Evolution Research - Commentary

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Today's two posts to the Main Blog
2006-12-02 15:54:10
The first, Classic Papers on Human Origins from Nature Magazine contains one or two introductory sentences on each of ten articles spanning the years from 1925 to 1994. The authors include Louis Leakey, Richard Leakey, Johanson, and Dart.The second and more relevant entry is Symmetry Breaking and the Evolution of Development by A Richard Palmer.For anyone interested, another item by Palmer - entitled Antisymmetry - is also available on the internet and begins:"The notion of antisymmetry likely strikes most people as bizarre. How can any variation exist that is "anti-" something else? To dismiss antisymmetry as mere intellectual catnip of academic snoots would seem easy. To dismiss it too hastily would be a big mistake.Antisymmetry is a peculiar kind of variation whose evolutionary significance is surprisingly unappreciated, no doubt in part because the term seems odd and foreboding. However, the phenomenon, with its particularly apt moniker, is actually widespread and offers the pro...
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An Internal Evolutionary Mechanism and 'Direction in Evoluti
2006-12-02 15:54:10
A TalkOrigins archive page entitled "Evolution and Philosophy: Is There Progress and Direct ion in Evolution?" begins:One of the more common misconceptions, with a history long before Darwin, is that evolution is progressive; that things get more complex and perfect in some way. In fact, this view is attributed more to social and religious attitudes of 18th and 19th century European culture than to any evidence. It was a given that things are getting better and better, every way, every day. This persisted until long after Darwinism, until the middle of this century (e.g., Teilhard de Chardin). Even Darwin was ambiguous about it, talking on occasion about 'perfection' as a result of selection.At the time of the 'modern synthesis' [note 9] in the 1940s, the notion of progress was quietly dropped, with a few exceptions like Dobzhansky and Huxley within the synthesis, and Schindewolf and Goldschmidt outside it. Of course, heterodox writers (usually not biologists) like Teilhard and K...
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Odds 'n Ends
2006-12-02 15:54:10
"The Evolution of Adaptations", a paper by C H Waddington published in 1953, is today's contribution to the Main Blog.It is an interesting paper for several reasons but in particular for the ability to illustrate two important aspects of the proposed internal evolutionary mechanism. I won't be any more specific at the moment because the notes I made at lunchtime (while away from home) have been mislaid. Rather than go over the same ground again - especially as I have little free time this evening - I'll defer posting until tomorrow or thursday. If you're interested, then please come back!With a few minutes to spare, I've just browsed through today's General Evolution News entries and not unexpectedly there's another item concerning the ongoing 'Cultural War': Intelligent design and educational stupidity"After the verdict went against the teaching of intelligent design in schools in Dover, Pennsylvania, you could be forgiven for thinking that the argument for teaching creati...
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The Absent-Minded Professor and Evolutionary Theory
2006-12-02 15:54:10
The stated aim of this blog is to reflect the stumbling around that appears to be necessary before arriving at a cohesive and coherent proposal arguing that an internal evolutionary mechanism should be tested for.If opportunities arose to become involved in such testing, of if others were already engaged upon such an activity, then there would probably be little point in answering "If an internal evolutionary mechanism exists, then why hasn't it been found before?".At this moment in time, however, I feel the question does need addressing - if only as a personal contribution (no matter how inconsequential!) towards identifying those factors which currently affect serious consideration being given to the proposalIn earlier posts I've spoken of an interest in the evolutionary origins of psychological trauma and why, as a consequence, I'm reluctant to pay much attention to 'cultural evolution' (as far as this blog is concerned). While recognizing trauma can unknowingly and inadve...
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Re: The evolution of adaptations (Waddington) (3)
2006-12-02 15:54:10
Waddington's "The evolution of adaptations" gives a logical explanation of how ostrich callosities may have become hereditary but specifically refers only to those found "fore and aft" on the underside of the body.On page 37 of "The Great Evolution Mystery" Gordon Rattray Taylor goes on to say:Curiously, it [the ostrich] also has calluses on its ankles which are of no use to it, as it turns its foot sideways when sitting. They may, however, have been functional long ago when the ostrich had three toes and probably did not turn its feet over.Yesterday's post, Re: The evolution of adaptations (Waddington) (2), describes how the callosities could have become hereditary from the perspective of the proposed internal evolutionary mechanism (the end result of the process being restoration of the 'localized area of equilibrium' to its initial state).There is, of course, no "Law of Use and Disuse". But if, for example, consideration is given to the degeneration of the eye and loss of pi...

