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METAMORPHOSIS. "In most species of animals, embryonic development leads to a larval stage with characteristics very different from those of the adult organism. During metamorphosis, developmental processes are reactivated by specific hormones, and the entire organism changes to prepare itself for its new mode of existence. Thus, metamorphosis is often a time of dramatic developmental change affecting the entire organism." https://lnkd.in/dd6g7wk View in LinkedIn

MORE LIKELY OUTCOME. "The probability of an existing computer virus mutating by random bit corruption into another viable virus is considerably higher." https://lnkd.in/dXsqH3b View in LinkedIn

VERY RARE. "All vertebrates develop lateralized visceral organs during embryogenesis, but flatfish are virtually the only vertebrates that also undergo significant asymmetric post-embryonic development." https://lnkd.in/dxtUYFT View in LinkedIn

FORECASTING OBLIVION. "A single computer randomly generating 1000 bit patterns...would generate a new operational virus...once every 10(+249) years. Even with the expansion of the computer base worldwide it seems highly unlikely that such a random mutation would generate a new computer virus." This is far from convincing. https://lnkd.in/dXsqH3b View in LinkedIn

COMBINED STEP MODEL. "The view of the present author is that in none of them is there convincing evidence to conclude that the groups arose solely through gradual changes. More specifically, there is no basis to reject an evolutionary origin of the major traits in each group that included at least one principal innovation, occurring in a large, discontinuous step, preceded and followed by relatively small, more gradual changes. https://lnkd.in/dDbgqi3 View in LinkedIn

BIG STEP CANDIDATES. "Four “classic” examples of animals—flatfishes, turtles, bolyerine snakes, and gastropod molluscs—each of which has seemed difficult to interpret as resulting from a continuous series of tiny increments." https://lnkd.in/dDbgqi3 View in LinkedIn

IMPORTANT QUESTION. "Whether the evolution of major adaptations is mainly a matter of amassing such small increments of change, or if a significant proportion occurs through the inclusion of one or more large steps, is vital to the understanding of how evolution works." https://lnkd.in/dDbgqi3 View in LinkedIn

SALTATIONS AND SMALL STEPS. "Step size in evolution is rapidly becoming a major subject of interest to biologists. Traditionally, small changes alone were seen as significant in evolution, and any large differences between an ancestor and its descendant could be explained entirely by the accumulation of many small steps." https://lnkd.in/dDbgqi3 View in LinkedIn

TRANSITIONAL FORMS FOUND. "Amphistium and the new genus Heteronectes, both extinct spiny-finned fishes from the Eocene epoch of Europe, are the most primitive pleuronectiforms known. This condition is intermediate between that in living pleuronectiforms and the arrangement found in other fishes. Amphistium and Heteronectes indicate that the evolution of the profound cranial asymmetry of extant flatfishes was gradual in nature." https://lnkd.in/d4qWcVu View in LinkedIn

WEAK LINK. "Although the transformation of symmetrical larvae into asymmetrical juveniles is well documented, the evolutionary origins of flatfish asymmetry are uncertain because there are no transitional forms linking flatfishes with their symmetrical relatives. The supposed inviability of such intermediates gave pleuronectiforms a prominent role in evolutionary debates, leading to attacks on natural selection and arguments for saltatory change." https://lnkd.in/d4qWcVu View in LinkedIn