Counters to Conservapedia (Part 7): Mutations

Here is the next segment in response to Conservapedia's Counterexamples to Evolution.  I enjoy this because, I love to answer questions about evolution.  Anyways, here is part 7:

From InteliHealth: Not all mutations are destructive.

Mutations cause a loss of information, rendering it mathematically impossible for mutations to advance the complexity of life. Similarly, entropy (disorder) increases over time, making it impossible for order to increase on its own.

Some mutations result in loss of information, while others can produce information.  Deletions, translocations, etc can lose information.  However, duplications provide the ultimate opportunity for new functions to develop.  

In a duplication, a segment of DNA (gene) becomes copied.  Both copies are fully functional and produce proteins.  In this case, changes to one of the copies will not affect the health of the individual as the other copy still produces a protein.  Such instances allow for possibly beneficial changes can accumulate in the copy of the gene.

And remember, natural selection doesn’t favor all mutations equally.  Bad mutations get weeded out quickly (you die), neutral mutations do not receive any selection pressure, and beneficial mutations spread very quickly through the population.

To conclude, not all mutations have a negative effect.  Some mutations do not affect the organism at all and can be found in non-coding DNA.  Following these Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPS) help us to solve crimes and determine paternity, but also show us the patterns of common ancestry in modern organisms.

Note: The Entropy Example will return later and I will give a much more detailed response to that.  Here I will simply dismiss it as they seem to not understand the point of the Second Law of Thermodynamics.