Exaptation
I thought this was a really nice, concise description:
"Remember the film Apollo 13 ... ? At one point, with the astronauts in bad trouble up in orbit, the engineers on earth were given the job of providing a working solution from the bits and pieces available to the crew - some cardboard tubes, bits of metal sheeting, and other odds and ends. If the problem couldn't be solved using what was available, then they were going to die.
"That," says Weasel, "is what evolution does. Faced with an environmental life- or-death problem, the available genetic odds and ends are patched together and if one particular arrangement happens to work to advantage, the individuals that have it survive to reproduce. It doesn't have to work well, it doesn't have to be elegant, it only has to work better than what else might be available, and it will stick. And any improvements, modifications, or solutions to other problems will have to be patched in around this jury-rigged mess."
From the "Sticky Wicket" column in J. Cell Sci.
"Remember the film Apollo 13 ... ? At one point, with the astronauts in bad trouble up in orbit, the engineers on earth were given the job of providing a working solution from the bits and pieces available to the crew - some cardboard tubes, bits of metal sheeting, and other odds and ends. If the problem couldn't be solved using what was available, then they were going to die.
"That," says Weasel, "is what evolution does. Faced with an environmental life- or-death problem, the available genetic odds and ends are patched together and if one particular arrangement happens to work to advantage, the individuals that have it survive to reproduce. It doesn't have to work well, it doesn't have to be elegant, it only has to work better than what else might be available, and it will stick. And any improvements, modifications, or solutions to other problems will have to be patched in around this jury-rigged mess."
From the "Sticky Wicket" column in J. Cell Sci.
posted by Joolya at
4:11 PM
4 Comments:
Very nice. When people talk about how "too perfect" things are to be "evolved," I'm certain they have never studied anatomy of any kind. I mean, the eye! They actually cite the human eye as an example of something that "must" be designed! It's a freaking mess! How come we have to see things upside-down and then have our brains translate? Sloppy engineering, or what? Gah.
Two words: Human Knee. Talk about a shoddy piece of engineering!
I think my vote goes for the waste pipeline through the middle of a recreational area. This designer is quite obviously a civil engineer (independently confirmed by the engineer in the office next to mine).
That. Is a FANTASTIC summary.
My vote is with ethylbenzene, btw. Eyes.... (said in tones of loathing). What a freakin' mess.
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