It is a well-established notion in the theory of evolution that it is impossible for an organism to return to a previous state of evolution. This idea, called Dollo's law, has had a major challenger: the dust mite. Dust mites are closely related to many parasites that spend their entire lives in the same host, which were believed to have evolved from free-living animals, much like the modern dust mite. Parasitism is very specialized and it is thought to be impossible to evolve out of that lifestyle because some organisms lose the ability to function outside of the host body.NOS themes
science is tentative. Widely accepted parts of the theory of evolution have been challenged but life goes on
science is collaborative. Many different scientists in different laboratories have worked together to discover this.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130308093424.htm
This is quite interesting. I never thought of evolution in this kind of aspect. In a related link, it said that in 2003, scientists showed that some species of insects have gained, lost and regained wings over millions of years and also some bacteria have reversible evolution, too. I guess it is not just the dust mite that is proving Dollo's law wrong!
ReplyDeleteSome more NOS themes are science is based on evidence because the scientists found evidence that dust mites are showing reversible evolution and the role of skepticism because the scientists doubted Dollo's law still applied to every living thing.
Link used: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110511162538.htm