Re: The evolution of adaptations (Waddington) (1)
2006-12-02 15:54:10
Evolutionary Theory, The White Rabbit, and Genetic AssimilationIn "The evolution of adaptations", Waddington states:The reigning modern view is that, in nature, the direction of mutational change is entirely at random, and that adaptation results solely from the natural selection of mutations which happen to give rise to individuals with suitable characteristics. I want to argue that this theory is an extremist oneand then briefly categorizes three types of adaptations: exogenous, pseudo-exogenous, and endogenous.The next extract from the paper is necessarily extensive. Sections which are particularly relevant to the following comments have been 'colour-coded':...It is the remaining category of adaptations, the pseudo-exogenous, which has provoked the most discussion. We are confronted here by phenomena for which an explanation could so easily be found in a direct effect of some environmental factor, were it not that further study demonstrates unequivocally that the structure con...
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Re: The evolution of adaptations (Waddington) (2)
2006-12-02 15:54:10
Preamble (for the benefit of new/future visitors): The concept of an internal evolutionary mechanism originates from the 'anomalies' referred to in " A Model of an Internal Evolution ary Mechanism and reflects a known single state.There is a hesitation in extrapolating beyond this 'start condition', partially because the current mathematical model can only represent a single trajectory (see An Internal Evolutionary Mechanism and 'Direction in Evolution': Preliminary Notes) irrespective of how it is applied, but also because further development requires insight and research as much as 'logic'. For this reason the proposed mechanism will continue to be described as a 'localized area of equilibrium at the apex of an homeostatic hierarchy' (rather than, for example, any assignation along the lines of 'organs, tissues, and cells' to progressively lower levels within the hierarchy).Main Content:Today's extract from "The evolution of adaptations" is slightly shorter than yeste...

Coming Soon: Evolution of the Lateral Line into the Ear
2006-12-02 15:54:10
On Monday I posted this Nature news item to the General Evolution News category: Ear's spiral responds to bass - New theory explains why our hearing machinery is coiled up. "Why is our cochlea, the key organ of hearing, curled into a spiral? It has been often thought to be a space-saving measure. But researchers in the United States have shown that the spiral could be vital for increasing our ear's sensitivity to sound, particularly at low frequencies.Daphne Manoussaki of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, and her colleagues believe that the snail-shell curve of the cochlea focuses sound waves at the spiral's outer edge, making it easier for vibration-sensitive cells to detect them1.If the researchers are right, then the ear is more sophisticated than we thought. "Not only is the article interesting in itself, but it brought to mind something I read sometime ago concerning evolution of the lateral line into the ear, and I thought it might make a good example ...
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Tom Stoppard, The Darwinian World, and The Declaration of In
2006-12-02 15:54:10
Saturday is always a busy day and after breakfast (having decided to take a day or two off from writing about specific aspects of the proposed mechanism) I scanned the news headlines to see if there was anything about evolution in general that could be briefly commented upon in tonight's post."A matter of give and take" by Tom Stop pard in The Guardian (UK) caught my eye:Tom Stoppard argues that free speech is not an inalienable human rightThe idea that being human and having rights are equivalent - that rights are inherent - is unintelligible in a Darwin ian world. It is easily and often overlooked that when Thomas Jefferson asserted that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness were inalienable human rights, he did so on the ground that they had been endowed by God, our Creator.That is how Jefferson deemed "these truths to be self evident". Yet, we do not find that insistence on human rights is the preserve of believers. Still less do we find the right of free expression being de...
