“Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.”

“Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.”

- T. Dozhansky

Greek Gods

Norse Gods

Raelian leader says cloning first step to immortality

Saturday, December 28, 2002 Posted: 2:08 AM EST (0708 GMT)

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- The leader of a religious sect that claimed to have created the first human clone Friday called the development "just the first step" toward human immortality through cloning.

Former French journalist Claude Vorilhon, who now calls himself Rael, claims to be a direct descendant of extraterrestrials who created human life on Earth through genetic engineering. A company founded by his followers announced Friday that the first human clone has been born -- a 7-pound baby girl dubbed "Eve."

Raëlians on the origin of life

www.rael.org

Life Humans

naturalselection

God space aliens

? ?

Origin hypotheses

Life

Humans

naturalselection

God

space aliens

mainstream biology

Life

Humans

God

space aliens

universe

Genesis God

naturalselection

Life on earth Humans

space aliens

God

naturalselection

Raëlian hypothesis

Life

Humans

naturalselection

God

space aliens

universe naturalselection

the materialist hypothesis

Life

Humans

God

space aliens

universe

naturalselection

Distant creator God

Life

Humans

naturalselection

God

space aliens

universe

naturalselection

Watchmaker God

Life Humans

God

space aliens

naturalselection

Other hypotheses?

Rael: No DNA test for baby Eve Sect leader vows to guard identity of alleged human

clone Friday, January 3, 2003 Posted: 11:05 AM EST (1605 GMT)

SHERBROOKE, Quebec (CNN) -- A company founded by members of a sect that believes mankind was created by extraterrestrials says what it calls the first human clone will not undergo testing to verify her genetic makeup.

The head of the Raelian movement, who calls himself "Rael," said Thursday that he has told Clonaid's leader not to perform DNA tests on the infant girl, nicknamed "Eve."

Raelian cloners 'have two staff and no lab'

[WASHINGTON] Clonaid, the company that announced last December that it had cloned a human, seems to have no lab space and only two employees, according to court documents obtained by the Boston Globe.

Clonaid was founded by a religious sect known as the Raelians, who believe that the human race was cloned from aliens. The company's managing director, Raelian bishop Brigitte Boisselier, has said that so far a dozen clients have each paid $25,000 or more for the group's cloning services.

Nature 423, 8 (01 May 2003); doi:10.1038/423008a

What do you think?

Do you think the Raëlians cloned a human?

Did space aliens create all life on earth?

How do you know?

How do you know?

• Because you’ve seen it yourself.

• Because someone you trust told you.

• Because it makes logical sense.

Why do you believe someone?

• They are a relative.

• They have moral or religious authority.

• They are scientists.

• They offer verifiable evidence in favor of their for their idea.

• They offer verifiable evidence against alternative ideas.

Why do you believe someone?

• They are a relative.

• They have moral or religious authority.

• They are scientists.

• They offer verifiable evidence in favor of their for their idea.

• They offer verifiable evidence against alternative ideas.

That’s science

Scientific hypotheses

Hypothesis: a potential explanation for some observation orphenomenon.

Scientific hypothesis: a hypothesis that could be rejectedby some conceivable observation.

Useful scientific hypothesis: a hypothesis that can berejected by some conceivable observation RIGHT NOW.

Text, Fig. 1.19

Limits to science

Many interesting hypotheses are not necessarily verifiable:

• What does pain feel like?• Did space aliens take Raël to another planet?• Did God create humans?

Not everything that is true is subject to scientific confirmation.

OUTLINE 20I. The Concept of Evolution up to Darwin’s Time

A. Greek PhilosophyB. Christian TheologyC. The Enlightenment

II. Evolution Before DarwinA. LamarckB. State of knowledge at Darwin’s time

III. Darwin and the theory of Evolution By Natural SelectionA. Voyage of the BeagleB. Formulation of the theory

IV. The TheoryA. Essential elementsB. Contrast with views of the time

V. Darwin’s EvidenceA. Artificial selectionB. The fossil recordC. Comparative anatomyD. EmbryologyE. Biogeography

Greek Philosophy

Essentialism

Modern remnants of the great chain of being

Surprising things about this discovery

Homo floresiensis in the context of the evolution and dispersal of the genus Homo. a, The new species as part of the Asian dispersals of the descendants of H. ergaster and H. erectus, with an outline of the descent of other Homo species provided for context. b, The evolutionary history of Homo is becoming increasingly complex as new species are discovered. Homo floresiensis (left) is believed1 to be a long-term, isolated descendant of Javanese H. erectus, but it could be a recent divergence. 1, H. ergaster/African erectus; 2, georgicus; 3, Javanese and Chinese erectus; 4, antecessor; 5, cepranensis; 6, heidelbergensis; 7, helmei; 8, neanderthalensis; 9, sapiens; 10, floresiensis. Solid lines show probable evolutionary relationships; dashed lines, possible alternatives. Nature 431:1043.

James Hutton1726 - 1797

Gradualism Natural laws are invariant. Change results from the accumulation of slow continuous processes.

Charles Lyell1797 - 1875

Uniformitarianism the rate of geological activity on Earth is constant.

Similarity among the limb bones of organisms that use them for different purposes – Buffon 1760

Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck1744 - 1829

. . . time and favorable conditions are the two principal means which nature has employed in giving existence to all her productions. We know that for her time has no limit, and that consequently she always has it at her disposal.

Charles Darwin1809-1882

Voyage of the HMS Beagle

Thomas Malthus1766 - 1834

Populations can increase faster than their resources

Alfred R. Wallace1823 - 1913

Parent Offspring Parent

More offspring are born than can survive to reproduce

Individuals within a species vary

Parent Offspring

Traits are heritable

Parent Offspring

Parent Offspring

Individuals with some traits reproduce more than others

Parent Offspring

Traits that enhance reproduction become more common each generation

parentsgeneration

1

offspringgeneration

1

parentsgeneration

2

offspringgeneration

2

Artificial selection has produced different, true-breeding varieties of “fancy” pigeons from a single ancestral form

Fossils - preserved evidence of previously living things

Fig 22.17 A fossil whale with hind legs

Homology - similarity caused by common ancestry

Early embryos of diverse groups share many features. As development proceeds, embryonic forms diverge and become more similar to adults of their own species (von Baer’s law)

Evidence for evolution from comparative embryology

Finches of the Galapagos Islands

Molecular evidence