marichiko

Here is a specific, observable example of evolution in action. During the time of the industrial revolution in England when the number of coal burning factories suddenly increased and soot was being spit out everywhere, a strange thing happened to the Pepper Moth (Biston betularia for all you nomenclature buffs out there). The moth which had always been white, suddenly began to turn black. After observing this phenomenon the hypothesis was made that this was a response on the part of the moths to predation by birds. The white moths stood out clearly against the soot covered tree limbs and trunks, making them an easy target for hungry birds.

A scientist named Kettlewell decided to test this hypothesis. He released an equal number of white and black moths into both polluted and non-polluted areas. After 24 hours he recaptured the moths by attracting them to bright lights. In polluted areas, a significant percentage of dark moths over white ones returned. The opposite was true in non-polluted areas.

This is a simple experiment and anyone who repeats it using the same techniques will get the same results.

Now you can either decide that this is an example of natural selection in action, or you can decide that God looked down from heaven and decided to fling vast handfuls of black moths down in Manchester, England. If He did so, no one observed him doing this. It is an irreproducible theory and belongs in that honored scientific publication, The Journal of Irreproducible Results. You can observe the same thing Kettlewell did, however.

(I swear to Buddha, I don't understand what has happened to the creationists' grasp of logic and simple common sense.)