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Comment: Symmetry and Asymmetry
2006-12-02 15:54:10
This news item reminds me of the Palmer papers on symmetry and asymmetry in the Main Blog:Sinister secret of snail's escape"Snails with left-handed shells can have a big advantage in life - predators may find it impossible to eat them.That is the conclusion of research just published in the Royal Society's journal Biology Letters.Scientists from the US examined whelks and cone shells preyed on by the crab Calappa flammea.They found the crab is unable to open left-handed shells because it only has a tool for peeling them on its right claw; so it discards them.'The crabs have a special tool on their claw, a tooth that's used like a can-opener,' said Gregory Dietl from Yale University.'So, if you imagine trying to use a right-handed can-opener with your left hand - it's very hard to do,' he told the BBC News website."The two papers are:From symmetry to asymmetry: Phylogenetic patterns of asymmetry variation in animals and their evolutionary significance"...Furthermore, because ...
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Evolution, Education, and Einstein
2006-12-02 15:54:10
I read somewhere that an author will sometimes use famous quotes in an attempt to bolster a fundamentally weak argument. My purpose in including quotes in today's post is somewhat different and hopefully will become apparent long before the concluding remarks.The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education. (Albert Einstein )A soldier returning to civilian life may experience an initial difficulty in not automatically walking in step with whomever they accompany. This conditioned behavior is, of course, a function of what was instilled during basic training and then re-inforced throughout the remaining term of service.A student can become similarly conditioned in the classroom (whether at school or sunday school) particularly during those periods where they have to revise for 'examinations'. This can lead to the retention of concepts which excede their sell-by dates and psychological resistance to any suggestion that the concepts be abandoned and/or modified.Gener...
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An Error In Associating Lamarck With 'Adaptive Mutations'?
2006-12-02 15:54:10
[This post also appears here in the Main Blog]Words frozen in time should be differentiated from those carved in stone: In 1640 Galileo Galilei wrote a letter to Fortunio Liceti in which he said: "If Aristotle were to see the new discoveries recently [made] in the heavens, whose immobility he had asserted, because no alteration had previously been seen in them, he would now without doubt state the contrary." ['Galileo Galilei - Towards a Resolution of 350 Years of Debate', Paul Cardinal Poupard]. The above statement highlights the danger of placing dependence on words frozen in time without taking into account how different those words might be if their author had had access to the discoveries that have since been made. Lamarck, for example, published his "Zoological Philosophy" in 1809 and is today popularly associated with "the inheritance of acquired characteristics" whereby organisms somehow direct their own evolution. On the basis of Galileo's words, however, it could...
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Evolution: Where Darwin meets Lamarck? Discussion Forum
2006-12-02 15:54:10
[This post also appears here in the Main Blog]'Evolution - Where Darwin meets Lamarck?' places an emphasis on concepts and discoveries consistent with the possible existence of testable internal evolutionary mechanisms and alternative (non-creationist) explanations for 'problem areas' of conventional evolutionary theory.In their paper "The Spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian Paradigm" Gould and Lewontin briefly described the European concept of Bauplan ('bodyplan') which, in its 'strong' form, speculates:"But the important steps of evolution, the construction of the Bauplan itself and the transition between Baupläne, must involve some other unknown, and perhaps 'internal,' mechanism."An internal mechanism cannot be 'mystical' simply because, if one exists, then it would be testable. This suggests the concept ought to evoke no greater uncertainty than appropriate to the words of Einstein: "If we knew what we were doing, we wouldn't call it research, would we?".Joh...
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Support or Sponsor 'Evolution Research'
2006-12-02 15:54:10
1) Journals 2) Papers 3) Expertise 4) DonationsThe day-to-day purpose of this blog (when time allows!) is to reflect ongoing research into the possibility of a testable internal evolutionary mechanism based on an extension to homeostasis (see Why research an 'Internal Evolution ary Mechanism'? and The Internal Evolutionary Mechanism: Basic Concept).The ultimate objective being the putting together of a series of arguments designed to arouse the curiosity of someone with the resources to prove, or disprove, the proposal.In the meantime, as an independent researcher, my own resources are limited and help in any of the following areas would be very welcome! (email evoresearch@googlemail.com)1) Access to Journals (JSTOR, Nature, Science, PNAS, etc.)A few months ago I emailed Niles Eldredge about an 1889 paper by JM Clarke describing fibonacci spirals in trilobite eyes which Niles refers to in his book Time Frames (scanned here).Unfortunately, Niles had lost track of the citation but...
