Epigenetics, revisited; new exciting studies (Introduction)

by dhw, Sunday, November 20, 2011, 19:26 (4730 days ago) @ David Turell

I asked David if he thought the latest research was leading to the point where we could say that epigenetics, as permanently hereditary adaptations and innovations brought about by changes in the environment, are the key mechanism for evolution.

DAVID: Your comments are exactly the point of Shapiro's book, but lots of research is needed before the expectations are solidified.

Thank you. An article in today’s Sunday Times has the headline Climate change ‘drove ascent of man’. Details of the research are to be discussed at a Royal Society conference this week. The researchers have identified “five crucial eras when big changes in climate seem to have accelerated humanity’s genetic and social evolution.” The earliest was about 2m years ago, when East African forests turned into savannah, which brought our early ancestors down from the trees and turned them into running, hunting Homo erectus. I shan’t repeat the rest of the details, as I’m sure there will be wider and deeper coverage later in the specialist journals. The reason I’ve brought it up here is the clear suggestion that epigenetic mechanisms were at work: change in climate/environment leads to adaptation and innovation – there must have been major anatomical adjustments to allow for the switch from tree-dweller to grassland runner – and these all prove to be hereditary in the long-term. Another step closer to Shapiro, then?