[lbo-talk] Darwinian evolution only part of story?

[Carrol Cox]

I had trouble following the first few posts on this, the core of it was
(or seemed to be) wrapped in too much rhetoric for my eyes to follow.
But what Max quotes below is just normal science, nothign shockingly
new. Darwinism consists of variation and selection. What is described
here is meely an extra source of variation. It's imprtant for
scientists, and the viral part of the human genome maybe an interesting
rhetorical ploy in debates among non-scientists. But otherwise, what's
all the excitement about.

The subject line is completely misleading.

Carrol

Max Sawicky wrote:
> 
> That would explain the resemblance of certain humans to lizards.
> 
> >
> > In the past few years, a host of genome studies have demonstrated that
> > DNA flows readily between the chromosomes of microbes and the external
> > world. Typically around 10 per cent of the genes in many bacterial
> > genomes seem to have been acquired from other organisms in this way,
> > though the proportion can be several times that (New Scientist, 24
> > January 2009, p 34). So an individual microbe may have access to the
> > genes found in the entire microbial population around it, including
> > those of other microbe species. "It's natural to wonder if the very
> > concept of an organism in isolation is still valid at this level,"
> > says Goldenfeld.
> >
> ___________________________________
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk