Darwin/Darwinism Flashcards
When was Darwin alive?
1800s
What ship did Darwin explore on?
HMS Beagle
How long was Darwin on the HMS Beagle?
5 years
Which aspect of Victorian society led to the belief in species immutability?
Highly religious - species created by God
Lamarck’s reasoning against immutability?
Giraffes formed longer necks by reaching higher branches
Immutable?
Unchanging
Refutation of Lamarck’s argument?
Weismann cut off mice tails and length did not change through generations - was not inherited
Name of anonymous text suggesting species change?
The Natural History of Creation
Did Darwin believe in immutability
Like Erasmus, no
Possible atheist
What mechanism for species change did the Origin of Species depict?
natural selection - traits of survivors passed onto next generation
Brief natural selection mechanism? (3)
- variation in a trait
- variation at least partly heritable
- variation linked to variation in relative number of offspring produced [fitness]
What did Darwin not know?
How traits are heritable
Darwin’s incorrect hypothesis for heritability?
‘pangenesis’
‘gemmules’ transferred from each organ to reproductive organs
What did Mendel know about?
Genes but not DNA
Which experiment did Mendel conduct to display the basic laws of inheritance?
Crossing peas
When did Mendel cross peas?
1850s-60s
Who discovered double helix structure of DNA?
Watson, Crick, Wilkins & Franklin
When was double helix structure of DNA discovered?
1953
Which aspect of natural selection did the discovery of DNA structure highlight?
variation caused by mutations changes DNA
Neo-Darwinism?
natural selection combined with modern understanding of how genes work
Genomic era?
reading DNA sequences of organisms
Problem with DNA sequencing?
unconnected words in language not understood
Miller - Urey experiments?
established conditions in primitive atmosphere with inorganic compounds & produced organic molecules
When were the Miller - Urey experiments conducted?
1950s
Panspermia?
Life brought inside meteorites
incorrect
