What Evolution Is

The Theory of Evolution began with Charles Darwin and his book, Origin of Species. Interestingly, he did not conclude that evolution began billions of years ago in a chance combination of just the right chemicals. He simply observed that many species were similar enough that they appeared to come from a common ancestor. Despite its "evolution" into what it is today, it has become the default scientific explanation of the origin of life.

To understand evolution, one must understand the difference between the origin of life and the tiny changes that we do see happen and are clearly happening. The origin of life is thought to have taken place billions of years ago when the earth was rather young and was bathed in water and a plethora of simple molecules that included carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, chlorine, etc. In other words, the ingredients of life. It is believed that with the aid of energy from the sun, these chemicals combined in various combinations and every once in a while, or maybe just once, the one in a million chance (so to speak) would cause a combination that could be classified as primitive life giving molecules. Eventually these combined to make more complex molecules until they formed into what would be considered a very simple cell of come sort.

Now of course it is thought that even basic molecules were very uncommon, and the more complex they became the lesser and lesser chance they had of forming, but that the one in a billion billion billion billion, etc. ended up as a cell. Of course this took place over millions of years, it is not supposed to have happened in a short time. However, for some random reason, a tiny fraction, or perhaps even just one of these few primitive cells, through pure chance, happened to have the ability to divide, which it began doing. Soon there were lots of these cells and as they filled the ocean, natural selection began to take effect and most of them died off, but every once in a while, one would have a mutation that allowed it to adapt a little better and therefore reproduce.

It is this natural selection that we see every day. We know for example that wolves were the original ancestors of dogs. This is an example of evolution, just evolution that humans forced. Every once in a while, a wolf was a little tamer than normal and then bred to produce offspring that were also tame. Over many generations, they became what we call dogs today. There are also clear similarities between animals in different places because their environments demanded slightly different survival properties.

These distinctions are important because no one is positing that species can't change over time, but many deny that life could have come from a pool of non-living molecules purely by chance. So when you say that you don't buy into evolution, you don't usually mean that minor attributes of species cannot change over time, you mean that you don't think life originated with a pool of slime. Not understanding the difference can make it seem that you do not know what is evolution.

What Evolution Is   Often Invasive Species Don't Appear to Be a Problem At First - Then All of a Sudden, Wham!   

Can Terrestrial Life Have Extraterrestrial Origin?

Crick (1973) advanced the idea that life was originally seeded on Earth from space - the idea of Panspermia. The British astronomer Fred Hoyle and Srilankan Chandra Wickramsinghe have further raised the possibility of Panspermia (1981).

The whole idea of Panspermia is the outcome of inability to satisfactorily explain origin of life on Earth despite accumulation of vast amount of data since Alexander Oparin (1924) first published his paper on this subject. He speculated that early Earth had reducing atmosphere. He considered it essential for Origin of life on Earth.

Even demonstration of origin of amino acids under physico-chemical influences by Miller - Urey (1953) has not resolved the question of spontaneous origin of life on Earth. In fact much work has been done after Miller - Urey to bridge the gap between inanimate and animate but still spontaneous transformation of inanimate into animate remains a matter of faith and belief. Till date, it is not possible to even conjecture spontaneous origin of a single polypeptide chain, what to talk about spontaneous origin of the simplest biological cell.

The gap between inanimate and animate remains as wide as ever.

Demonstration of amino acids, purine and pyrimidine bases in meteorites bombarded on earth, specifically Murchison meteorite; and presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in space does not tell us anything about origin of life, whether on Earth or elsewhere. These findings only indicate feasibility of spontaneous origin of these chemicals under physico-chemical influences and nothing more.

All the work done so far demonstrates only one or more aspect of 'life like activity' but does not explain origin of life itself. Known properties of RNA are far from constituting life. Even recent analytical study by Bokov and Steinberg (2009) indicating feasibility of step-by-step evolution of ribosome at structural level beginning from a small core leaves much to be desired to constitute life.

Theory of extraterrestrial origin of terrestrial life, i.e. Theory of Panspermia may provide some relief from the question of explaining origin of life on Earth but it lands us into the question of explaining origin of life in extra-terrestrial space. So, we aren't in any better position with our original question.

Theory of extraterrestrial origin of life leads to further questions. If life was seeded from space, than how could it be found 5 Km below the surface of Earth in the form of extremophiles bacteria or 9000 meters below sea level on the ocean floor of Galapagos rift in the form of Poganophora. Barophillic Marine microbes have been found at more than 10 Km depth in Marianas Trench. Therefore, distribution of life on Earth is inconsistent with extraterrestrial origin of life.

