Charles Darwin is a well-known scientist throughout the globe. Darwin is know for starting the wheel about evolution. Darwin was alive from 1809-1882. This means that he did not have all the wonderful technology we have currently. Even though he did not have the luxuries we have today, he did have his observational skills.
When watching the video, we watched as Darwin started to explore and question why things (organisms) that exist and why animals of the same species have different features. In the video, it talked about how Darwin started to look at finches in the Galapagos. He was fascinated by the different beaks that the finches had. As the video went on, it explained how Darwin was a very observant man and was able to distinguish why the finches had different beaks (it was because of their habitat and what kind of beak they needed to survive). He later on realized that it was because of the habitat they were living in. Some finches needed a longer beak to get pollen, while others needed wider beaks to break seeds.
Scientists now a days like to look back on Darwin’s work because his work is the essential building blocks that have helped us understand where we (humans) have come from and why there are so many different species of animals with different adaptations. When we look on a molecular level, we have found something called DNA. Many of the scientists and researchers from the video talk about how there have been mutations and adaptions found in humans are caused by DNA. They say how Darwin did not have the technology, but he was completely right about how evolution worked. Some pieces of DNA will be rearranged or changed and that will cause a mutation or adaptation.
The video also explained how Darwin came up with the name “Natural Selection”. After Darwin had observed several species, he came to the realization that if an animal wasn’t strong enough or didn’t have the right body to survive, that species would die off. Only the species or animal that had the right body or build could survive.
I found it quite interesting how the video talked about how we actually came from fish. One of the researchers has dedicated 20 years of research to finding out how we evolved from fish. After all this time, he has finally found an answer. The fish that started the whole evolution chain is called an Archaeopteryx. It is a fish that had fins that were structured to walk on land. They are similar to human hands. Anyways, this fish decided to go onto land instead of staying in the water where there were a lot of predators. Over a long period of time, the DNA, the process of natural selection and evolution has helped form all the creatures that walk on earth today. It has changed the way we view evolution today because Darwin has opened our eyes to how DNA works and how through the process of evolution. We view evolution today as the process that develops an organism over a very long period of time to be able to better survive. I believe in the future, we will be able to process DNA strands much more efficiently because technology will be far more advanced. Also, because the technology will be way more advanced, problems or scientific mysteries that we don’t even know exist yet will be solved.
Overall, it was very cool to see how we evolved from fish, how the process of evolution works and how even two missing pieces of DNA can change whether a the animal becomes a chicken or a chimpanzee.