Posted: Apr 11, 2011 11:37 am
(If you can suggest a better thread title please do!Edit - i did from "science" to "society")
I was thinking it might be a good idea to show off the advances to the world due to the ToE. Not being up on such subjects, I would have to defer this to those of you that are read in this area and can add in actual advances rather than just saying "medical science". If we can get specific examples and a good list, my hope is that we can then reference this list when needed but moreso to give a positive light on how the ToE has affected us and what its given us in real terms - maybe like the million gods project, can we have the "thousand scientific advances due to the ToE".
Perhaps if people can see what it has done for us, they'll be able to see that it actually works. Any posts that add something to the list I'll edit my OP to incude it Doing a quick search I came across the following examples;
1. •Bioinformatics, a multi-billion-dollar industry, consists largely of the comparison of genetic sequences. Descent with modification is one of its most basic assumptions.
2. •Diseases and pests evolve resistance to the drugs and pesticides we use against them. Evolutionary theory is used in the field of resistance management in both medicine and agriculture (Bull and Wichman 2001).
3. •Evolutionary theory is used to manage fisheries for greater yields (Conover and Munch 2002).
4. •Artificial selection has been used since prehistory, but it has become much more efficient with the addition of quantitative trait locus mapping.
5. •Knowledge of the evolution of parasite virulence in human populations can help guide public health policy (Galvani 2003).
6. •Sex allocation theory, based on evolution theory, was used to predict conditions under which the highly endangered kakapo bird would produce more female offspring, which retrieved it from the brink of extinction (Sutherland 2002).
7. •Tracing genes of known function and comparing how they are related to unknown genes helps one to predict unknown gene function, which is foundational for drug discovery (Branca 2002; Eisen and Wu 2002; Searls 2003).
8. •Phylogenetic analysis is a standard part of epidemiology, since it allows the identification of disease reservoirs and sometimes the tracking of step-by-step transmission of disease. For example, phylogenetic analysis confirmed that a Florida dentist was infecting his patients with HIV, that HIV-1 and HIV-2 were transmitted to humans from chimpanzees and mangabey monkeys in the twentieth century, and, when polio was being eradicated from the Americas, that new cases were not coming from hidden reservoirs (Bull and Wichman 2001). It was used in 2002 to help convict a man of intentionally infecting someone with HIV (Vogel 1998). The same principle can be used to trace the source of bioweapons (Cummings and Relman 2002).
9. •Phylogenetic analysis to track the diversity of a pathogen can be used to select an appropriate vaccine for a particular region (Gaschen et al. 2002).
10. •Ribotyping is a technique for identifying an organism or at least finding its closest known relative by mapping its ribosomal RNA onto the tree of life. It can be used even when the organisms cannot be cultured or recognized by other methods. Ribotyping and other genotyping methods have been used to find previously unknown infectious agents of human disease (Bull and Wichman 2001; Relman 1999).
11. •Phylogenetic analysis helps in determining protein folds, since proteins diverging from a common ancestor tend to conserve their folds (Benner 2001).
Directed evolution allows the "breeding" of molecules or molecular pathways to create or enhance products, including:
12. •enzymes (Arnold 2001)
13. •pigments (Arnold 2001)
14. •antibiotics
15. •flavors
16. •biopolymers
17. •bacterial strains to decompose hazardous materials.
18. Directed evolution can also be used to study the folding and function of natural enzymes (Taylor et al. 2001).
It looks as though much of the above was taken from here; http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CA/CA215.html
Added by GenesForLife;
19.The use of model systems including Drosophila melanogaster, Caenorhabditis elegans, Danio rerio and even good old Saccharomyces cerevisiae to understand the function of genes and the application of the knowledge derived therefrom to human systems and understanding human diseases.
20. The identification of potential oncogenes in amplified regions of cancer cell genomes and the identification of tumour suppressors in segments that are prone to deletion and Loss of heterozygosity, both of which are based upon the selective advantages associated with overexpressing or losing certain genes.
21. The application of evolutionary algorithms to designing aircraft wings (Obayashi, http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/do ... 1&type=pdf)
Added by Delvo (with commentary by Calilasseia);
22. Algorithms mimicking natural selection have yielded "designs" that have been used to build some bits of technology. [See for example, the paper on spacecraft antennae designed using evolutionary algorithms].
23. Shifting from science to society: it provides alternate explanations for physical and some cultural differences between peoples native to different regions of the world, thus debunking moralistic or otherwise judgemental explanations that have caused conflict between them or been used by one against another. It also helps our understanding of the kinds of mistakes our own minds can make without realizing it, which helps us develop ways to work around them, which makes us better at science research in general, technological development of all kinds, criminal justice, and social policy.