Theory of Panspermia also raises the question of adaptation or survival of alien life under the conditions seen on Earth. All the available evidence indicates that alien life if any, must have originated under quite different environmental conditions than seen on Earth. So, how could alien life survive on Earth and evolve to the present state? Gradual adaptation over an immense period of time in line with Darwinism is more easily said than can be done.

Hence, Theory of Panspermia or Extraterrestrial Origin of life is nothing but scientific fiction created with the sole purpose, to divert attention from the question of origin of life.

What Evolution Is   Often Invasive Species Don't Appear to Be a Problem At First - Then All of a Sudden, Wham!   

What Evolution Is

The Theory of Evolution began with Charles Darwin and his book, Origin of Species. Interestingly, he did not conclude that evolution began billions of years ago in a chance combination of just the right chemicals. He simply observed that many species were similar enough that they appeared to come from a common ancestor. Despite its "evolution" into what it is today, it has become the default scientific explanation of the origin of life.

To understand evolution, one must understand the difference between the origin of life and the tiny changes that we do see happen and are clearly happening. The origin of life is thought to have taken place billions of years ago when the earth was rather young and was bathed in water and a plethora of simple molecules that included carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, chlorine, etc. In other words, the ingredients of life. It is believed that with the aid of energy from the sun, these chemicals combined in various combinations and every once in a while, or maybe just once, the one in a million chance (so to speak) would cause a combination that could be classified as primitive life giving molecules. Eventually these combined to make more complex molecules until they formed into what would be considered a very simple cell of come sort.

Now of course it is thought that even basic molecules were very uncommon, and the more complex they became the lesser and lesser chance they had of forming, but that the one in a billion billion billion billion, etc. ended up as a cell. Of course this took place over millions of years, it is not supposed to have happened in a short time. However, for some random reason, a tiny fraction, or perhaps even just one of these few primitive cells, through pure chance, happened to have the ability to divide, which it began doing. Soon there were lots of these cells and as they filled the ocean, natural selection began to take effect and most of them died off, but every once in a while, one would have a mutation that allowed it to adapt a little better and therefore reproduce.

It is this natural selection that we see every day. We know for example that wolves were the original ancestors of dogs. This is an example of evolution, just evolution that humans forced. Every once in a while, a wolf was a little tamer than normal and then bred to produce offspring that were also tame. Over many generations, they became what we call dogs today. There are also clear similarities between animals in different places because their environments demanded slightly different survival properties.

These distinctions are important because no one is positing that species can't change over time, but many deny that life could have come from a pool of non-living molecules purely by chance. So when you say that you don't buy into evolution, you don't usually mean that minor attributes of species cannot change over time, you mean that you don't think life originated with a pool of slime. Not understanding the difference can make it seem that you do not know what is evolution.

What Evolution Is   Often Invasive Species Don't Appear to Be a Problem At First - Then All of a Sudden, Wham!   

Can Terrestrial Life Have Extraterrestrial Origin?

Crick (1973) advanced the idea that life was originally seeded on Earth from space - the idea of Panspermia. The British astronomer Fred Hoyle and Srilankan Chandra Wickramsinghe have further raised the possibility of Panspermia (1981).

The whole idea of Panspermia is the outcome of inability to satisfactorily explain origin of life on Earth despite accumulation of vast amount of data since Alexander Oparin (1924) first published his paper on this subject. He speculated that early Earth had reducing atmosphere. He considered it essential for Origin of life on Earth.

Even demonstration of origin of amino acids under physico-chemical influences by Miller - Urey (1953) has not resolved the question of spontaneous origin of life on Earth. In fact much work has been done after Miller - Urey to bridge the gap between inanimate and animate but still spontaneous transformation of inanimate into animate remains a matter of faith and belief. Till date, it is not possible to even conjecture spontaneous origin of a single polypeptide chain, what to talk about spontaneous origin of the simplest biological cell.

The gap between inanimate and animate remains as wide as ever.

Demonstration of amino acids, purine and pyrimidine bases in meteorites bombarded on earth, specifically Murchison meteorite; and presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in space does not tell us anything about origin of life, whether on Earth or elsewhere. These findings only indicate feasibility of spontaneous origin of these chemicals under physico-chemical influences and nothing more.

All the work done so far demonstrates only one or more aspect of 'life like activity' but does not explain origin of life itself. Known properties of RNA are far from constituting life. Even recent analytical study by Bokov and Steinberg (2009) indicating feasibility of step-by-step evolution of ribosome at structural level beginning from a small core leaves much to be desired to constitute life.

