• Question: Who's theory on evolution do you support? Darwin's or Lamarck's?

    Asked by 4852ah to Simon, Rachel, Lou on 16 Nov 2013.
    • Photo: Simon Langley-Evans

      Simon Langley-Evans answered on 16 Nov 2013:

      Theories of evolution have changed a lot since Darwin originally published his ideas, but biologists still follow the Darwinian idea that species change because characteristics which allow survival in difficult conditions are passed on to offspring. For hundreds of years the ideas of Lamarck have been thought to be wrong because he suggested that animals pass on characteristics that are not controlled by genes (such as children of blacksmith develop big muscles because their fathers grew big muscles doing their work).

      The funny thing is that over the last 10 years we have learned about something called the epigenome, which means that some of Lamarcks ideas might actually be possible now. In my own research we have shown that the diet given to a pregnant animal changes the health not just of her offspring, but also her grand-offspring and great-grand-offspring because the diet changes her epigenome. Those changes are inherited by future generations.

    • Photo: Rachel Dakin

      Rachel Dakin answered on 17 Nov 2013:

      I believe in Darwin’s theory of natural selection. I think it’s very interesting to see how plants and animals have adapted over time to suit their environments and gain an advantage over others. I find dogs particularly interesting as they are one species all believed to have descended from the grey wolf. Despite this single ancestor they are very diverse – from a great dane to a jack russell!
      Simon’s right about the epigenome – it is an interesting area of science and similar to Lamarck’s theory. For a species to adapt and evolve obviously takes a very long time. However some things can change very quickly – honey bees are a good example. They lay hundreds of larvae which are all the same. However, the odd one may become a queen bee because of what it is fed. The bee doesn’t evolve in to the queen over time but something in its make up must be changed by the different food.

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