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U. scientist says human evolution is going strong

Isnt the earth only 6,000 years old???

No. The earth is about 4.5 BILLION years old. The very earliest homo sapiens (our genus) appeared about 200,000 years ago in Africa. Migration out of Africa to Europe and Asia (and then the Americas) happened about 45,000 years ago. Sorry if that's not what you learned in Sunday School.

"The cause of this mutation is that after people moved out of Africa and into Europe, they needed a better way to get vitamin D" -- NO, these are environmental factors that SELECTED FOR the mutation (after it occurred)--they did NOT "cause" the mutation. Mutations occur essentially at random; most of them have no effect, but when they do, the effect is more likely to be loss or impairment of function rather than advantageous change.

Adaptation is not species evolution. I love milk but some of my children and grandchildren are lactose intolerant and some are not. Will my descendants evolve into another species from this evidence? I think not.

As for confused, if he or she is LDS, a reading on "Earth In The Beginning" by Eric Skousen will provide an interesting view.

Sorry, a few minor genetic differences to NOT constitute evolution. The first and second laws of thermodynamics precludes evolution. And yes, the earth is only 6000 years. Come to Christ while there is still time.

(Historically, the mutations have tended to be local and stay within a region, not jumping from continent to continent.) Please develop a local mutant DNA that will grow hair.. Bald is beautiful!

Thank goodness I don't live in the Bible belt...
And thank goodness that the universities here do this research and the newspapers print it.
Thank you.

Evolution, both in adaptation over a shorter time and speciation over very long periods of time are a scientific fact supported by many lines of strong evidence. The word "theory" used to describe evolution means that it is well established and supported by many, many lines of evidence and should not be confused with the word hypothesis. A hypothesis is an educated guess about what causes a phenomenon. The scientific process seeks to disprove the hypothesis by means of a scientific test. When science tries to disprove a hypothesis many times in many different ways then evidence starts to build for a theory. Another example of a theory is the theory of gravity. Its just a theory right, then go jump off a cliff and disprove that it exists. Evolution is the central concept of biology and is as much a fact as gravity. Speciation is just an accumulation of many such small traits that we as people use to classify organisms into different species.
Evidence for evolution as a fact occurs through several lines of evidence: geological evidence, biological evidence, chemistry, physiology, entomology, herpetology, ornithology, microbiology, and others.

Evolution does not violate the second law of thermodynamics as you cannot describe life as a closed system.

Evolution happens, on this we should all agree.
One Mr. Widtsoe once said that evolution is just a variation of Eternal Progression, for the LDS.
I may be a skeptic but when it comes to the creation of the earth. I don't really trust the scientists or the creationists. I also, frankly, think that it doesn't really matter all that much how it all started. It is a wonderfully curious thing, that will be fun to learn some day when I die.
However, I guess to some it is an important battleground in the whole religion/science debate. I'll let them die on those hills, while I choose to die on something I find more important, like trying to get my kids to bed on time. Maybe someday there will be a mutation that makes kids sleep all day and wake up only for food. That would make them about as impacting as a gold fish.

The earth is not a closed system. Energy pours in everyday in the form of sunlight. Evolution happens. Scientific evidence supports it. No scientific evidence supports creationism.

The other day scientists found a loaf of bread which studies show was never touched by a living thing! Apparently there was a wheat field sitting next to some sugar cane, both of which were hit by a landslide. The rocks ground the wheat and sugar cane into powder. Some fungus was growing where the flour was and provided some yeast. Soon it rained and an earthquake happened and mixed everything together! Then a volcano erupted nearby and the lava flow brought some iron ore to the location. As the ore got just close enough to the dough it wrapped around it and cooled. The lava stayed just close enough to cook the dough golden brown. In the end you get what the scientists have "proven" to be the only known case of a loaf of bread being made with nature. The Iron around the bread even said "teflon" on it.

If this sounds ridicules to you. Just think how this idea sounds to those who are being told life was created this way. Anyone find it ironic that one of the "professors" described himself as "self taught"?

Sorry Kevin of ArKansas but Evolution is just a theory whereas gravity is a Law. Obviously you don't understand the difference. Laws are proven mathmatically whereas theories are not. Evolution has NO mathmatical proof and is only based on observation which itself forms a very "weak" conclusion. The Earth was once theorized to be flat based on observation. This was the bullet proof science of the day. Obviously the Earth never was flat and all the theories in the world wouldn't change that. John Glenn and others quickly put that theory to rest for good!! Human Evolution is a false theory based mainly on observation.

Sorry, Gravity is a theory. Kevin is right.

It's great to see the DNews publish a science article that is both readable and informative. There should be more of this type of coverage.

How wonderful that researchers can track human evolution at this level of detail!

How sad that America now ranks considerably lower than other industrialized nations in terms of public science literacy.

All i can think about when i hear people argue against evolution is "what will our great great grandchildren think?" And i want to run and write in my journal that "just so you know, grandchildren, i'm not stupid and i DO get it, despite the fact that most people these days seem to think they have personal relationships with imaginary friends."

I was thinking. The evidence for evolution is that some cultures are lactose intolerant causing them to have diarrhea. If this is the case, being a part of evolution is a real bummer.

And by the comments already put forth, it would seem some of species is evolving backwards.

Like the ones you think you are talking to on a computer?

I came from a monkey, maybe that is why I enjoy an occasional banana or two.