Losing my religion.

[juju]

I think we need to define our terms here, because you're starting to confuse me a little.

<u>Evolution</u>: a change in allele frequencies over time. Populations change in their genetic makeup as time passes. This is a fact. This is why the makers of roach motels have to keep changing the type of poison they put in their traps. It's also why we have chihuahuas.

<u>Theory of Evolution</u>: The mechanisms by which evolution occurs. Mutation, genetic drift, natural selection, founder effect, gene flow, etc.

<u>Common Descent</u>: The theory that all life arose from one common ancestor (some believe that this, too, is a fact).

These ideas are all seperate, but linked.

The idea that humans, apes and monkeys all share a common ancestor is born of the above concepts. But finding yet another predecessor of man is unlikely to prove the mechanism by which evolution occurs.

There isn't really a "missing link" anymore, as far as I know. I've looked at the fossils of the transitional species, and it seems to be a pretty clear gradual transformation to me.