Wichita Business Daily

How are changes in how something evolves passed on from one generation the next?

For example; Humans and chimpanzees developed thumbs. As each generation found they would be more useful in their environment, how did that information get passed to the next generation in order to develop the end product?

Public Comments

1. It's all down to survival of the fittest. You can go much deeper into it if you wish but that is what it boils down to. Using your example, by developing thumbs those humans would be at an advantage in the world and would therefore be more successful at surviving and also in reproduction as they would be a more attractive option. Assuming the 'useful' genes are dominant they will be passed on each generation and will mix in with other evolutions of the human body. We are still evolving today, humans are getting taller as its seen as a good feature. Hope this helps.
2. Theoretically : Using gene (DNA). Remember that every information about an organism body is stored in the double helix strand of DNA. So there's a high possibility that it used in evolution.
3. That's not how it works. What you are describing there is Lamarckism, or the inheritance of acquired characteristics, a theory that was once considered plausible, but has longe since been rejected. Individuals don't evolve, populations do. Organisms try to create as many offspring as possible. There is genetic variation between those offspring, and the ones that have the genes that best equip them to survive are the ones that are most likely to have offspring of their own, and so the cycle repeats. To use the thumbs example, our ancestors were the ones with the most dextrous hands, who could make tools to get food. Their less dextrous cousins died out.
4. The changes are actually alterations in our genes called mutations. If this alteration is in the nucleus of our sex cells (sperm/ovum/pollen) then the change will also be present in the offspring. Hope it helps
5. Well we have different things then an chimpanzee . eg) Humans face is different than chimpanzees. We evolve in experience of life, love and all that other things now we are useful in our environment because we care pet and adopt animals but some people kill animal to get food and make stuff. eg) We care for dogs because we give them food and water , if we were not there they wouldn't really find water and food (Others in dog family not included) Dogs in Uk can only kill rats and mice and other thing that small but problem is they can get really hurt and things like that is quite hard to find, Eg) If we human was not there plants couldn't grow or trees or other thing that we can do so that why we here for to make Earth quite nice