PBS Special: The Great Works of Charles Darwin

When travelling from island to island on the Beagle Voyage, Darwin collected finches from each island he visited. When he got back, he examined the birds realizing there were small but noticeable differences on the birds. This meant that there were different types of finches on each of the island, also meaning that there is more than one species of finch. Because each island had slightly different settings, each bird that had lived there adapted over time to better equip themselves for living on that particular island. The changes in the finches were subtle, just like how the islands were only slightly different. Different species of finches were born of the original ancestor and as more time passed and they grew more different. They grew different in terms of things like their beaks and their feathers. This example led Darwin to his idea of evolution because he saw that clearly there was no other explanation for his findings. This also proved his theory of natural selection because the original finch’s traits were weaned out and those original finches evolved into species that could survive the best in the climates of the different islands. Because he now believed that the finches had one common ancestor, he came to the conclusion that all life forms on earth have one common

The documentary, “Darwin’s Dangerous Idea” tells the story of Charles Darwin’s conception of his theory of natural selection, and how it explains the evolutionary process and species adaptation. The story begins with a brief overview of his 5-year stint on the HMS Beagle as the ship's naturalist, during her South American voyage. The film shows how Mr. Darwin collected fossils and many species of animals and birds from many different regions especially the Galapagos Islands. It portrays Mr. Darwin’s return to England and his struggle between the mainstream religious beliefs and his personal beliefs of how different species came to be. Additionally, the documentary covers his presentation of fossils and ideas to the scientific community,

Discoveries in DNA, cell biology, evolution, biotechnology have been among the major achievements in biology over the past 200 years with accelerated discoveries and insights over the last 50 years. Consider the progress we have made in these areas of human knowledge. Present at least three of the discoveries you find to be most important and describe their significance to society, health, and the culture of modern life.

This paper explores the history and some interesting facts about DNA. The last couple centuries have seen an exponential growth in our knowledge of DNA. The history of the DNA can be traced back to multiple devoted scientist. This article attempts to summarize, and review the basic history of DNA while providing some fascinating information about it.

The biological perspective also can be called Biopsychological Perspective, is a large scientific perspective that undertake that human behaviour and thought processes have a biological fundamental points. Investigations with biological perspective into biochemistry of behaviour link with genetics and heritability, neurotransmitters and hormones, and the psychophysics of sensation and perception. Parts of biological perspective may include; Physiological psychology, neuroscience, pyschoneuroimunology and psychopharmacology. The biological perspective relies on scientific methods because of this, its scope of information is limited to variable that can be manipulated.

It was interesting to learn about this theory that has become the basis of many vital concepts concerning biology. He changed the way we see things in our universe. It was also very intriguing to see that Charles was very hesitant to publish his book because he feared that it might not be taken serious or that it would be thought of as rubbish. Therefore, he spent multiple years piecing together his observations and lots of evidence to support his theory. This is very similar to modern day because multiple people are very reluctant about what they say or do because of how society will react or the backlash they will receive.

He did not know that DNA does not stay the same and that mutations change DNA. Evolution is discovered by the comparing of genes. Similarly, Darwin did not understand dark matter, a concept still hard to grasp today. Otherwise, one other major contributing point is switches in DNA. “Switches are very powerful parts of D.N.A., because they allow animals to use genes in one place and not another; at one time, and not another” (What Darwin Never Knew). Darwin was born in the 1800’s, whereas it was not until the 1950’s that Watson and Crick began to decipher DNA’s structure. Darwin’s claims still hold true, but DNA takes evolution one step forward. Darwin’s ideology and today’s knowledge of DNA work hand in hand to ensure the development and understanding of evolution.

