The genetic mutation plus natural selection equation emerged as the most popular theory of biological evolution during the twentieth century. With advances in biotechnology, however, the credibility of this theory – popularly known as neo-Darwinism or the Modern Synthesis theory – has since been increasingly challenged by evolutionary scientists.
In an experimental evolution model using the yeast microbe Saccharomyces cerevisiaespecies, a recent study published in the journal Science by a Harvard research group undermines the theory of genetic mutations plus natural selection equals evolution. The model demonstrates stasis – not evolution.
With a $320,000 National Institute of Health grant, working from his fourth-floor lab at Harvard University, assistant professor Michael Desai in Organismic & Evolutionary Biology discovered that the introduction of a wide variety of genetic mutations over time produces the same result.
A gene mutation-driven evolution theory gained increasing popularity. By the 1960s, using emerging gene testing technologies, however, the model began encountering challenges. In the search for a new theory, Susumu Ohno, a geneticist at the City of Hope Medical Center, proposed the gene duplication-driven evolution theory in his book Evolution by Gene Duplication (1970). Since then, researchers have investigated Ohno’s model searching to answer the elusive “what drives evolution” question.
Pristine preservation of DNA is of critical importance in the study of ancient DNA. The structural integrity of the DNA molecule, contrary to the Jurassic Park tale, is not infinitely stable.
Damage to the DNA molecule in living organisms occurs naturally from normal metabolic and hydrolytic processes and from environmental factors such as ultraviolet light and radiation.
Damage to DNA in mammalian cells is known to occur 1 million times daily.While alive organisms can identify and correct these damages, the evolution industry has been reticent to address the stability of ancient DNA in the fossil record.
Embryology plays a critical role in Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. The “leading facts in embryology … [were] second to none in importance,” he argued in The Origin of Species. Illustrations of embryos by Ernst Haeckel, a German biologist, influenced Darwin. Haeckel’s drawings portray embryos repeating the steps of evolution, known as the “ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny” theory.
Genes drive evolution by means of natural selection, it is thought, and since turtles have a unique body plan, studying the turtle genome through embryonic development is expected to give insight into their origin. Zhuo Wang of BGI-Shenzhen, China, led the first team to study the genetics of embryonic turtle development. Their paper entitled “The draft genomes of softshell turtle and green sea turtle yield insights into the development and evolution of the turtle specific body plan” was published in the prestigious journal Nature Genetics.
The long-awaited analysis for one of the most influential lobed-finned fish in evolution history, the coelacanth genome (pictured left), was published last week by lead scientists Chris T. Amemiya (pictured right below) of the University of Washington and Jessica Alföldi from MIT and Harvard in the prestigious journal Nature.
The coelacanth plays a crucial and colorful role in the history of evolution. Biologist Louis Agassiz, born in Switzerland, became a professor at Harvard University and founder of the Museum of Comparative Biology, and was the first to describe and name the fish in 1839. Ironically, Agazzi became a leading critic of Charles Darwin.
Into the twentieth century, the coelacanth fossil emerged as an example of a 70 million years old extinct fossilized link between fish and land-walking amphibians. The focus was on the coelacanth fins, specifically the hind fins with a rudimentary resemblance to feet.
Darwin, Then and Now, the Most Amazing Story in the History of Science, is a chronicle of who Darwin was, how he developed his theory, specifically what he said, and what scientists have discovered since the publication of The Origin of Species in 1859.
The book traces the rise and fall of evolution's popularity as a scientifically valid theory. With over 1,000 references from Darwin and scientists, Darwin Then and Now retraces developments in the most amazing story in the history of science.
The genetic mutation plus natural selection equation emerged as the most popular theory of biological evolution during the twentieth century. With advances in biotechnology, however, the credibility of this theory – popularly known as neo-Darwinism or the Modern Synthesis theory – has since been increasingly challenged by evolutionary scientists.
Embryology plays a critical role in 
The long-awaited analysis for one of the most influential lobed-finned fish in evolution history, the coelacanth genome (pictured left), was published last week by lead scientists 
