Peppered Moths Pose a Problem for People who Posit Evolution as Probable

If you noticed the title, yes, I did have fun trying to see how many words I could come up with that started with 'P'. A few months ago, I talked about how the peppered moth story, which had been under fire, was being tested and how the results confirmed the original story: Moths which blend in to their environment best become the most common in the population. Dark environments always have mostly dark moths, light environments always have mostly light moths. This is because a light moth in a dark environment is more easily spotted by predators and eaten.


It is easy to understand and makes a great teaching tool. Yet creationists have decided to caricature this: "It's just an example of a moth evolving into a moth, it doesn't provide any evidence for 'molecules to man' evolution!"


They are right, in a way. What this example proves is natural selection: those best adapted to their environment become most common. Evolution, from single celled organisms, all the way up to lions, tigers, bears, fish, man, and moths, requires that genetic changes happen, and that this process of selection preserve the good changes and throw out the bad changes. The change that turns moths black is acted upon by natural selection, and the change that allows people to consume dairy products is also acted upon by natural selection.


So the question is: Do mutations (genetic changes) have what it takes to account for all the diversity of life? Yes. Mutations can create new structures, new genes, new functions, and new proteins. Evolution is true, guys, get over it.