| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"maff" |
| Date: |
04 Jan 2006 05:16:13 AM |
| Object: |
New frontiers: a preview of 2006's big science stories |
New frontiers: a preview of 2006's big science stories
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article336352.ece
From rockets bearing stardust to the secrets of evolution, the holy
grail of clean nuclear power and the genetic basis of common diseases
Published: 04 January 2006
IN THE LAB
By Sanjida O'Connell
This year one of Europe's most discredited biologists may be
vindicated: Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, born in 1744, worked as an assistant
botanist before writing a treatise on evolution, published in 1809. His
theory, disparagingly referred to as Lamarckism, was that if animals
used a structure or organ it would increase in size and that this
change could be inherited by future generations. The theory was
parodied by the idea that a blacksmith would pass his biceps on to his
sons.
For several decades now scientists have debated whether nature, our
genes, or nurture, the environment, has the most impact, but this year
we may discover that there was a kernel of truth in Lamarck's ideas.
Sanjida O'Connell
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.atheism/msg/e37238b78af5061a
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| User: "Robert J. Kolker" |
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| Title: Re: New frontiers: a preview of 2006's big science stories |
04 Jan 2006 08:13:38 AM |
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maff wrote:
sons.
For several decades now scientists have debated whether nature, our
genes, or nurture, the environment, has the most impact, but this year
we may discover that there was a kernel of truth in Lamarck's ideas.
A very small kernel. Jews have been circumisizing their male babies for
3000 years and Jewish male babies continue to be born with their
foreskin intact.
Obvious acquired characteristics do not get passed on to offspring
through the gametes. Those stubborn old genes still remain what they are.
For the Lamarck hypothesis to hold, an aquired characterstic would have
to be transmitted by non-genetic means. What would such characteristics be?
Now it is true that if the germplasm is mutated by environmental
factors, say radiation or exposure to chemicals, the modification is
passed on. But that is only true for the gametes. It does not apply to
other kinds of cells in the body.
Bob Kolker
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