Darwin's greatest challenge tackled

European Molecular Biology Laboratory ^ | 10/28/2004 | EMBL

[general_re]

Boink.

[Shortwave]

Man! God's going to be pissed that you found out his secret!

[doingtherightthing]

"In the beginning...God."

'nuff said.

[VadeRetro]

I've been assured that science will never explain the origin of the eye. Therefore, this article is wrong.

[escapefromboston]

eyeball ping

[Starve The Beast]

This hasn't been too much of a secret. Even in the days of Darwin and Wallace, zoologists had the eye argument nailed. There are some interesting technical objections to the theory of evolution, but the 'half-eye' has never been one of them.

[WestVirginiaRebel]

The eye cells have it!

[Imabeliever]

Yes, and all those fossilized ape skulls they occasionally find in Africa and the National Geographics staff fawn over, are really our uncles too. NOT!

[Fitzcarraldo]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/02/040218074335.htm

Salamanders don't get glaucoma because they can readily regenerate retinal cells. The same is true of newts, frogs, and some types of fish. "We're trying to understand the remarkable regenerative powers of these lower vertebrates, and through this understanding, develop strategies to stimulate regeneration in the human retina," Reh said.

While salamanders can regenerate retinal cells through their life, many other species lose this ability as they age. "At some point in each species life cycle, the stem cells in the retina make a transition from a regenerative cell to a cell that will make a scar in response to injury, like the cells that cause scars in the spinal cord," Reh said. "Chickens make the transition a few weeks after hatching in most of their retina, though they retain some limited capacity to regenerate retinal cells throughout life. In rats, it's only a matter of a few days after the cells are generated that they lose their ability to regenerate other retinal cells."

Human retinas seemingly can't repair themselves, yet in recent studies human retinal cells have grown new neurons when cultured in the laboratory. "The hope is that many of the molecular and cellular mechanisms necessary for regeneration, that serve amphibians so well, are still in place in humans," Reh said. "Future studies from the nervous system, as well as other organ systems, should enable us to define the roadblocks in the regenerative process, and develop strategies to go around them."

[HiTech RedNeck]

Now that's real interesting, a light sensitive cell "evolving" in a dark area. It couldn't be that God was getting it ready, oh perish the thought /sarcasm

[general_re]

It couldn't be that God was getting it ready...

Could be. Perhaps our knowledge of how He did it is evolving as well ;)

[PatrickHenry]

Evolution Ping! This list is for the evolution side of evolution threads, and maybe other science topics like cosmology.
See the list's description in my freeper homepage. Then FReepmail me to be added or dropped.

[Blzbba]

"They have elucidated..."


Well, he just lost half the Creationists by using that big word.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

I see. ;)

[grey_whiskers]

They have elucidated..."

Well, he just lost half the Creationists by using that big word.

He sure lost the dyslexics--they think he's discussing plane geometry...

[grey_whiskers]

I see. ;)

No, "Eye" see.

Ba-dum-BUM!

[aculeus]

Ah, but of what possible survival benefit was the original ability to detect light?

For a well-thought out explanation go here -- and then read the book.

[grey_whiskers]

I see. ;)

How long until a Christian brings in John 9:41 out of context?

Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains."

[grey_whiskers]

Didn't Hume base an early version of argument-from-design upon the eye?