The Cambrian Explosion: Proof of ID? Essay -- Biology Biological Essay

The Cambrian Explosion: Proof of ID? In our studies of Intelligent Design (ID) theory and Creation Science, I found little information that seriously challenged the theory of evolution. However, there was one event that appeared to defy the logic of Darwinian gradualism: the Cambrian Explosion. This event was presented by ID theorists as proof of design--something which science is unable to account for. Unfortunately for ID proponents, this is not the case. There are several scientific explanations for the Cambrian Explosion. I will give an account of the Cambrian Explosion, present the ID arguments relating to it, and give some scientific explanations of the event. The so called ‘Cambrian Explosion’ was a period of rapid diversification of animal life on earth. It took place approximately 550 million years ago (it bears mentioning that estimations of geological time this far back are fairly rough). There is some dispute over just how long the ‘explosion’ lasted. Scientists traditionally proposed a duration of about 30 million years (Ward and Brownlee, p. 137). However, some new evidence collected in Russia may indicate a much shorter timescale- 5 to 10 million years (Kerr 1993, p. 1274). The truly unique thing about the Cambrian Explosion was the rapid generation of extremely diverse life forms. Life is generally classified with a system going from broad to specific description. Kingdom, the broadest classification, describes whether a given specimen is plant, animal, fungi, protist, or moneran. The next most specific indicator is phylum. The phyla indicate the body design of a taxonomical specimen. Humans, along with all other species that poses a spinal ... ...ore Explosive. Science, New Series Volume 261, Issue 5126. September 3, 1993. Kerr, Richard A. Crowding Innovation out of Evolution. Science, New Series, Volume 266, Issue 5188. November 18, 1994. Kerr, Richard A. Timing Evolution’s Early Bursts. Science, New Series, Volume 267, Issue 5194. January 6, 1995. McMenamin and McMenamin. The Emergence of Animals: The Cambrian Breakthrough. Columbia University Press, New York. 1990. Ohno, Susumu. The Notion of the Cambrian Pananimalia Genome. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Volume 63, Issue 16. August 6, 1996. Ward and Brownlee. Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe. Copernicus, New York. 2000.