[Closed] evolution,how did it actually happen?

...and that we are all built from products of the big bang.

(Maybe)

Or we are all made from star dust.

^ I like that theory, you can sprinkle some midi-chlorians in there for good measure

Although some of us have more agile minds than others it is interesting to note that scientists are now hypothesizing that the human brain might be the most complex mechanism in the entire universe.
Reminds me, I must try and use mine more often...

By accident - literally.

and that we are all built from products of the big bang.

Stars create new elements in their cores by squeezing elements together in a process called nuclear fusion. First, stars fuse hydrogen atoms into helium. Helium atoms then fuse to create beryllium, and so on, until fusion in the star's core has created every element up to iron. Iron is the last element stars create in their cores, and a kiss of death for any star with the the mass to make it to this point. As astronomer Robert Kirshner of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics describes it, "Once a star has built an iron core, there is no way it can generate energy by fusion. The star, radiating energy at a prodigious rate, becomes like a teenager with a credit card. Using resources much faster than can be replenished, it is perched on the edge of disaster."
But the edge of disaster for these massive stars is the threshold of life for the rest of the periodic table. In a star's last second of life, its core compacts so tightly that it becomes as dense as an atomic nucleus. When no more matter can squeeze into the core, the star explodes with the energy of an octillion (1027) atomic bombs. In this violent explosion, more than half the elements on the periodic table are born. Intense heat from the explosion catalyzes nuclear reactions that were not possible in the core. Escaping elements are bombarded with neutrons, which split inside the nucleus into protons and electrons, generating new unique elements. Iron turns into gold, gold turns into lead, and so on until uranium, the heaviest naturally star-born element, is forged from the ashes.
This spectacular shower of life and death creates everything. Well, almost everything. There are another 27 elements on the periodic table after uranium that were not created by stars. Some elements are produced in trace amounts by the decay of other elements. But even the long radioactive decay chain is not enough to produce the ultra-heavy elements at the end of the periodic table. The periodic table would have ended altogether if scientists had not pushed the boundaries of natural physics and ventured deeper into the world of super heavy elements.

Probably about time for some pillars of creation:

[img] [/img]
[url= http://htwins.net/scale2/ ]
Big buggers ain't they[/url]!!

most of the history of life (like 3 billion years or so) was single cell organisms blobbing around as they couldn't make more energy than that required just to survive, then one day two cells got funky and we got mitochondria and boom!

Life is just mobile chemistry. It starts as soon as the conditions are right. This guy recreated the 'primeval soup' type stuff and got the basic building blocks of life within a coupe of days:

[url= https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miller–Urey_experiment ](Missing) Link[/url]

Judging by the clagnuts regularly hanging from arse crack hair I'd say evolution still has some way to go yet (stupid design)

it's always said that things evolved over millennia into the life forms we see today, but how?

i want answers (please

Read "The Blind Watchmaker" by Richard Dawkins.

very interesting views/theories. it is one of those questions that really hurts my brain (not just me either).

amazing how this universe has evolved.

bearnecessities 😳 i still haven't/keep putting it off.i will have to give myself a good slap (on my facial cheeks/not the others 😳

Hmm. Not impressed!

Read that other 'embarrassing' thread again mate, get some perspective and then pick up the phone...like, today.

Please.

Of course now we can shape our environment to suit us evolution is pretty shagged.

The universe didn't evolve. The universe has formed according to the laws of nature. Life on Earth has evolved - many different species evolving from the same source organism. But both topics are fascinating and completely blow your mind.

Here's a related question...

Has our evolution slowed down now that modern medicine is keeping the idiots alive?

Well my friend from Nigeria says Evolution is all nonsense because everybody knows that the Lord created the world about 4000 years ago in six days and on the seventh he rested.

When teased about fossils, carbon dating and all that stuff he retorts that it was all put there to test our faith in the Bible.

Aaah, the legacy of our empire building. That and monied US Christian Fundamentalists really screwing this planet up.

Bum.

Has our evolution slowed down now that modern medicine is keeping the idiots alive?

nope.

Now you're raising the question of memetics rather than genetics. Very interesting stuff.

Does this explain why Chris Evans has replaced Jeremy Clarkson on TG?

OP - you may be confusing evolution with abiogenesis. It is well-established how the former happens, not so much the latter.

[url] https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Abiogenesis [/url]

Though physical evolution takes longer, with current communication, our understanding evolves as we are introduced to different possibilities to explore, for example:

If we (and the entire universe) is made of stardust, [url= http://www.collective-evolution.com/2014/03/08/10-scientific-studies-that-prove-consciousness-can-alter-our-physical-material-world/ ]can we interact with the universe beyond the physical[/url]?

Nikola Tesla said it best, “the day science begins to study non-physical phenomena, it will make more progress in one decade than in all the previous centuries of its existence. To understand the true nature of the universe, one must think it terms of energy, frequency and vibration.”

[url= http://cdn.filmschoolrejects.com/images/men-who-stare-header.jp g" target="_blank">http://cdn.filmschoolrejects.com/images/men-who-stare-header.jp g"/> [/img][/url]

And back to asteroids, no-one knows if that was the cause of dino-demise, it's just one theory. Super-volcanos, disease and other things in my little girls dinosaur book mention that I can't remember right now.

[img] [/img]

the day science begins to study non-physical phenomena, it will make more progress in one decade than in all the previous centuries of its existence. To understand the true nature of the universe, one must think it terms of energy, frequency and vibration

That has been going on for some time although the universe is complex. There are things that can be understood on the quantum level but some things need to be thought about on the classical level. Where the "cool stuff" at the minute is in the areas that blur the boundaries of the two which is why people get so excited about nano technology - Personally this area lead me into statistical thermodynamics and so I hastily retreated back to polymers.

the day science begins to study non-physical phenomena, it will make more progress in one decade than in all the previous centuries of its existence. To understand the true nature of the universe, one must think it terms of energy, frequency and vibration

That makes no sense.

