Hello this is Ciara and today on Natural Selection
News we are going to talk about Natural Selection.
We're getting back to the basics here and
one way to do this is to talk to the great
creator of the theory of Natural Selection
Charles Darwin.
Sadly he's now dead.
Thanks to recent funding we have now been
able to have a time machine. (Note: Time machines
do not exist.)
We will go back to (roughly) 1831 when he
started making the theory, to find out about
it and the components of it.
Now you may have heard about natural selection
or have an idea what it is. But before we
talk to Charles, we are going to talk to our
head scientist Emily.
Emily is currently at a remote research facility,
so we will only be able to communicate  with us through webcam. Emily you're live.
Thank you Ciara. Natural selection is the
gradual process by which biological traits
become either more or less common in a population
as a function of the effect of inherited traits
on the differential reproductive success of
organisms interacting with their environment.
It is a key mechanism of evolution.
It was created by Charles Darwin in the late
1830s.
And now on to Caleb with our gossip news.
Hi. Today on Gossip News we are here to talk about inbreeding.
 Inbreeding is breeding of related peoples or animals
over a long period of time. Inbreeding can have a negative effect on health.
Some effects of inbreeding are metabolic disorders, structural abnormalities, and inherited disease
conditions caused by harmful recessive genes.
Performance in several characters, particularly
in reproduction and survival decline following
the mating of close relatives. This is known
as inbreeding depression.
This is why many of Charles Darwin's children
were very ill and did not live for long.
This is what happened to many of Charles Darwin's
children because he decided to have kids with
his cousin.
For example his first child Ann-Elizabeth
died of tuberculosis at age 10. And his second
daughter Mary Eleanor, only lived 23 days.
Many of his other children were a little bit
more lucky to live a longer life, but they
still showed signs of what can happen when
you inbreed.
That's all for today and this has been Gossip News
Hi Ciara Burke again, we switched to the walking
camera, so you can see what it's like to enter
our new time machine.
See you in the past.
Hello Mr.Darwin.
Who are you strangers? Why have you interrupted me
while working on "The Origin of Species".
My apologies. I was just wondering how you
came up with your theory of natural selection.
My theory of natural selection. I'd be glad
to tell you how I came up with it.
Quite recently I went on board the HMS Beagle
and study the Galapagos Island Finches. I
came across fourteen species of finches while
there. All my life I've studied animals and
my theory of natural selection is quite new
to me.
That's fascinating.
Would you mine telling us the different types
of natural selection?
Why of course. The different types of natural
selection are disruptive selection, directional
selection, artificial selection, and stabilizing
selection. There are four different types if you don't know how to count. 
Directional selection is when the extreme
at one end is favored over the other making
the other less common.
Disruptive selection is when the two extremes
at opposite ends are favored. Making the middle less common.
Stabilizing selection, unlike disruptive selection is when the middle extreme
is favored, well not exactly extreme. The
middle option is favored the two at opposite
ends.
And lastly artificial selection has been done
for over hundreds of years already. Agriculturalists
and farmers have been farming certain plants
over others. Artificial selection is done
by man, deciding which organism will survive
(Mumbles) 
over another.
I'm sorry what did you say?
I said it's all about the struggle for existence,
each year populations have more offspring
than can survive. Survival of the fittest
is crucial. This leads to lack of resources,
war, and famine. Struggle for existence.
Umm Okay... On that happy note thank you for your
time Mr.Darwin and good luck. Understand the
struggle for existence.
Wasn't that interesting. If you didn't understand
what Charles said, we are going to go straight
back to Emily in the scientist corner so she
can explain it all to us.
Okay, well Ciara, if you didn't understand
that. What Charles Darwin was basically saying is that,
well, there are basically four principle of
natural selection.
There is the variation of phenotypes and genotypes,
inheritance, high rate of population growth,
and differential survival and reproduction.
Species exhibit variations in phenotypes.
And a phenotype is basically... Like, a phenotype
of an organism depends on which genes are dominant
during the interaction between genes and the
environment. Which involves body size, metabolism,
hair color, skin color, etc.
Or genotypes which is the change of genetic
makeup.
Inheritance is traits that are passed down
from parent to child repeatedly. These traits
are called heritable which basically means
transmitted or possibly transmitted from child
to offspring (As stated before).
Then, the one that Charles, well he, enlightened
us about was how in most populations, population
numbers of people, outnumber, the amount of
resources and supplies.
Lastly there is differential survival and
reproduction, which is when individuals have traits
that are suited for the struggle of local resources
that will help contribute more children to the next generation. 
Now here is an example of natural selection
show to us through animation. Enjoy!
If a single plant produces one-hundred seeds,
most will grow to be nearly identical to the
parent plant. Few however, will be slightly different.
Some variations will be undesirable.
Smaller size, bitter taste, vulnerability
to disease and so on.
Other variations will be highly valued.
Thicker and sweeter leaves for example.
If a farmer only allows the best plant to
reproduce and create seeds for the next crop,
small positive changes will add up over multiple
generations, eventually producing a dramatically
superior vegetable.
Now I know what you are all thinking. Why
is this relevant or important? Well, I'll
pass you onto my colleagues Caleb and Emily to explain.
Well Ciara it is relevant today because the
evolutionary process Darwin invented almost
150 years ago is still quietly at work in humans today.
Findings suggest that about nine percent of
the human genes examined are undergoing rapid
evolution.
A separate study indicated the brain is still
evolving as well, on that I will pass you
on to my colleague Caleb to tell us how it
has advanced from when it was first thought
of.
The question was how asked has natural selection
advanced since it was first thought of.
Well, a researching biologist from Cornell University
stated that natural selection plays a huge
part in the pattern of human genomes and it
also is still being worked on today in the
human brain to help humans survive in the
world today.
Thank you very much.
See you next time, on Natural Selection News,
I'm Ciara Burke signing off. Goodbye and goodnight.
( Bug Eyed Bloopers!)
Let The Credits Roll!
Thank you! Hope you enjoyed it!