I was thinking it might be a good idea to show off the advances to the world due to the ToE. Not being up on such subjects, I would have to defer this to those of you that are read in this area and can add in actual advances rather than just saying "medical science". If we can get specific examples and a good list, my hope is that we can then reference this list when needed but moreso to give a positive light on how the ToE has affected us and what its given us in real terms - maybe like the million gods project, can we have the "thousand scientific advances due to the ToE".
Perhaps if people can see what it has done for us, they'll be able to see that it actually works. Any posts that add something to the list I'll edit my OP to incude it Doing a quick search I came across the following examples;
1. •Bioinformatics, a multi-billion-dollar industry, consists largely of the comparison of genetic sequences. Descent with modification is one of its most basic assumptions.
2. •Diseases and pests evolve resistance to the drugs and pesticides we use against them. Evolutionary theory is used in the field of resistance management in both medicine and agriculture (Bull and Wichman 2001).
3. •Evolutionary theory is used to manage fisheries for greater yields (Conover and Munch 2002).
4. •Artificial selection has been used since prehistory, but it has become much more efficient with the addition of quantitative trait locus mapping.
5. •Knowledge of the evolution of parasite virulence in human populations can help guide public health policy (Galvani 2003).
6. •Sex allocation theory, based on evolution theory, was used to predict conditions under which the highly endangered kakapo bird would produce more female offspring, which retrieved it from the brink of extinction (Sutherland 2002).
7. •Tracing genes of known function and comparing how they are related to unknown genes helps one to predict unknown gene function, which is foundational for drug discovery (Branca 2002; Eisen and Wu 2002; Searls 2003).
8. •Phylogenetic analysis is a standard part of epidemiology, since it allows the identification of disease reservoirs and sometimes the tracking of step-by-step transmission of disease. For example, phylogenetic analysis confirmed that a Florida dentist was infecting his patients with HIV, that HIV-1 and HIV-2 were transmitted to humans from chimpanzees and mangabey monkeys in the twentieth century, and, when polio was being eradicated from the Americas, that new cases were not coming from hidden reservoirs (Bull and Wichman 2001). It was used in 2002 to help convict a man of intentionally infecting someone with HIV (Vogel 1998). The same principle can be used to trace the source of bioweapons (Cummings and Relman 2002).
9. •Phylogenetic analysis to track the diversity of a pathogen can be used to select an appropriate vaccine for a particular region (Gaschen et al. 2002).
10. •Ribotyping is a technique for identifying an organism or at least finding its closest known relative by mapping its ribosomal RNA onto the tree of life. It can be used even when the organisms cannot be cultured or recognized by other methods. Ribotyping and other genotyping methods have been used to find previously unknown infectious agents of human disease (Bull and Wichman 2001; Relman 1999).
11. •Phylogenetic analysis helps in determining protein folds, since proteins diverging from a common ancestor tend to conserve their folds (Benner 2001).
Directed evolution allows the "breeding" of molecules or molecular pathways to create or enhance products, including:
12. •enzymes (Arnold 2001)
13. •pigments (Arnold 2001)
14. •antibiotics
15. •flavors
16. •biopolymers
17. •bacterial strains to decompose hazardous materials.
18. Directed evolution can also be used to study the folding and function of natural enzymes (Taylor et al. 2001).
It looks as though much of the above was taken from here; http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CA/CA215.html
Added by GenesForLife;
19.The use of model systems including Drosophila melanogaster, Caenorhabditis elegans, Danio rerio and even good old Saccharomyces cerevisiae to understand the function of genes and the application of the knowledge derived therefrom to human systems and understanding human diseases.
20. The identification of potential oncogenes in amplified regions of cancer cell genomes and the identification of tumour suppressors in segments that are prone to deletion and Loss of heterozygosity, both of which are based upon the selective advantages associated with overexpressing or losing certain genes.
21. The application of evolutionary algorithms to designing aircraft wings (Obayashi, http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/do ... 1&type=pdf)
Added by Delvo (with commentary by Calilasseia);
22. Algorithms mimicking natural selection have yielded "designs" that have been used to build some bits of technology. [See for example, the paper on spacecraft antennae designed using evolutionary algorithms].
23. Shifting from science to society: it provides alternate explanations for physical and some cultural differences between peoples native to different regions of the world, thus debunking moralistic or otherwise judgemental explanations that have caused conflict between them or been used by one against another. It also helps our understanding of the kinds of mistakes our own minds can make without realizing it, which helps us develop ways to work around them, which makes us better at science research in general, technological development of all kinds, criminal justice, and social policy.