Theory of extraterrestrial origin of terrestrial life, i.e. Theory of Panspermia may provide some relief from the question of explaining origin of life on Earth but it lands us into the question of explaining origin of life in extra-terrestrial space. So, we aren't in any better position with our original question.

Theory of extraterrestrial origin of life leads to further questions. If life was seeded from space, than how could it be found 5 Km below the surface of Earth in the form of extremophiles bacteria or 9000 meters below sea level on the ocean floor of Galapagos rift in the form of Poganophora. Barophillic Marine microbes have been found at more than 10 Km depth in Marianas Trench. Therefore, distribution of life on Earth is inconsistent with extraterrestrial origin of life.

Theory of Panspermia also raises the question of adaptation or survival of alien life under the conditions seen on Earth. All the available evidence indicates that alien life if any, must have originated under quite different environmental conditions than seen on Earth. So, how could alien life survive on Earth and evolve to the present state? Gradual adaptation over an immense period of time in line with Darwinism is more easily said than can be done.

Hence, Theory of Panspermia or Extraterrestrial Origin of life is nothing but scientific fiction created with the sole purpose, to divert attention from the question of origin of life.

What Evolution Is   Often Invasive Species Don't Appear to Be a Problem At First - Then All of a Sudden, Wham!   

Can Terrestrial Life Have Extraterrestrial Origin?

Crick (1973) advanced the idea that life was originally seeded on Earth from space - the idea of Panspermia. The British astronomer Fred Hoyle and Srilankan Chandra Wickramsinghe have further raised the possibility of Panspermia (1981).

The whole idea of Panspermia is the outcome of inability to satisfactorily explain origin of life on Earth despite accumulation of vast amount of data since Alexander Oparin (1924) first published his paper on this subject. He speculated that early Earth had reducing atmosphere. He considered it essential for Origin of life on Earth.

Even demonstration of origin of amino acids under physico-chemical influences by Miller - Urey (1953) has not resolved the question of spontaneous origin of life on Earth. In fact much work has been done after Miller - Urey to bridge the gap between inanimate and animate but still spontaneous transformation of inanimate into animate remains a matter of faith and belief. Till date, it is not possible to even conjecture spontaneous origin of a single polypeptide chain, what to talk about spontaneous origin of the simplest biological cell.

The gap between inanimate and animate remains as wide as ever.

Demonstration of amino acids, purine and pyrimidine bases in meteorites bombarded on earth, specifically Murchison meteorite; and presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in space does not tell us anything about origin of life, whether on Earth or elsewhere. These findings only indicate feasibility of spontaneous origin of these chemicals under physico-chemical influences and nothing more.

All the work done so far demonstrates only one or more aspect of 'life like activity' but does not explain origin of life itself. Known properties of RNA are far from constituting life. Even recent analytical study by Bokov and Steinberg (2009) indicating feasibility of step-by-step evolution of ribosome at structural level beginning from a small core leaves much to be desired to constitute life.

Theory of extraterrestrial origin of terrestrial life, i.e. Theory of Panspermia may provide some relief from the question of explaining origin of life on Earth but it lands us into the question of explaining origin of life in extra-terrestrial space. So, we aren't in any better position with our original question.

Theory of extraterrestrial origin of life leads to further questions. If life was seeded from space, than how could it be found 5 Km below the surface of Earth in the form of extremophiles bacteria or 9000 meters below sea level on the ocean floor of Galapagos rift in the form of Poganophora. Barophillic Marine microbes have been found at more than 10 Km depth in Marianas Trench. Therefore, distribution of life on Earth is inconsistent with extraterrestrial origin of life.

Theory of Panspermia also raises the question of adaptation or survival of alien life under the conditions seen on Earth. All the available evidence indicates that alien life if any, must have originated under quite different environmental conditions than seen on Earth. So, how could alien life survive on Earth and evolve to the present state? Gradual adaptation over an immense period of time in line with Darwinism is more easily said than can be done.

Hence, Theory of Panspermia or Extraterrestrial Origin of life is nothing but scientific fiction created with the sole purpose, to divert attention from the question of origin of life.

What Evolution Is   Often Invasive Species Don't Appear to Be a Problem At First - Then All of a Sudden, Wham!   

Effect of Heavy Metal Cadmium on Growth and Yield of Pigeonpea

Introduction:

Pigeonpeas are an important legume crop of rainfed agriculture in the semiarid tropics. The Indian subcontinent, eastern Africa and Central America are the world's three main pigeon pea-producing regions. Pigeonpeas are cultivated in more than 25 tropical and subtropical countries

Pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan L.) is an important legume crop of rainfed agriculture in the semi-arid tropics. The Indian subcontinent, eastern Africa and Central America are the world's three main pigeon pea-producing regions.

