It is because the theory of evolution is important that I come with tonight's thoughts of the evolution of a person. More specifically, I take adaptation to environment and reflect not on what it does to future generations, but what it does to a person during his or her lifetime.
The athlete is example #1. No athlete ever reached the NBA, NFL or MLB without evolving, without adapting to the environment of the sport, without becoming better than he or she was when he or she started. A runner goes from running 10 minute miles to 6 minute miles by adapting to the environment of running.
An overweight person? He or she might have genetic dispositions. I do not know. But, I do know, often they reach overweight status by adapting to the environment of having plenty of food to eat.
The bodies of those receiving medical attention respond to the environment of medications and surgery by recovering. Other times, people's bodies respond naturally, recovering on their own, without medicines or surgeries.
What of adapting to the weather? Does a person's body, for example, become more adept to living in cold weather after it has been in it for a while?
If the principle of evolution is true, then the process likely takes place throughout the fuller history of living creatures, not just in the extension of generations. While many change of features might not be observable within a lifetime, it appears others are. While I do not know that these things are commonly mentioned as being part and parcel of evolution in biology books, perhaps they should. They should be a formal part of the study of evolution.
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