# Alien's, Evolution, & Biology.



## Rojack79 (Jul 31, 2016)

Hello folks. So my story has an interesting premise that require's a very complex solution. But i dont want to just spout babble and exspect to be taken seriously. So i come to you good people for help and advice. Basicly my story takes place 500+ years after the earth is hit with an exstinction level event. So life go's on and everyone is happy. My question is this. Is 500 years enough time for a positive genetic mutation to take place? Is it realistic or even possible in the first place?


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## K.S. Crooks (Aug 14, 2016)

Mutations happen all the time only most are silent (have no effect). What is key is whether the mutation is beneficial or detrimental. If a mutation helps a person/organism to live or have a better life then it's more likely to be passed on. For example if some people have the ability to filter out more dust from the air when they -it has no barring on their life if they live in a place with clean air. Now if the earth is hit by an asteroid and there is dust in the air for a long time the person who can filter out the dust will be healthier and more likely to pass this gene mutation on to children.

Remember, mutations happen randomly. No species can have a mutation occur to suit a need they have. If the earth is filled with water going as high as Mount Everest people can't bring about a mutation in themselves to have gills. I think your question touches on how prevalent the mutation will be in the population after 500 years (approximately 20 generations). This depends on how many people have the mutation when the extinction level event occurs, how small the population is after the event and how important the mutation is to survival. Also consider that with people many mutations that would help some people better survive indifferent environments is masked by technology. We can build clothing and shelters to survive anywhere including space. Whatever you think of for your mutation for survival, consider that people without the mutation should be able to live because of technology and our ability to adapt. Hope this helps.


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## Makili (Sep 1, 2016)

Mutations have to be observed in the context of the environment. Neutral or even negative mutations can become positive if environmental conditions change (see example of sickle cell anemia).  So it depends on what caused your extinction event.  Maybe those who survived are the ones that already had the appropriate genetic makeup (combination of gene types,  which arise through mutations) ,  in which case evolutionary change happened within one generation (20-30 years).


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## Winston (Sep 3, 2016)

For humans, no.

As noted above, most mutations are either neutral or detrimental.  Those very few positive ones would take many generations to become dominate enough to propagate.


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