The growth and yield of Pigeonpea is affected by heavy metal Cadmium. The uptake of Cadmium by the roots of Pigeonpea is affected by numerous plant and soil factors like Cadmium concentration in the rooting medium, Cadmium availability, Plant species and Plant age.

Selection of the Variety and Raising of the Crop:

The seeds of UPAS-120 variety of Pigeonpea were raised in earthen pots in a naturally lit net house. The pots were lined with polyethylene bags and filled each with washed river sand. Four seeds of Pigeonpea per pot were sown approximately at a uniform depth and distance. Before sowing, the seeds were surface sterilised and inoculated with suitable rhizobium culture. Thirty days after sowing (DAS), the plants were thinned to two per pot. The pots were supplied with tap water as and when required. The nitrogen free solution was supplied to each pot at weekly intervals.

Sampling:

Sampling was done at 7-8 days intervals starting from 30 days after sowing (DAS) of the crop till its maturity. Eight plants from each treatment were used at each sampling. Two plants constituted one replicate.

Growth observations:

The plants were uprooted and separated into different parts, i.e. stem, leaves, roots, nodules, flowers, buds, pod walls and seeds. Following growth parameters were recorded -

The fresh and dry weight. The dry weight of abscissed leaves. Plant height. Leaf area.

Results and Discussions:

In comparison with control treatment, the major morphological changes that occurred in cadmium treatment plants were, the yellowing of leaves and their subsequent absicission, browning and bending of stem, swelling at the base of stem, increase in the secondary branches, early flowering, more leaves per plant, smaller leaves, fewer pods, fewer seeds per pod and smaller seeds.

The plant height was reduced with both the cadmium levels i.e. 3mM and 6mM, but the reduction was significant only with 6mM Cd. With 3mM Cd, there was no significant reduction upto 53 days after sowing (DAS). In control and 6mM Cd treatments, the maximum height was attained at 97 DAS. The total leaf area was reduced at all the stages of plant growth. In control, the leaf area was maximum at 97 DAS, whereas in Cd treated plants, it was maximum at 111 DAS. There after, the reduction was maximum with 6mM Cd due to leaf senescence and abscission. Cadmium drastically reduced the fresh weight of all plant organs at all stages of plant growth. The fresh weight of leaves and stem increased upto 97 DAS in control and decreased there after. The fresh weight of flowers, pod walls and seeds was also reduced by both the levels of cadmium, reduction being more at the heigher concentration. The flowering in cadmium treated plants was observed at 75 DAS whereas in control, at four days later i.e. at 79 DAS. The dry weight of flowers, pod walls and seeds were also reduced in cadmium treated plants. The maximum dry weight of flowers in control was observed at 111 DAS, there after there was a slow decrease. In cadmium treated plants, the maximum dry weight of flowers was attained a little earlier, i.e. at 97 DAS, there after there was a decrease in the dry weight. The dry weight of seeds and pod walls increased in both the control and the cadmium treated plants, but at every stage, the dry weight of seeds of the cadmium treated plants was less than that of the control. The reduction in plant growth could be due to the adverse effect of the heavy metal cadmium on the various physiological and metabolic processes such as photosynthesis, nitrogen fixation and partitioning of carbon and nitrogen.The deleterious effect of low concentration of cadmium was due to decrease in seed number but at higher doses, the reduction in yield was because of the formation of lesser number of seeds with smaller size. Control plants accumulated 19.1 gm dry matter through its life span, whereas 3mM and 6mM Cd treated plants accumulated only 13.8 gm and 10.4 gm dry matter, respectively. The rate of dry matter deposition during vegetative stage was 135.8 mg per day for control, 63.9 mg per day for 3mM Cd and 40.9 mg per day for 6mM Cd. The highest rate of dry matter accumulation occurred during the 'flowering and pod setting' stage of growth being 282 mg per day, 274 mg per day and 209 mg per day for control, 3mM Cd and 6mM Cd respectively. Loss of dry matter due to leaf abscission started early in Cd treated plants and increased till harvest in both control and treated plants. This loss amounted to 7.8, 10.8 and 12.5 % fror control, 3mM and 6mM Cd respectively. Thus Cd affected both the rate of dry matter accumulation and dry matter loss from the plant. Dry matter harvest index (HI) were reduced at higher Cd concentration (6mM Cd), however, plants with 3mM Cd exhibit a higher Harvest Index (HI) than the control. What Evolution Is   Often Invasive Species Don't Appear to Be a Problem At First - Then All of a Sudden, Wham!