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The December Issue of Science Magazine has proclaimed “Evolution in Action” as it’s breakthrough of the year. Of all the scientific achievements of 2005, breakthroughs in evolution have been deemed the most noteworthy:

Amid this outpouring of results, 2005 stands out as a banner year for uncovering the intricacies of how evolution actually proceeds. Concrete genome data allowed researchers to start pinning down the molecular modifications that drive evolutionary change in organisms from viruses to primates. Painstaking field observations shed new light on how populations diverge to form new species–the mystery of mysteries that baffled Darwin himself. Ironically, also this year some segments of American society fought to dilute the teaching of even the basic facts of evolution. With all this in mind, Science has decided to put Darwin in the spotlight by saluting several dramatic discoveries, each of which reveals the laws of evolution in action.

A couple of major areas of study are highlighted by Science magazine. For more details, you may read the article. The first is the mapping of the chimpanzee genome. The similarity of our genetic material is purported to show our kinship with the chimp. Now, I think this is a wonderful accomplishment worthy of great applause and may lead to future good. However, I fail to see how this is an evolutionary breakthrough. This is not one of those testable and falsifiable elements of science which we often hear spoken of concerning ID as science. What experiment was done to show evolution to be a true theory? What was accomplished was a discovering of how things are (the chimp genome), and a comparison with other things we know to be true, and an attempted explanation of how the two might be related. The hypothesis is that the chimp genome and the human genome are similar because we evolved from the chimpanzees. Nice hypothesis. Where’s the testable and falsifiable proof? There are other explanations of the data. Perhaps the similarity is due to an Intelligent Designer using similar building blocks to design the chimp and the human. Mapping the chimpanzee genome hardly seems the evolutionary breakthrough it is proclaimed to be.

Another example given regards the mating habits of European blackcaps, birds who share breeding grounds in Germany and Austria. One group of blackcaps heads north for the winter, the other heads south. The northern group arrives at the breeding grounds a day earlier than the southern group and only breed with other northerners. The conclusion of this breakthrough is that the difference in timing may one day drive the two populations to become two species. Now, this is interesting information, but hardly a great evolutionary breakthrough. First of all, virtually no one doubts the existence of micro-evolution, subtle changes in a species due to environmental pressures. The problem comes with macro-evolution, the development of new body types, etc. European corn borer caterpillars and stickleback fish are also mentioned as examples.

So, these are the “dramatic discoveries” that show the “laws of evolution in action”. I find it interesting that the Science article states that one of the reasons these discoveries were chosen as breakthroughs of the year is because certain “segments of American society fought to dilute the teaching of even the basic facts of evolution.” This sentiment is a patently false statement. What certain segments of American society are fighting for is a fair evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of Darwinism. If the above “breakthroughs” are the best there is, one should be allowed to critically evaluate them and question whether they prove what they are said to prove. This article appears to be an attempt to boost the faltering confidence of the American public in a naturalistic explanation of origins.