The Theory of Evolution, like other firmly held scientific principles such as the cell theory, the atomic theory, the germ theory, the plate tectonic theory, and the theory of gravity, permits definite testable and verifiable predictions which result consistently in demonstrably correct results. Examples include:
~1. Prediction: cell theory, the atomic theory, the germ theory, the plate tectonic theory, and the theory of gravity in rock strata with the oldest and most primitive fossils being found in the deepest layers, and the youngest and most modern in the superficial layers. That is a consistently verified finding. For example, throughout the world, in the deepest, oldest geologic layers of sedimentary rock are
found fossils of cyanobacteria, 3.5 billion years old. In successively shallower layers are consistently found rocks that are between 635-540 million years old and contain traces of soft-bodied multicellular organisms; fossils from rock 330 million years old yield large amphibians and early tetrapods. 230 year old sedimentary rock yields fossilized skeletons of dinosaurs evolving from earlier reptiles. 155 million year old sediment yielded Archaeopteryx, a dinosaur with feathers and wings. Birdlike fossils found in China were preserved in 110 million year old rocks. Above those levels, in recent years, palentologists have found, successively more modern animals including whales, elephants, armadillos, horses, and primitive hominids all the way to modern humans 100-200 thousand years old.
~Prediction: Some evidence of speciation, new species forming in the wild, should be found in fossils. This has been verified in examination of core samples from the ocean floor demonstrating deep layers with ancient marine foraminiferans changing over millions of years as they were deposited on the sea floor and erratic changes in Antarctic sea floor samples of a marine microorganism, the radiolarian Pseudocubus vema, which demonstrated periods of quiescence in terms of morphological change and occasional periods of marked change.
~Prediction: Fossil evidence of intermediate or transitional species should be found. This has been verified in numerous examples, e.g. Tiktlaatic roseace, the 375 million year old “fishopod” found on Ellesmere Island—intermediate between fish and tetrapods; the 125 million year old feathered dinosaur, Sinornithosaurus millenii, found in China, the 120 million year old four winged dinosaur Microraptor gui, and the 70-200 million year old Archaeopteryx lithographica found in Germany—intermediates between the small dinosaur Compsognathus, and the modern birds such as chickens.
~Prediction: Species should show intraspecies variation. This has been verified in many examples. For example, eight variations of ancient fossil trilobites were found in stratified Welch shale layers spanning three million years. A plankton, Eucyrtidium matuyami, found in core sample studies revealed conspicuous changes in size and shape over a period of millions of years.
~Prediction: As opposed to Creation by a Designer, imperfections should be found in species, even humans. This prediction is readily verifiable in the form of vestigial organs, e.g. the vermiform appendix and 3rd molars in humans, the awkward and difficult descent of the testes with incomplete descent not rarely being recognized as a clinical condition, and flightless birds such as kiwis and ostriches.
There are more evidences, not only in the evolution of man, but from the closer approximation of descendancy between humans and chimpanzees. The evolutionary changes in both species’ CMT1A gene were mutated and directed thereafter because the retroelements located close to each other target the DNA between them for duplication. This clearly explains the duplication of CMT1A in the two species and predisposes the area to even further duplications. In the case of CMT disease, duplication of the sequence between the two CMT1A segments adds another copy of a gene that has come to be known as PMP22. Two copies of that gene result in CMT [Charcot-Marie-Tooth] disease, a debilitating and wasting neurological condition. This is an unfortunate legacy of our imperfect evolutionary heritage and militates against the Creationist argument of a designer driven process; it would be a violation of such a concept to suppose
that the Creator would create or even allow such an erroneous and unfortunate inheritable condition.
Another rather apparent example is the reproductive process in sea turtles. The females slowly and clumsily make their way up the beach and dig a hole in the sand with their soft flippers, a painful, slow, and clumsy process. If a designer had been involved, surely more shovel like flippers or an additional set of retractable scoop shaped hard flippers would have been created. But, then, the turtles might not have been able to swim as well. In truth, turtles simply work with the Bauplan they inherited. Fewer of them survive the arduous process of egg laying, hatching into a dangerous world complete with a harrowing descent into the ocean and facing a myriad of predators than a conscientious designer would have wanted if an intelligent design had been the intent. In truth, turtles work with the Bauplan they inherited, and enough of them do survive to procreate that the species has prospered for 110 million years since they diverted from other turtles.
The flounder and other flatfish are examples of poor design. Flatfish are born as otherwise normal appearing fish that swim vertically with one eye placed on each side of a flat body. A month after birth, strange things happen to the young fish: one eye moves upward and migrates over the skull to join the other eye so that both eyes end up on the same side of the head. The fish then tips over to have its eyeless side down and then begins to swim on its side. A far more sensible way to design such a fish would be to copy the design of the skate, a flat shaped fish, which started out life lying on its belly without having to achieve flatness by going through a series of contortions and bodily deformations to get to that shape as do flounders.
Probably the most obviously poorly designed structure, at least in humans and giraffes, is the course of the recurrent laryngeal nerve. The nerve runs from the brain to the larynx, a distance less than a foot. However, the nerve is far longer than it needs to be because, instead of taking the obvious and logical pathway, it runs all the way down into the chest, loops around the aorta and a ligament derived from an artery (the ligmentum arteriosum), then travels all the way back up to connect finally with the larynx. The situation in the giraffe is the same as in humans making it the height of absurdity. The nerve travels all the way down the long giraffe neck and back up again, a distance of fifteen feet longer than it has to be. Not only would it be absurdly poor design, but it is also maladaptive because the nerve is exposed to damage by trauma over a considerable portion of its traverse. No intelligent designer would concoct such a poor design; he or she would be drummed out of the designer union.
99% of all species that ever lived have become extinct. It appears self-evident that it would be a poor designer–not an intelligent designer–that would establish such an abysmal record, but that record is exactly what the theory of evolution would predict, and exactly what has happened. In fact, the process of evolution is the only explanation for such oddities of design. We–and all other animals and plants–are what we are due to the processes and constraints of evolution, not the whims and mistakes of a designer.
~Prediction: Natural selection should be identifiable in the wild. This has been verified in a great many instances, e.g. Darwin’s finches, the development of bacterial resistance to antibiotics, and the changes in stickle-back fish related to transposition from marine to fresh water environments.