How Does Evolution Add Information?

[Edge]

I was reading a creationism vs. evolution debate on other forum and one of the creationists' question was: how does evolution add information to organisms?

 

I mean, are there any examples of this being observed?

[freeztar]

http://hypography.com/forums/general-science-news/12271-researchers-witness-natural-selection-work.html

[Eclogite]

http://hypography.com/forums/general-science-news/12271-researchers-witness-natural-selection-work.html

Note that this may not be an example of adding novel information to a genome. The article notes that "It is not yet clear whether the suppressor gene emerged from a chance mutation from within the local population, or if it was introduced by migratory Southeast Asian butterflies in which the mutation had already been established."

 

In general though, Edge, mutations that produce a useful protein will add information. Most mutations will be adverse, or at best neutral. However, it only needs an occasional positive mutation to occur and natural selection will take over, to spread it through the population.

[MortenS]

I was reading a creationism vs. evolution debate on other forum and one of the creationists' question was: how does evolution add information to organisms?

 

I mean, are there any examples of this being observed?

 

One of the main ways genetic information can increase over time in organisms (over generations, not in a single individual), is via gene duplication and genome duplication. Once genes are duplicated they have an independent history in terms of what mutations they will get, and via genetic drift or natural selection, they will over time diverge in function (or one of the duplicates may loose its function and become what is known as a pseudogene).

 

PS: Good to be back...

[billg]

CB102: Mutations adding information This website provides a list of creationist/ID claims and appropriate rebuttals. This particular link leads to the claim "mutations cannot increase information" and several examples. MortenS answered your questioln well but this link provides a couple of examples of such an increase in information from scientific literature, if you're interested.