4 ms·
On of the biggest unresolved issue in biology is to explain observed speed of evolution. Random mutations just cannot do it. Collective memory can be a part of
by fpoling 11y ago
On of the biggest unresolved issue in biology is to explain observed speed of evolution. Random mutations just cannot do it. Collective memory can be a part of the puzzle if it allows effective propagation of changes helping survival.
- nitrogen 11y agoI don't buy it; the Earth is really old, plenty of time for evolution to work by random mutations selected by environment.
- dandare 11y agoAbsolute age of life on Earth does not mean anything, it was just prokaryota 2/3 of the time. Compare it to age of Galapagos and Darwin's finches.
- nitrogen 11y ago1/3 of a really big number is still a really big number. Endosymbiosis conveys a significant advantage.
- varjag 11y agoMath for mutations leading to simultaneous advantageous traits doesn't seem to add up easily however: http://inference-review.com/article/haldanes-dilemma http://inference-review.com/article/haldanes-dilemma
- nitrogen 11y agoI don't have time to read the whole article, but the sections I did read seemed to draw conclusions from an untenable chain of unjustified simplifying assumptions.
- varjag 11y agoThey didn't to me, but then am not an evolutionary biologist. However, all natural sciences are simplified models approximating reality, the only question how much predictive force they can demonstrate. Either way, the article presents a better laid out theory than "it seems so to me".
- fpoling 11y agoWe do not have an explanation for the speed bacteria develop resistance for drugs or pests overcome GMO.
- nitrogen 11y agoIt seems pretty straightforward to me. Variations exist in a population, hgt shuffles them around, and selection does the rest.
- fpoling 11y agoThat explain how that happen, but not the speed. Even if we know the trait that bacteria will gain to overcome antibiotics, we still have no idea how to predict even with an error of an order of magnitude how fast that can happen. Models based on random mutations (that typically assume no memory of past performance) show way too slow evolution.
- malka 11y agoI think collective (or genetic) memory is too huge of an advantage to not exist in many species. I remember reading a paper about genetic memory in mices.
- jodril 11y agoMutations happen by repetition. In behavioural terms we call them habits
- nitrogen 11y agoNo, they do not. Giraffes did not get longer necks by straining to reach higher trees. Randomly longer-necked giraffe predecessors gained an advantage in reproduction. The idea that we control our DNA through habits is newage bull promulgated by charlatans using the vocabulary of science to sell snake oil and collect speakers' fees.
- jschwartzi 11y agoExcept memory is a loaded term implying some kind of intelligence. Here they're just synchronizing the lifecycles of many bacteria using a forcing event. It sounds spooky and mysterious when you call it memory, and in fact it is neither.