CONTENTS
How to read this book
The first correspondence THE TWIN PEAKS
The Leicester connection Taking your name in vain Sublime yet pathetic Time to move on 'Natural Sorting' The monk in his garden The genetic lottery The case against the hopeful
monster Mendel to the rescue Almost but not quite Barbara's jumping genes A sneak preview
The second correspondence THE RISE AND FALL OF THE MOBILE P GENE
The P elements are coming A simple case of molecular drive Molecular drive and natural
selection: a mutual accomodation First come, first served A simple case of molecular
coevolution
The third correspondence WHEN IS AN ADAPTATION NOT AN ADAPTATION?
The evolution of bat-eared foxes by
means of television Exaptations and adoptations: a
brief introduction Honing locks and keys Just-so storytelling We are selected, therefore we are A solution looking for problems
The fourth correspondence THE IGNORANT GENE
Evolution as ideology Anti-Dawkins One step forward, two steps back Where did Dawkins go wrong? The 'paradox of the organism' Yes, we have no paradox Who reproduces? Long live the ephemeral phenotype! No genetic blueprints Unoccupied space: natural or
unnatural? We are all monsters now Not improbable and not perfect
The fifth correspondence IS DAWKINS AWARE OF THE ERROR OF HIS WAYS?
Genetic bookkeeping Good cop, bad cop Selfish-genery is not the same as
selfish DNA Do the laws of physics and chemistry
get in the way of biology? Slowing down evolution
The sixth correspondence GENETIC TURNOVER; OF COURSE, OF COURSE
If it's your DNA, you won't get away Train swopping I'll show you mine, if you show me
yours Genetic homogenization and
concerted evolution Keeping it all in the family 'Give them something to do' The two-step process of evolution
The seventh correspondence MOLECULAR DRIVE FOR ADVANCED PLAYERS
Genetic buffers Bringing in selection at a later stage Is the chromosome a natural barrier
to homogenization? Like ripples in a pool Molecular drive at the population
level All in the same boat
The eighth correspondence MOLECULAR COEVOLUTION
What's in a name? Getting there, without being pushed Biased systems: we have ways of
making you go Molecular drive and meiotic drive
are not the same thing Molecular drive and selfish DNA are
not the same thing Welcome selection The case of the duff gene The evolution of tolerance Regulating genes by TRAM The evolution of slot-machines Me and Francis Crick
The ninth correspondence THE MYSTERY OF MYSTERIES
An origin of species? Love songs and species Concerted evolution in the
period
gene
Period turnover Molecular coevolution in period
genes Is
period a general or special case?
The tenth correspondence BIOLOGICAL BARRIERS
The misappropriation of natural
selection in the definition of
individuality
How many roads must a species
travel?
Odysseus leads the way
The eleventh correspondence SEX - A NEW PERSPECTIVE
The basis of stasis Sex makes the world go round
Five thousand, but who's counting? The first sexual act
The twelfth correspondence HOX! HOX! HOX!
'There is, philosophically speaking,
only one animal' The first signs: shock, horror! Beyond head, middle and tail Masters and slaves Promiscuous genes Serial transformations Putting it all together by modules Before and after
Hox A mess, but it works From 0 to 14 in four hours Getting lost in the net Extending the net Hox is everywhere Looking for molecular coevolution in
development Another example The eyes have it How do alliances shift? It's all in the mess One hundred, but who's counting? Are legs exaptations? Back to Newton
The twelfth correspondence TWO MINUTES THAT SHOOK THE WORLD
Football versus chess Universal selection? Do we really understand the laws of
physics?
The thirteenth correspondence BORN TO ADOPT
Looking for the eternal Pulling one's leg Same genes; same story; different
outcomes Swopping regulatory circuits: simple
to do, profound in effect Making
Hox more subtle Centipedes, snakes and butterflies Centipedes and lavatory rolls Adoptations: a missing term in the
science of form A brief memo Back to centipedes Singing from the same hymn sheet Choosing the environment Adoptational landscapes Keeping left!
The fourteenth correspondence THE UNKNOWABILITY OF DNA
Three into one won't go A psychological difficulty
Darwin's finches: what we know and
what we don't know An operational tall order
The fifteenth correspondence THE EVOLUTION OF INDIVIDUALITY
Determined to death Tossing human nature Predicting with hindsight Extrapolating from nothing to
nothing The hunt for 'universals' There's no such thing as an average
human No one is normal There's more to human nature than
adaptations We are individuals not groups Human cloning: you cannot recreate
yourself No nature, no nurture, just Chaliapin
Glossary Further Reading
Index
Dear Mr. Darwin,
You might find it presumptuous of me, if not a little macabre, that I should take up my pen and write to you more than a hundred years after your death. But I'm encouraged to do this because it is on record that you yourself wrote almost 14,000 letters on scientific issues, many of which I expect were answers to unsolicited correspondence. . . . I cannot know whether or not, deep in your tomb in Westminster Abbey, you've been keeping abreast since your demise with the ups and downs of your theory of evolution which you called, quite cleverly (and if a little misleadingly as it turned out), natural selection. . . . Despite the gulf that separates us in time and means, I know that this letter will arouse your scientific interests, for it touches on some of the central issues with which you wrestled all your life.
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