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Re: Coming Soon: Evolution of the Lateral Line into the Ear
2006-12-02 15:54:10
I haven't had much internet time for the last few days (and I'm likely to be busy until the weekend) but I thought I'ld post an 'update'.Looking into the lateral line has certainly proved interesting - some possibilities have evaporated while others have appeared in their place - but my overall impression at the moment is that it may be more profitable (in terms of time invested) if I put this on hold and then come back to it later. I'll see how it goes!John Lattertechnorati tags: lateral+line
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The "The International Flat Earth Society" and an Internal Evolutionary Mec
2006-03-10 22:42:00
Part of a prominent disclaimer on a TalkOrigins page entitled Documenting the Existence of "The International Flat Earth Society " states: Please do not send us feedback to tell us that the Earth is a sphere; we are already aware of this fact.If I don't stop chuckling everytime I look at it I'll never get anything done! So, eyes further down the page and back to business:The natural reality of the earth revolving around the sun was obviously entirely unaffected by any earlier belief in the geocentric theory, or indeed, even that the world was flat.Similarly, because I believe there is a strong possibility an internal evolutionary mechanism may exist, I tend to look for any cultural trend indicating increased receptivity to such a proposal.During the earlier period when I had time to spend on evolutionary interests, for example, I used to keep an eye out for anyone whose writing style appeared to reflect a particular type of perception, or whose areas of research might produce "unex...
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Occam's Razor and "Populations Evolve, Individuals Do Not"
2006-03-09 18:17:00
From "Common objections to 'Internal Evolutionary Mechanisms' (1)":3) "Populations Evolve , Individual s Do Not" From the TalkOrigins page "What is Evolution?": "Evolution is a process that results in heritable changes in a population spread over many generations." This is a good working scientific definition of evolution; one that can be used to distinguish between evolution and similar changes that are not evolution. Another common short definition of evolution can be found in many textbooks: "In fact, evolution can be precisely defined as any change in the frequency of alleles within a gene pool from one generation to thenext." - Helena Curtis and N. Sue Barnes, Biology, 5th ed. 1989 Worth Publishers, p.974 One can quibble about the accuracy of such a definition (and we have often quibbled on these newsgroups) but it also conveys the essence of what evolution really is. When biologists say that they have observed evolution, they mean that they have detected a chang...
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"I s'pect I just growed. Don't think nobody never made me."
2006-03-09 01:36:00
If this non-thinking, non-intelligent, and non-directional blog suddenly developed the ability to speak then it would probably echo the words Topsy spoke in "Uncle Tom's Cabin". At least, that is, until I add the new category I'm thinking of!I suppose it's in the nature of writing a blog that many thoughts are transitory even if the the subjects they touch upon are by no means superficial.Earlier today, for example, I posted Dembski's "Irreducible Complexity Revisited (PCID)", and simply because of trying to second-guess any visitor to this blog, rather reluctantly (even though it's true) included the caveat:My perception of the concept [irreducible complexity] is similar to that of Pierre-Paul Grasse who believed 'Internal Factors' were involved in how evolutionary changes occurred - see Grasse, Behe, and "Irreducible Complexity".Later on I came across "Over 500 Scientists Proclaim Their Doubts About Darwin's Theory of Evolution" (title link), and of course it's a personal...
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Are Human Beings 'Irreducibly Complex'? A whimsical thought...
