1.) A scientific theory is an explation that is backed up by enough evidence and observations that scientists generally acknowledge it as a fact. However in everyday English, a theory is a hypothesis that has yet to be proven correct and is nowhere near being a "fact."
2.) Charles Darwin's Principle of Divergence states then when a species has populations in different locations, occasionaly the populations begin to develop different traits. When these traits become so pronounced and different that the populations can't breed with each other, they have officially become different species.
3.) When Darwin received a letter from fellow scientist Alfred Wallace asking his opinion on Wallace's independent ideas about evolution through natural selection, Darwin realized that he had to quickly publish The Origin of Species to be able to take credit for being the first to think of the the concepts of evolution and natural selection.
4.) Richard Owen discovered the idea of homologues which are traits that, although they may differ slightly, basically similiar and are shared by completely different species. One such case of a homologous trait is the skeletal structure of the vertebrate hands of humans, apes, raccoons, bears, cats, bats, porpoises, lizards, and turtles which all bear five digits.
5.) Stapholococcus aureus was first able to be killed off by penicillin but scarcely 4 years later, it began to build up a resistance. Staph was next attacked by methicillin which it also became resillant against in less than 20 years. More recently, vancomycin has been introduced to treat staph, but that too has eventually become resisted. This alarming speed of evolution in viruses has caused doctors to constantly create new medicines to attack the viruses, trying to invent faster that the viruses evolve. However this a very costly method for doctors so perhaps instead of trying to speed themselves up, they should try to slow the viruses down by giving them longer life-spans so it takes longer for them to evolve.
6.) When Gingerich discovers an ankle bone that looks remarkably like that of antelope, except for the fact that it belongs to a 47 million year old whale, it joins the ranks of the most solid evidence supporting evolution. It is one thing to hear that an antelope and a whale (two of the most opposite animals on earth) were once related, but it is quite another to see skeletal proof of the creature that was midway between both. After seeing something like that bone, it is hard to doubt that all animals evolved from one creature.
7.) Before I read the article I was already a firm believer in the theory of evolution. My non-religious, scientific parents had told me about evolution at an early age and I unquestioningly accepted it (a dangerous thing to do). But even when I decided to judge for myself how firm the idea of evoltion was it all seemed to extremely logical to me (not believing in God also helped in my acceptance of this theory). The article helped to reaffirm my beliefs, tracing human life in a clear, logical path supported by archeological findings. However I was rather shocked to find out that almost half of America doesn't believe in evolution, probably for religious reasons (which shouldn't cross into science).
