tree of life

As we keep our hope afloat in these tumultuous times, wonder | wander | world looks to modern science to bolster our faith in the evolution of humankind as our faith is tested by the seeming devolution of humanity. 

If you look different to your close relatives, you may have felt separate from your family. As a child, during particularly stormy fall outs you might have even hoped it was a sign that you were adopted.

jumping genes, aka transposons, help to explain octopus intelligence

Scientists in Darwin’s time and through most of the 20th century could only work out the branches of the evolutionary tree of life by looking at the structure and appearance of animals and plants. Life forms were grouped according to similarities thought to have evolved together. 

Darwin noted that animals and plants that appeared to share the closest common ancestry were often found close together geographically. 

For the first time, a recent paper cross-referenced location, DNA data and appearance for a range of animals and plants. 

color wheels & key indicate where members of each order are geographically

Though it may appear that evolution endlessly invents new solutions - almost without limits - it has fewer tricks up its sleeve than we think. Animals can look amazingly alike because they have evolved to do a similar job or live in a similar way. 

Until the advent of cheap and efficient gene sequencing technology in the 21st century, appearance was usually all evolutionary biologists had to go on.

While Darwin (1859) showed that all life on Earth is related in a single evolutionary tree, he did little to map out its branches. 

German zoologist Ernst Haeckel’s illustrations

The anatomist Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919) was one of the first people to draw evolutionary trees that tried to show how major groups of life forms are related. 

Many of these ideas about evolutionary relationships were held until recently. As it becomes easier and cheaper to obtain and analyze large volumes of molecular data, there will be many more surprises in store. 

Let us hope we find these valuable answers or change our avaricious behavior before we obliterate ourselves altogether. 

adult leafy seadragon carrying eggs in Encounter Bay Marine Park, Rapid Bay