Has evolution been proven scientifically as a fact?

From a scientific standpoint, evolution (and all other theories) cannot be "proven" as facts. Facts don't arise from theories; they come from research and experiments. It's much more accurate to say that the facts strongly support the theory of evolution, so much so, in fact, that it's unreasonable to question the correctness of the theory. But prove? As in, there's no possible way whatsoever that it could be wrong? No. That can't be done; not for evolution, not for relativity, not even for cells or atoms (although we're pretty sure about the details of their existence as well).

Egad...you don't know the first thing about evolution, physics, biology, or chemistry do you? There isn't a group of people called "evolutionists" the way you have creationists. It's nothing more special than the multiplication table. Evolution only covers the period AFTER life began on earth. It traces the development of life forms, not their formation. That would fall under abiogenesis, another topic entirely. Let's take it from the top...evolution and abiogenesis don't cover the formation of the universe. No, chemicals were not around forever. The evidence you listed above has been known for about 20-30 years, since the time of Edwin Hubble. What we have found recently is that the structure of reality might not even be consistent. Don't jump so quickly to "supernatural." "If we can't explain it, it must be supernatural!" Well can you explain how a computer screen works? If not, it must be supernatural! There IS such a thing as not knowing...yet. And sometimes you have to be fine with that. Yes there are plenty of failed dials. Mars, Venus, Mercury, and every planet besides earth. Enough debunking. Time for some answers. Big bang started off the universe with extreme expansion. Initial energy density meant atoms couldn't even condense. Think of steam. After a few billion, stars began to form. We know this because light travels slowly enough for some of these events to just reach us now. After few more billion, planet earth formed. Water everywhere, mud, land, etc. Ahh too much to write and too tired. Google it.

I don't think evolution could be proven scientifically because to prove something, you have to be able to show that certain things always happen in certain ways. (e.g. have a hypothesis and demonstrate that under certain conditions, certain things will always happen.) With evolution no scientist was there and saw things change from one species to another, so how could it ever be proven?

However, it seems obvious to me that all the different species, both plant and animal, as well as human beings, are so complex there must have been a designer. (I realize that saying "it seems obvious to me" does not sound scientific, but really, the odds of everything coming together by themselves are really too great for there not to have been an intelligent Designer, a Creator)

I mentioned earlier that no scientist was there - but God was there, and we can trust that His description of events to the people He led to write the Bible, is how things happened. (e.g. Genesis 1; Psalm 139; Proverbs 8:22 - 31; Job 38:4 - 41:34.)

This movie coming out in Feb/08 might interest you - about how scientific evidence for creation (also called in the scientific community - "intelligent design") has been suppressed.

http://www.expelledthemovie.com/

Yes and no.

Let me explain.

When you say the word "evolution", it's important to be clear whether you mean the *process* of evolution, or the *theory* of evolution. The first is a fact. The second is (obviously) a theory, and always will be.

The *process* of evolution is defined as the change in inherited traits of a population over generations. This is easily demonstrated to be a fact ... a process that is occurring every day ... from the way that bacteria gain resistance to antibiotics, to the way that racehorses slowly get faster.

The *theory* of evolution is an explanation for (1) *how* that process occurs in nature (namely natural selection); and (2) how that same process explains all the species of life on earth in terms of common ancestry tracing all the way to the earliest life forms.

That theory of evolution, like any other theory in science (the theory of gravity, the heliocentric theory of the solar system, the atomic theory of matter, the germ theory of disease, etc. etc.) will *never* be "proven as a fact." A theory just does not graduate to a "fact."

Why? Because a theory in science is a different kind of statement. A theory is an *explanation* for facts ... it is never considered a "fact" itself.

Evolution is observable and therefore is a fact. It can easily be observed in bacteria and viruses (short generation times to view), artificial selection in plants, vaccines produced to stop newly evolved strains of the flu virus. It is a process of life. Scientist still work on the processes of evolution, but the question is not whether or not evolution occurs rather how it occurs. Male selection vs female selection. Who chooses the mate, and what evolutionary effect may this have.

Evolution has a been a huge benefit to the human race: medicine, agriculture, conservation biology, etc.

The general public accepts gravity as a fact even though physicists are still trying to work out how gravity works.

There is so much data supporting evolution, and has such widespread acceptance in the scientific community that it is accepted as a fact, and again it is an observable fact.

Biological Definition of Evolution:

a change in the genotypic frequencies of a population over time.

Note that this includes the Genes (genotype) of a population (not an organism) and is not change over time. Music and fashion change over time but that is not biological evolution. Only life possesses genes. So when the genes in a population change due to gene flow, genetic drift, and natural selection evolution occurs.

no it is not proven. They r only theories put by some people.they say that man has evolved from the apes but how the apes still appear now they should have been transformed into humans .is it not right? I had a video clip in which they had showed that there was no evolution. The scientists had made an experiment they had kept mud in a glass chamber & they were expecting a frog to come out of it but there was no result. They say that the 1st organism was from water. How can it be. They say the earth was molten & it started colling obviously the water would have been hot so how a living organism survive in hot water . in the bible it says that god created it may be because with one living organism different animals cannot exist & if they say that man has evolved from apes then why is it not changing it should have shown some change . Then why the plants are not changing they were there before humans r they not living things why only humans & animals changed. the theories r simply put up by people without thinking according to me to prove that they r great

You need to define what you mean by evolution.

Selective breeding - dogs that vary from mastiffs to pekingese - makes it obvious that there's something about genes which has been known for centuries.

Scientists don't call evolution a fact. It is a Theory. Like the Theory of Gravity, this means they believe it and can demonstrate it in operation.

Scientists don't call something a Theory when there is no way to test it objectively. If it gets disproved, it becomes a discredited Theory.

the scientific community stopped debating evolution more than 100 years ago.

by definition, scientific theories are never proven. that's true with evolution, as well as many other theories people take for granted, such as the theory that germs cause disease and the sun is the center of our solar system.

A scientific theory is an explanation supported by many many proven studies. It can not be proven, even though many of the facts that support it have been proven over and over again. As far as theories go, evolution is one (if not the) most solid theory in science. Take gravity for example, the theory of gravity is more controversial and less supported by concrete data than the theory of evolution, yet not many people doubt gravity exists.

Have you ever picked up a high school science text book? They discuss evolution in them, and show the scientific evidence that is already know, on things like what human ancestors looked like, how they walked, etc; they also have evidence of how modern animals have evolved from the ones of past years. Plus they have proved the Earth is older than 6000yrs.

Edit - busy-little-bee... hate to tell ya, but I actually went to a Christian high school, the name of it was Christian College, and we studied theology as well as science because they were set classes and non-elective subjects until we got to our final 2yrs. So yes I do know the answer because that is what was taught to us during our last year, where we had 1 semester based purely on Evolution as it was set by the board of education. If you don't want to know the answer maybe you shouldn't ask the question and waste 5 of ya points.

Yes. Numerous studies have shown that when an environment necessitates a species to adapt to a particular change in the environemnt, the members of a species not suitable for that enviornment will naturally die. As a result, the species with attributes that are compatible to that environment will live on and reproduce members of the species with similar attributes to them - the ones that are adaptive/compatible with the environment.

Some study of a bird population showed this through experimental means. As the environment demanded larger beaks, the birds of this particular species that had smaller beaks died off and the birds with the larger ones were able to survuve and reproduce viable offspring. THis bird species "evolved" from being a smaller beaked species to a larger beaked species.