2006-03-07 21:37:00
I haven't much time at the moment but I'm thinking of uploading Dembski's "Irreducible Complex ity Revisited" tomorrow - along with the caveat that doing so doesn't mean I'm a closet creationist!My perception of the concept is similar to that of Pierre-Paul Grasse who believed 'Internal Factors' were involved in how evolutionary changes occurred - see Grasse, Behe, and "Irreducible Complexity".No doubt it's a function of tiredness but reading Dembski's Abstract made me wonder if human beings ought to be considered as 'irreducibly complex':People survive amputations.Organ transplants are commonplace.A person in a coma demonstrates the human intellect is not necessary for biological survival.On the other hand, if anything goes wrong with the older (in evolutionary terms) structures of the brain then the effects are likely to be at least 'global' - if not lethal!hmm....John Lattertechnorati tags: irreducible+complexity
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The proposed Internal Evolutionary Mechanism and 'Cultural Evolution'
2006-03-06 22:36:00
Howard Martin Temin (December 10, 1934 - February 9, 1994) was a U.S. geneticist. He discovered reverse transcriptase in the 1970's at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He won a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1975 for describing how tumor viruses act on the genetical material of the cell through reverse transcriptase. This upset the widely held belief at the time of the "Central Dogma" of molecular biology posited by Nobel laureate Francis Crick, one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA (along with James Watson and Rosalind Franklin). [Answers.com]In his book "The Great Evolution ary Mystery", Gordon Rattray Taylor also commented on the relevance of Temin's work to the "Central Dogma" and then went on to say:With the dogma thus modified, the philosophical objection to Lamarckism was removed. What continued to be lacking was a mechanism by which the phenotype change, if any, could generate the information and rtansmit it to the gentic material. It was not simpl...
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Re: The Internal Evolutionary Mechanism: Basic Concept
2006-03-06 01:05:00
Two posts to the Main Blog today. One (linked above) includes an extract from an existing website describing the basic concept of the proposed internal evolutionary mechanism as it appeared in 1998.Also included is a flowchart generating the fibonacci series which will be useful in illustrating various aspects of the proposed mechanism.Both of the above are drawn from existing material and are intended to provide a 'working framework' upon which futher commentary can be based (as per the first of the Aims)The other Main Blog post is:Lamarckian mechanisms in Darwinian evolution by Jablonka, Lamb, and Avital.The first part of the internet day, however, was spent in trying to sort out how this blog was appearing in Intern et Explorer and Opera. The problem was solved with a lot less of a headache than usual - but only because of the helpful people at Blogger Forum. Thanks folks!John Lattertechnorati tags: lamarckian, darwinian, fibonacci, mechanism
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Why research an 'Internal Evolutionary Mechanism'? (2)
2006-03-04 22:21:00
2) Aims On November 8, 1996 Richard Dawkins was interviewed by Ben Wattenberg on a PBS "Think Tank" program entitled "Richard Dawkins on Evolution and Religion":MR. WATTENBERG: You have written that being an atheist allows you to become intellectually fulfilled. MR. DAWKINS: No, I haven't quite written that. What I have written is that before Darwin, it was difficult to be an intellectually fulfilled atheist and that Darwin made it easy to become an intellectually -- and it's more. It's more. If you wanted to be an atheist, it would have been hard to be an atheist before Darwin came along. But once Darwin came along, the argument from design, which has always been to me the only powerful argument -- even that isn't a very powerful argument, but I used to think it was the only powerful argument for the existence of a creator. Darwin destroyed the argument from design, at least as far as biology is concerned, which has always been the happiest hunting ground for argument f...
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Bits and Pieces
2006-03-03 23:24:00
Mundane stuff:About a week ago I added a "Daily Updates" email feature to the sidebar and today I've added a Guestbook.In the next few weeks I'll be adding "Add to furl" and "Add to del.icio.us." options along with a search engine for all five categories (the "search this blog" feature in the top left-hand corner only searches the 'category' you are in).Other than that, I'm calling a temporary halt to 'site maintenance': Google, other search engines, and various blog bots visit this site and learning how to tidy up the code to attract more would just take up too much time (and it's such hard work for someone like me!).Of slightly more interest:The evomech calendar contains the schedules for the following internet science/philosophy programs:Berkeley Groks [USA]In Our Time [UK]Philosophy Talk [USA]Quirks & Quarks [CAN]Science Friday [USA]Science Show [AUS]The Naked Scientists [UK]I don't bother keeping up with 'what's on this week' - what I like to do is click on the pro...
