Natural selection emerged as the cornerstone law of evolution following the publication of The Origin in 1859. “I do believe,” Darwin argued, “natural selection acts slowly by accumulating slight, successive, favorable variations.” Natural selection, the tenet of Darwin’s theory, when viewed through the lens of twenty-first-century technologies, increasingly faces scientific challenges.
The long-awaited analysis for one of the most influential lobed-finned fish in evolution history, the coelacanth genome (pictured left), was published last week by lead scientists Chris T. Amemiya (pictured right below) of the University of Washington and Jessica Alföldi from MIT and Harvard in the prestigious journal Nature.
The coelacanth plays a crucial and colorful role in the history of evolution. Biologist Louis Agassiz, born in Switzerland, became a professor at Harvard University and founder of the Museum of Comparative Biology, and was the first to describe and name the fish in 1839. Ironically, Agazzi became a leading critic of Charles Darwin.
Into the twentieth century, the coelacanth fossil emerged as an example of a 70 million years old extinct fossilized link between fish and land-walking amphibians. The focus was on the coelacanth fins, specifically the hind fins with a rudimentary resemblance to feet.
A research team led by Michael Blaber of Florida State University College of Medicine recently reported a solution to a problem with the “protein-first,” also known as the protein self-assembly origin of life theory. The issue involves protein folding. Biologically active proteins are only functional when folded into specific molecular structures.
Blaber presented evidence demonstrating the folding of proteins through a self-assembly origin of life process. The fold-ability of proteins into specific structures is essential to perform cellular functions. While the team’s approach aligns with Charles Darwin’s theory, protein self-assembly origin of life is competing with the more popular “RNA-first” origin of life theory.
Darwin ascribed to the “protein-first” theory. In a letter to his closest friend, Joseph D. Hooker, in 1871, speculating on how the origin of life might have happened, Darwin wrote –
“The first production of a living organism [stemmed from]… in a warm little pond with all sorts of ammonia & phosphoric salts, −light, heat, electricity, &c present, that a protein compound was chemically formed, ready to undergo more complex changes”
Darwin, Then and Now, the Most Amazing Story in the History of Science, is a chronicle of who Darwin was, how he developed his theory, specifically what he said, and what scientists have discovered since the publication of The Origin of Species in 1859.
The book traces the rise and fall of evolution's popularity as a scientifically valid theory. With over 1,000 references from Darwin and scientists, Darwin Then and Now retraces developments in the most amazing story in the history of science. DarwinThenandNow.com focuses on understanding the intersection of biological evolution and science.
“Natural selection” is the name Charles Darwin used to describe the mechanism driving evolution and the origin of species. The title of his book was The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. Natural selection was the “means” of evolution, the fundamental tenet of Darwin’s theory.
The long-awaited analysis for one of the most influential lobed-finned fish in evolution history, the coelacanth genome (pictured left), was published last week by lead scientists 
