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Politics : Evolution
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To: Brumar89 who wrote (59504)10/7/2014 12:23:14 PM
From: TigerPaw  Read Replies (1) of 69300
 
Sex doesn't produce any new traits, does it?

Sex provides new combinations of existing traits. It is a way for a child to obtain a trait that does not exist in the mother (or father for that matter). It also changes the strength of expression of particular traits (i.e. blue eyes can become green in the next generation even if both parents have similar eye color themselves).

I find it interesting that sex also provides an avenue for incorporating the random changes that you are so concerned about. There are mutations all the time, most of these show up as cell damage leading to aging and cancer. It is only mutations which occur during the recombination of DNA that have a chance to influence the next generation, and those mutations are limited in scope as nearly all major mutations at that time result in a non-viable fetus.
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