re: New exoplanet found has scientists excited.

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Evolution, as has been presented in my academic career, is a change of one species becoming another. That, I think, is what I see kids swallowing hook, line, and sinker without looking for actual, proven evidence.

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The Galapagos finch example is probably the easiest to follow and understand. It shows how one species of finch developed into several through adaptation. I think the confusion for most people who aren't biologists comes with the possible misconception that species can jump from one family to another.

A cat cannot become a dog, for example, but could, if conditions necessitated, attain dog-like characteristics via convergent evolution. This would, of course, have to happen over a long, long period and the animals would never be the same species. They would simply share some common characteristics as the result of adaptation to similar circumstances.

A good example of convergent evolution is the hummingbird and the hummingbird moth. Two radically different species have adapted to extracting nectar from certain flower types in similar ways.