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[MdaG]

Originally posted by R Havell+Jun 17 2005, 11:20 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (R Havell @ Jun 17 2005, 11:20 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Stroggy@Jun 17 2005, 11:58 AM
Well everybody knows that oxygen burns when exposed to it in large quantities. However even the way we perceive it now around us, it burns and corrodes our skin (much like rust), now it has this effect on pretty much every creature, so wouldn't evolution have made the creatures adapted to their surroundings (oxygen) so that it wouldn't be toxic?

It would take a long time to die because of this effect, people die of old age, starvation or being eaten long before they feel the effeects of this. Therefore, there is no evolutionary pressure to develop resistance to this, somebody with this resistance would still die of old age or whatever before it became useful. With life span increasing as it is, we will eventually live to be old enough to be harmed by this effect. At that point, anyone who is resistant will have an advantage and so this advantage will be passed on (if, of course, that person can still have children at their extremely old age). That's the way evolution works, advantages are only passed on to the next generation when they are useful. [/b][/quote]
What he said.