that all creatures on Earth might have originated from a single common ancestor so that each species through geological history fit somewhere in an overarching metaphorical tree, he elegantly wrote:
The affinities of all beings of the same class have sometimes been represented by a great tree. I believed this simile largely speaks the truth. The green and budding twigs may represent existing species, and those produced during each former year may represent the long succession of extinct species...The limbs divides into greater branches, and these into lesser and lesser branches, were themselves once, when the tree was small, budding twigs, and this connexion of the former and present buds by ramifying branches may well represent
the classification of all extinct and living species in groups subordinate to groups...From the first growth of the tree, many a limb and branch has decay and dropped off,and these lost branches of various sizes may represent those whole orders,families and genera which have now no living representatives, and which are known to us only from having been found in a fossil state. As buds give rise by growth to fresh buds, and these,if vigorous, branch out and overtop on all feebler branch, so by generation i believe it has been with the tree of life, which fills with its dead and broken branches the crust of the earth, and covers the surface with its ever branching and beautiful ramifications. (Charles Darwin, 1859)
M1: Differentiate between a scientific question and a non-scientific question.
A scientific question has a real answer that can be answered in a logical way, andit has been tested, and this means you can carry out an experiment or take measurements to answer the question. You can also have hypotheses that it is falsifiable, so you can show with your experiment that the hypotheses arefalse. One example of a scientific question is did the grass turned brown because it needs fertilizer? The answer for this question just needs to support or refute the question.
A non-scientific question is based only on an opinion, you cannotprove it to be true as no data or experiment can be gathered from it. It cannot be addressed by physical evidence. One example of a non-scientific question is Did Abraham Lincoln think blue was a terrible Colour? We cannot answer this question because we do not have any evidence that supports nor refutes it.
M1: Explain how science can address some of these but not others, using examples of questions science can currently answer, question science cannot answer yet, and question science will never be able to answer.
Science is able to answer some question but not all, due to there is not enough data to prove it and science can only answer a question if it had been proved to be true. A question that science can answer it is one that it has been proved to be true, one example of a question that science can answer is what is the effect of cigarette smoke on lungs? We know the answer because scientist had made experiments and prove it. Some question cannot be answer yet an example of question that science cannot answer yet is that if we will be able to travel to the future one day? Science cannot give an answer yet because we do not have the philosophical understanding nor the technology to make us travel to the future and the information we have it is not enough but as technology keeps advancing we might or might not be able to see how we will be doing in 30 years. In other hand thereis some questions that science we will never be able to answer like where we go after we die, we will never be able to answer it because no matter how advanced technology it is we will never have the opportunity to travel to another dimension and we do not have the understanding for that as well.. Science is unable to answer philosophical and ethical answers due to there are based on opinion not experiment and do not have a logical answer, an example could be why abortion is immoral wrong ?
D1: Describe the process to which a scientific question paper is subjected in order for it to be published, including the peer review process.
Peer review is a process of self- regulation by a profession or a process of evaluation involving qualified individuals within the relevant field. Peer review methods are employed to maintain standards, improve performance and provide credibility.
The Peer process starts with a researcher where he/she writes a paper and submits it to the editor of a journal after that the editor of a journal revise the paper to see if it is has sufficient quality and appropriate content, after he verified it he will accept or reject it, if he accept the article he will send to the reviewers, the reviewers have a certain knowledge on the subject area, they will analyse the paper and see if everything is correct and if it there is nothing that
Had been overlooked. After that the paper will come back to the editor where he will say if it need to be revised again or if he will accept it or reject it, then the article is returned to the researchers with the feedback and any request for review, she will revised it and send back to the editor, the editor will decide if he will publish it or not.
D1: Explain why new theories are often resisted by the scientific community, and how unorthodox science discoveries eventually become accepted, using the concept of paradigm shifts and scientific revolutions, and how unorthodox science discoveries become accepted.
The concept of falsifiability by Karl Popper
It is the belief that for any hypothesis to have credence, it must be inherently disprovable before it can become accepted as a scientific hypothesis or theory. The idea is that no theory is completely correct, but if not falsified, it can be accepted as truth.
Falsifiability is a useful tool for generating theories that are testable and realistic. If a falsifiable theory is tested and the results are significant, than it can become accepted as scientific truth.
Falsifiability is very strict in its definitions and does not take into account that many sciences are observational and descriptive,
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sherrylima (student)