To end it all off, Charles Darwin challenged the current ideas of science at his time and changed it for the better with his studies and theories. Had he given up, we would not likely have our current understanding of the world of evolution and the history of life. Darwin showed us that we should never give up hope and devotion to what we believe

Charles Darwin is many times seen as radical and brash. The theories that Darwin proposed were enough to change the face of religion, social culture and history as we know it. What many fail to understand is: it took Darwin twenty years to perfect his Theory of Natural Selection before he would publish On the Origin of Species. He had seen firsthand what could happen if haste, rather than reason was applied to the unveiling of his findings. Darwin made further observations of the species over the course of that twenty-year span, all the time observing not only the species that he was studying, but the changes in society as well. His observations were not made in order to create social commentary, but rather to ensure that the presentation of his research would be best received. As he watched his contemporaries present their knowledge to a very theatrical 19th century Europe, he consulted with professionals of every field in order to ensure that his theories would be well received and that they would stand the test of time. He would be known to Europe not as a

Charles Darwin is the founding father of evolution. Charles Darwin believed that the origin of species was set at random. That we were made by time taking its course and the joining of atoms and bacteria over time made us into where we are now. His idea was that we were created by natural selection. This brought a huge contradiction to the Christian church, it brought a different type of mind set which was against what they were taught of God. Charles Darwin brought something so new that caused a revolution in his generation even until now. Speaking from the perspective of a Christian I can see how he might have angered people during his time. He brought a new theory trying to dis prove God. Explaining how that through natural selection the

Charles Darwin’s book sparked large debates across the world, large numbers of reviews, critiques and negative responses were published. When Darwin released the book “The origin of species” he was more worried about the effects it would have on his fellow scientists than the public. “Through all this, Darwin largely kept his nose out of things, safely hidden in the comfort of Down House, trying to tease out what reviewers thought of his science amidst all the politics and rhetoric.”(“Chalres Darwin & Evolution” (2009).). Darwin kept on with his work, publishing the evolution in plants, animals (including humans), adding to the large amount of evidence he had collected over the years. As the scientific world started to come to terms with evolutional theory, Darwin collected more and more evidence which started to go in his favour.

“Charles Darwin died on the 19th of April last, a few months after the completion of his seventy third year; and on the twenty sixth, the mortal remains of the most celebrated man of science in the nineteenth century were laid in Westminster Abbey, near those of Newton.” This was written at the end of the nineteenth century and is a popular belief today. The great Charles Darwin one of the most influential scientists of all time, and for good reason. Darwin through many years of research Darwin gave birth to the theory of evolution. Evolution was an earth shattering theory because it stated that the organisms you see now evolved from their ancestors over millions of years, when was previously believed to be that all creatures were created of

Darwin's finches, inhabiting the Galápagos archipelago and Cocos island, constitute an iconic model for studies of speciation and adaptive evolution. A team of scientists from Uppsala University and Princeton University has now shed light on the evolutionary history of these birds and identified a gene that explains variation in beak shape within and among species. The study is published today in Nature, on the day before the 206th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin.

Changes in gene sequence can be brought about by the action of transposable elements. These insert randomly over the entire genome and if this occurs in an exon it can result in an altered gene product. Transposable elements can also stimulate changes in gene expression, by changing the regulatory region a gene is influenced by. The extent to which changes in gene expression can affect evolution is demonstrated by diverse beak morphology in Darwin’s finches. It was discovered that there was a strong link between the expression of Bmp4 and the depth and breadth of the beak. This demonstrates the profound impact that changing expression patterns can have on phenotype, and the significance of the random events that lead to the altered expression in evolution. Gross chromosomal rearrangements such as inversions, translocations and deletions can also result from the action of transposable elements and can alter how groups of genes are inherited by changing linkage groups.

During that early era, Erwin Chargaff, a chemist from Austria-Hungary, contributed to the knowledge of DNA by establishing the rules of nitrogen base pairs. DNA holds nitrogen bases that bind with each other in a specific way. For example, two bases called adenine and thymine connect only with each other. The other two bases are guanine and cytosine, and they too bind only with each other. This base pair rule led scientists to believe that DNA had a helical structure, which was successfully reported by two biologists, James Watson and Francis Crick. Respectively, the scientists grew up in the U.S. and United Kingdom, and together, they created a lab report that credited them with the discovery and identification of DNA in 1953. Two men from different origins assisted each other to research DNA. Their work was significant to clarify the knowledge of biology, but it could not have been achieved without the discoveries made by preceding scientists. It is human nature for people to learn from each other’s work and achievements, regardless of their origin. Studying the success of others helps people uncover new knowledge, making them successful too. In terms of DNA research, scientists from different countries examined each other’s accomplishments, and one-by-one, they produced new information, bringing new light to biology.