1. Biochemistry

2. Some scientists advocate using biochemical relationships to demonstrate that macro-evolution is a fact. Your job is to think critically and determine whether or not this is valid thinking.

3. It is known that all biological compounds, such as Cytochrome C and Hemoglobin, vary from organism to organism. Supposedly, the amount of variation can be used to indicate macro-evolutionary relationships.

4. A major problem exists because the results obtained from biochemical analyses does not agree with those obtained by examining the form and structure of organisms.

5. One group of researchers comment, “Whereas genomic analyses have shown that at the species level, chimpanzees are humans’ closest relatives, many of the genes and genome segments examined have followed different evolutionary paths. Specifically, analyses of almost 100 genes under two different optimality criteria) show that approximately 55% of genes support a human-chimpanzee clad,…”

6. Think Critically Do these results agree with the popularly stated number that the DNA of humans and chimpanzees differ by only 1.4%?

7. Think Critically Does this type of data clearly demonstrate that macro- evolutionary relationships exist?

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