Evolution cannot be proven scientifically

>>>The burden is on you to prove how evolution can be scientifically proven. <<< ----> This is quite disingenuous. It is also YOUR burden to prove how evolution can't be scientifically proven. For not only are you PRO, but you instigated this debate (with no opening argument sadly). =====Arguments===== I will present several basic scientific evidences from varying fields to substantiate evolution: 1. Age of Earth For us to evolve from simple single cell-organisms to now, it would take a lengthy time for life to exist. Thus, a pre-condition for evolution to be is true is for the age of the earth to be quite long. Technically speaking, scientists can't determine the exact age of the earth. This is because the Earth's oldest rocks have been destroyed and recycled by plate tectonics. However, we can get accurate numbers by not only by assuming that the Earth and the rest of the solid bodies in the Solar System formed at the same time and are, therefore, of the same age[1], but also dating the oldest rocks we can find. For example, the oldest found rock outcrop is the Acasta Gneiss[2] which was discovered in 1989. By radiometric dating of zircon crystals, it is found to be 4.03-4.05 GA (billion of years). This places the age of the earth well in the range of a little over 4 billion years old - plenty of time for evolution to occur. 2. Speciation One of the core tenets of evolution is that natural selection will eventually bring about speciation. Speciation is basically when different groups from species X split off into species Y, Z, etc. A good definition of species is given by the evolutionary biologist Ernst Mayr[3], who states that a species is "an actually or potentially interbreeding population that does not interbreed with other such populations when there is opportunity to do so. " While there are different types of speciation, generally speaking speciation happens mostly under geographical isolation of subpopulations. Geographical isolation is simply when groups of a population are separated by natural borders, such as flash floods, earthquakes, etc[4]. This would then put different groups of the same species in different locations. When they are put in a different environment, their subsequent generations will have to adapt to it or die off. A famous example of this is Darwin's finches. Even though the Galapagos Islands were off the shore of Ecuador, the animals found in the Galapagos Islands had striking differences from their cousins in Ecuador - this is due to evolution via geographical isolation. Some had beaks fitted to drinking nectar, while others had stout beaks for eating seeds of varying sizes[3]. The explanation is natural selection. Natural selection can be summarized as the nonrandom selection of random variables. Evolution is comprised of two parts: mutations and natural selection. Mutations happen frequently, there is no doubt about that. Something creationists fail to understand is that thought MUTATIONS are random, NATURAL SELECTION is not. This is because natural selection is a process. 3. Homology If according to evolution we had common ancestors, then we should share physical similarities to our evolutionary "cousins". A very obvious and common example of homology is the forelimb of tetrapods[5]. Many different animals such as rabbits, birds, lizards, and frogs have differently shaped forelimbs because of how they adapted. The rabbit hops and sprints while the lizard crawls low on the ground. However, they all share the same set of bones - the humerus, the radius, and the ulna[5]. It's like a puzzle piece - evolution has just rearranged the bones for their respective adaptions. This is even found in the extinct transitional animal, Eusthenopteron[5]. =====Counterarguments===== Giving sufficient evidence and examples, I await my opponent's rebuttal. While I realize some of my arguments will be attacked in obvious places (radiometric dating, etc. ), his lack of an opening argument, my lengthy opening argument, and these character limits say that I will address them next round ;D. ---References--- 1. . http://pubs.usgs.gov... 2. . http://adsabs.harvard.edu... 3. . http://users.rcn.com... 4. . http://www.webref.org... 5. . http://evolution.berkeley.edu...