If we (and the entire universe) is made of stardust, can we interact with the universe beyond the physical?

Wot? Everything is the physical, by definition. Or did you mean the tangible. Different things.

Not sure what stardust has to do with it though. Nothing magical about stardust, it's just actual dust from a long way away.

PS that article is hilarious. The author is writing about science, but has no clue about it.

[pedantry] Only hydrogen and helium exist from the big bang the rest of the elements are made from Stars [ fussion then explosion] so we are literally made from star dust

OP needs to watch "[url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/programmes/schedules/this_week ]Your inner fish - an evolution story[/url]" on IPlaywer

We are made form what was made from what was there after the big bang 😉

Happy now ?

Aye. But...

This book is good:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Greatest-Show-Earth-Evolution/dp/055277524X

How the process started is a more interesting question, as life doesn't just spontaneously start, and the book talks about this as well.

Plenty of ugly and 'inferior' people get to continue their gene lines

That is a ridiculous statement, who made you spokesman of the master race? 😆

Everything is the physical, by definition

What about dreams, thoughts and emotions, to name but a few?

Consciousness transcends the physical and according to some, can transcend space and time...

Life is just mobile chemistry. It starts as soon as the conditions are right. This guy recreated the 'primeval soup' type stuff and got the basic building blocks of life within a coupe of days: (Missing) Link

The problem with a guy being able to create the building blocks of life here and now is that the atmosphere is abundant with all kinds of little beasties, wriggling and jiggling for dudes with a microscope to find.

Leave a cheese sandwich out for a while and see how much life sprouts from it.

To really get a handle on the problem, we have to consider that if the commonly accepted theory of the big bang is correct, at one point there was NOTHING.

What about dreams, thoughts and emotions, to name but a few?

Consciousness transcends the physical and according to some, can transcend space and time..

I think I've managed to apply a bit of context to some of your posts now.

You do know that its chemicals and electricity don't you?

You do know that its chemicals and electricity don't you?

But is it [i]just[/i] chemicals and electricity?

I don't [i]know[/i] and neither do you, you just think you know, because that's what someone told you...

By that same logic, we are but ugly bags of mostly water...

And the universe is just loads of rocks n stuff of varying temperature

Somehow though, those descriptions lack depth and dare I say it, life.

Isn't the latest thinking that not all dinosaur species became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous?

Some of them survived the mass extinction event and carried on evolving.

I'm looking at one now. Its sitting on a branch and going "coo"

[img] [/img]

But is it just chemicals and electricity?

I don't know and neither do you, you just think you know, because that's what someone told you...

By that same logic, we are but ugly bags of mostly water...

And the universe is just loads of rocks n stuff of varying temperature

Somehow though, those descriptions lack depth and dare I say it, life.

We are mostly bags of water, you know that other organisms can get inside your brain, alter the ratio of chemicals and make you behave differently. Do you think they're changing your thoughts?

What about bacteria then, do they have thoughts, or are they a series of proteins and lipids reacting in a certain way to chemical and light stimulus?

I'm not doing too badly, I spend a few years studying it. I did, as your mantra goes, "my own research".

But is it just chemicals and electricity?

Oh and water is just chemicals.

[img] [/img]

I spend a few years studying it

Did you study phenomena such as the placebo effect?

no, I didn't study medicine, but as phenomena go, it's fairly well understood.

[url= http://www.sunderland.ac.uk/research/newsevents/news/news/index.php?nid=2595 ]The placebo effect can also be applied to sport[/url]

Those participants who were given the caffeine based drink showed a 1.7 per cent improvement in their performance, however, the results also showed that when they were given a placebo drink and convinced it contained caffeine that would enhance performance – an identical improvement of 1.7 per cent was also shown

STW takes on The Big Issues - life, the universe and everything - loving it, nice one guys!
OP - if this is doing you're head in, that's great. Feed your curiosity, go back to school and do biology A-level, then do a degree and maybe some post-grad stuff. In the meantime, and to get you started, try reading some of Richard Dawkins and especially, The Greatest Show on Earth (2009) where he sets out in lay terms a good description of evolution debunks common/popular misconceptions like - "if monkeys evolved into humans, how come we still have monkeys" (LOL).
The more we know and deeper we go into this sort of stuff, the more we find out and the more questions that new knowledge generates. Science won't give closure on most of the big issues - see for example the LHC discovering the Higg's Boson a few years back, but now they're about to go even deeper.
Meanwhile, some of the stuff on this thread from arm-chair scientists is absolutely brilliant.
Thought... if life came to earth on an asteroid, where did the life on the asteroid come from?

I don't know and neither do you, you just think you know, because that's what someone told you.

Well not quite. I think we're just chemicals because that's the conclusion I've drawn from the evidence, based on what pepole have told me and solidy proven by what a lot of other people have told me, which is all consistent. Subtle difference.

The problem with a guy being able to create the building blocks of life here and now is that the atmosphere is abundant with all kinds of little beasties, wriggling and jiggling for dudes with a microscope to find.

You really think that hadn't occurred to the scientists who did the experiement or who reviewed it, and you're the only one who's thought of it? Scientists are quite clever generally (but not always).

Life could be something more than chemicals, you're right. It could all be wondrous magic - but then, what's magic?

Interestingly (and slightly ironically) there is a lot of science surrounding WHY people like you want it to be magic, and why people like me think it probably isn't 🙂