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In the News: More info on "'Jurassic Beaver' find stuns experts"
2006-03-03 09:36:00
Anyone who read the recent 'Jurassic Beaver' find stuns experts news report might be interested in the following:Perspective:Early Mammalian Evolutionary ExperimentsThomas Martin*Mammals of the Mesozoic era (248 to 65 million years ago) generally are considered to be primitive, shrew-like creatures living in the shadow of the dinosaurs (1). Only after the extinction of the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous era (144 to 65 million years ago) did they have a chance to explore a greater variety of ecological niches. During the adaptive radiation that began about 65 million years ago, mammals were able to invade all kinds of terrestrial environments, even the aquatic and aerial realms. Pushing back the mammalian conquest of the waters by more than 100 million years, Ji et al. (2) report on page 1123 of this issue a Middle Jurassic, 164-million-year-old skeleton with a beaverlike tail and seal-like teeth perfectly adapted for an aquatic lifestyle. andResearch Article the above Pers...
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Re: TalkOrigins resource on Atavisms and Vestigial Structures
2006-03-02 23:01:00
After yesterday's brief comments on Atavisms (Retrograde Motion and Evolution) I came across a Talk Origins resource on Atavisms and Vest igial Organs/Structure s (which are another area of interest) and have posted it to the Main Blog.The page is directly accessible from here and contains the following: 1. Anatomical vestigial structures * Answers to criticisms of vestigial structures 1. Vestiges can have functions 2. Positive evidence demonstrates lack of functionality 3. Negative evidence is scientific when controlled 2. Atavisms * Living whales with hindlimbs * Newborn babies with tails 3. Molecular vestigial structures 4. Ontogeny and developmental biology * Mammalian ear bones and reptile jaws * Pharyngeal pouches and branchial arches * Snake and whale embryos and with legs * Embryonic human tail * Marsupial eggshell and caruncle 5. Present biogeography 6. Past biogeography * Marsupials * Horses * Apes and humansAnd now f...
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Retrograde Motion and Evolution
2006-03-01 23:24:00
A webpage on Retrograde Motion at Philadelphia's Lasalle University states:One phenomenon that ancient astronomers had difficulty explaining was the retrograde motion of the planets......a planet appears to move from West to East against the background stars most of the time......Occasionally, however, the planet's motion will appear to reverse direction, and the planet will, for a short time, move from East to West against the background constellations. This reversal is known as retrograde motion.Ptolemaic ExplanationThis model consisted of a series of concentric spheres, with the Earth at the center......To account for the observed retrograde motion of the planets, it was necessary to resort to a system of epicycles, whereby the planets moved around small circular paths that in turn moved around larger circular orbits around the Earth......In its final form, the model was extremely complicated, requiring many nested levels of epicycles (etc.).Copernican ExplanationCopernicus rep...
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Re: Common objections to 'Internal Evolutionary Mechanisms' (1)
2006-02-28 21:59:00
The above link will take you to today's Main Blog post. It begins:Brief notes on four common objections to current or historical proposals of internal evolutionary mechanisms (if you can think of any more then please leave a comment or email me): 1) Intern al Evolutionary Mechanism s are 'Mystical' 2) Internal Evolutionary Mechanisms are 'Lamarckian' 3) "Populations Evolve, Individuals Do Not" 4) Weismann's experiment with Rodents Naturally enough, as soon as I clicked on 'publish post' I immediately thought of another! But it can wait for another day - I'm still spending quite a lot of time on various blog-related problems and learning how to add additional features.nb I've used An Error In Associating Lamarck With 'Adaptive Mutations'? as a 'response' to #2 - the principle of "Words frozen in time should be differentiated from those carved in stone" being applicable to just about anything one might care to think of.John Lattertechnorati tags: evolutionary+mecha...
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In the News: Reverse/Backward Human Evolution
2006-02-27 19:13:00
General Evolution News contains a follow up news article (Claim of reversed human evolution provokes skepticism, interest) to last week's 'Backward evolution' spawns ape-like peopleI came across this paper today and thought I'ld post it in case anyone would like more info:Human hand-walkers : five siblings who never stood upAbstractHuman beings begin life as quadrupeds, crawling on all fours, but none has ever been known to retain this gait and develop it into a proficient replacement for adult bipedality. We report the case of a family in which five siblings, who suffer from a rare form of cerebellar ataxia, are still quadrupeds as adults - walking and running on their feet and wrists. We describe the remarkable features of this gait, discuss how it has developed in the members of this family, and consider whether a similar gait may have been used by human ancestors.John Lattertechnorati tags: human, evolution, ape-like, reverse, backward, ancestors
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