Is it time to put natural selection in its place? Jello Biafra once famously wrote that "
If evolution is outlawed, only outlaws will evolve." But while it likely comes as no surprise to specialists working in the field or to those who've been following developments in evolutionary biology closely, there's an emerging view among experts that Darwin's view of natural selection as the primary driver of speciation and evolutionary change may be incorrect or at least drastically overstated. It's long been understood that non-adaptive evolutionary mechanisms like "
genetic drift" and random mutation also play non-trivial roles in evolutionary processes, but
a recent study (link to abstract with full-text PDF available) casts new doubts on the primary role of natural selection, finding that "Neutral models, in which genetic change arises through random variation without fitness differences have proven remarkably successful in describing observed patterns of biodiversity."
[more inside]
posted by saulgoodman
on Mar 28, 2013 -
51 comments
The Cosmic Womb: Recently published findings from researchers with the Imperial College
London’s Department of Earth Science and Engineering seem to bolster the case for
extra-terrestrial sources for the origins of life on Earth. (A PDF of the published results can be downloaded
here, if you want the technical specifics.)
[more inside]
posted by saulgoodman
on Jun 13, 2008 -
27 comments
