I might get some flack from this, but I think Darwin was wrong - still a better set of ideas than Creationism, for instance.
However his main claim to fame is "The Origin of Species", inspired by observing different forms of finches on the Galapagos Islands, but that was no evidence for new species evolving - one crterion being that different species can't breed with each other, except rarely as with horses and donkeys - result mules which can't breed amongst themseves.
No what he was observing was the potential in genes to allow different characteristics to manifest in differing environments - something Mendel was working on with experiments with peas and pretty much forgotten until modern genetics developed.
We humans have been taking advantage of genetic potential for thousands of years, e.g. a Maltese Terrior looks nothing like a St Bernard, but they are of the same species, ditto for cattle, sheep, horses, etc.
I have to keep this brief, so I'll just mention that there are gaps in the fossil record and apparent 'sudden' appearances of new species.
There is no explanation for this, so what I'm saying is that we still don't know how species originate, though I maintain Darwins' theories are an advance, but should not be taught as 'gospel' and this latest research gets us no closer to knowing what really accounts for specification. We simply do not know.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
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