From ScienceDaily:
A Japanese research team has discovered an evolutionary model for the biological function that creates carbon dioxide from glucose in photosynthesis. They found the mechanism in a primitive, non-photosynthesizing microbe.
…
By clarifying part of the primitive metabolic pathway for photosynthesis, these findings could help to reveal how the photosynthesis system formed during evolution, a mystery that scientists have so far been unable to solve. – Paper. (public access) Takunari Kono, Sandhya Mehrotra, Chikako Endo, Natsuko Kizu, Mami Matusda, Hiroyuki Kimura, Eiichi Mizohata, Tsuyoshi Inoue, Tomohisa Hasunuma, Akiho Yokota, Hiroyoshi Matsumura, Hiroki Ashida. A RuBisCO-mediated carbon metabolic pathway in methanogenic archaea. Nature Communications, 2017; 8: 14007 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms14007More.
Wait a minute. We’ve just learned that the mechanism existed before photosynthesis started. So what precisely does the second paragraph mean? It certainly does not mean that we are allowed to hear openly why a Darwinian model (natural selection acting on random mutation) cannot be correct?
More likely, all finds that might help us understand the history of life must be phrased as Darwinblather—even if what the finds imply is directly contrary to canonical Darwin.
So what kind of evolution should the rest of us call the pre-existence of needed traits? We’re not allowed to say “design,” right?
See also: Photosynthesis from 3.8 billion years ago
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