Mutation and evolution

Month: August 2017

  • Getting “Lamarckian” right

    Lamarck’s theory of evolutionary adaptation invokes the inheritance of adaptive responses that emerge by effort.  Over a century ago, this mechanism was rejected by geneticists familiar with results on mutation and inheritance, e.g., Cuenot (1909) rejects Lamarckian modification on the grounds that hereditary variants emerge suddenly, rather than being brought on…