This research report suggests that some genes in human sperms can be ‘read’ by the cytoplasm of the egg immediately after fertilisation. Some interesting implications for hybridism, infertility, and other issues.

This series of posts attempts to identify the key propositions of ‘Darwinism’, in the sense of what Charles Darwin himself believed, and to assess their current standing. Part 1 dealt with ‘The Pattern of Evolution’. Part 2 considered the ‘Mechanisms of Evolution’. Part 3 considers Darwin’s views and speculations on the subject of Heredity. I […]

While skimming today’s UK newspapers I noticed this report in the Daily Telegraph on research into the evolution of ‘tit-for-tat’ reciprocal altruism. I haven’t checked out the original research, but thought I would post the story for general interest.

Here is a case for Razib to add to his collection of families showing genetic segregation for skin colour and other biodiverse traits. The mother is white and the father mixed-race, while the three children are said to range in appearance from black to white. Actually two of them look to me predictably mixed-race, but […]

I’m still working on a post about Darwin’s theories of heredity, but I need to re-read the 900 pages of Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication first, so it may take me some time. Meanwhile, and irrelevant to anything, I see that one of my favourite artists, Imogen Heap, has a new album coming […]

In my recent post on Darwin’s mechanisms of evolution I was rather dismissive about the Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics (IAC), commonly known as ‘Lamarckism’. Darwin himself believed in the existence of IAC but gave it a relatively minor role in evolution. In comments on my post it was pointed out that there has recently been […]

This series of posts attempts to identify the key propositions of ‘Darwinism’, and assess their current standing. Part 1 dealt with ‘The Pattern of Evolution’. Part 2 considers the ‘Mechanisms of Evolution’. Darwin always regarded natural selection as the most important mechanism, but not to the exclusion of all other factors. The post has turned […]

In this Darwin year many popular accounts of ‘Darwinism’ have appeared, but these seldom make a clear distinction among the different components of Darwin’s theory of evolution. Many popularisations are simplified to the point of caricature, and presented in an absurdly uncritical way. I yield to few in my admiration for Darwin, but I do […]

One morning recently I woke up and suddenly thought I had solved the evolutionary problem of sex. About ten minutes later, I realised I hadn’t, and went back to sleep. But it may still be worth outlining the ‘solution’, first because understanding the fallacy in the solution helps clarify the problem itself, and secondly because […]

For non-blogging reasons I have recently been exploring the web for online primary texts in the history of biology. Since I last did much searching of this kind, many new resources have become available, and existing ones have been improved. For the benefit of any interested readers, here are some recommendations: A good website on […]

Some birds like a threesome: see here.

Today is the 200th birthday of you-know-who. I’m sure most people are already sated with Darwiniana, but I can’t let the day pass without making my own small contribution. One of the pleasures of reading Darwin is that one can still find nuggets of insight in unexpected places. Here I want to describe two of […]

In the historical literature on Charles Darwin one of the commonest assertions (or assumptions) is that there was a long delay (of about twenty years) between Darwin’s first formulation of the theory of natural selection, and his publication of that theory in 1858 (followed in 1859 by a fuller publication in the Origin of Species). […]

Several press reports over the weekend and today in Britain have mentioned a new report on mixed ethnicity (or mixed race) families in Britain. The headline finding is that about 1 in 10 children are in mixed-ethnicity families. To be (slightly) more precise, 9 per cent of children are themselves of mixed ethnicity and/or living […]

A long article by Steve Jones here from today’s Guardian. (But ignore the rather feeble first paragraph. I doubt that ‘every schoolchild’ has as many ideas about Darwin – whether true or false – as this suggests.)

This year is the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Darwin, and the 150th anniversary of the Origin of Species. Predictably, there will be a large number of commemorative events and publications. I found a useful list here. I suspect that by March we will all be heartily sick of CD, but I am still […]

This note concludes my discussion of R. A. Fisher’s neglected treatment of human evolution in The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection. In Part 1, here, I pointed out that Fisher believed that human evolution was continuing rapidly in the present day. He also argued that natural selection among humans now operated mainly through differences in […]

The last five chapters of R. A. Fisher’s Genetical Theory of Natural Selection – about a third of the book – are devoted to human evolution. These chapters are seldom quoted and probably seldom read, even by Fisher enthusiasts. [Note 1] There are some obvious reasons for this neglect. Much of this part of Fisher’s […]

From time to time I give links to those of my old posts that may still be worth reading. Previous guides are here: 1, 2, 3, 4. It is over two years since the last update. In that time most of my posts have been on the history of population genetics, and especially on the […]

I thought I knew a fair amount about monkeys already, but a BBC wildlife documentary last night still had some surprises for me. The documentary is ouststanding even by the BBC’s usual standards for this kind of thing. I dare say it will be broadcast in most countries sooner or later, but meanwhile it can […]