Frank Ryan says this about his second Café Scientifique
presentation which has been shaped by feedback from his first presentation in May
“Fifteen years ago I entered the world of evolutionary biology by accident. In 1992 I published what is now seen as the definitive book on the discovery of the cure for tuberculosis (Tuberculosis: The Greatest Story Never Told). My medical colleagues rather liked it and suggested I should do the same for emerging viruses, such as HIV-1 and Ebola. I entered the plague zone of the American “Sin nombre” hantavirus in New Mexico and, in essence, this changed my life. I realized that I was approaching the problem with pre-conceived notions (medical concept of parasitism, conventional neo-Darwinian concept of mutation-plus-selection), and these notions were impairing a fuller understanding of where viruses such as HIV-1 came from and why they behaved in the terrible way that they did. I attempted to clear my mind of the preconceptions and look at the situation from the perspective of a cool neutral intelligence – when I realized that plagues were, in essence, evolutionary phenomena. This led me to a very different perspective on AIDS.
Since then I have had to delve into eleven or twelve different biological fields, aiming at a broad and general understanding. I did so merely to help me to write books, such as Virus X. I found that I had to invent new evolutionary concepts and terms to accommodate what I was witnessing – not in the sense of new lamps for old, but broadening the still very relevant prevailing concepts into a bigger, more universal vision. About five years ago, colleagues from within the world of evolutionary biology suggested that I was in the position of assembling a kind of jigsaw of knowledge, to give a useful overview of what you might call “the new evolution”. I did this in my book, Darwin’s Blind Spot, coining the term “genomic creativity” to encompass all of the forces for genetic, and whole genomic, change that, together with natural selection, drove evolution.
I spoke a little about some of this in my previous talk on viruses and asked for feedback to shape my second presentation. To fit in with points of interest that were raised on and off line I have chosen four amazing revelations arising from my travels and contacts within the world of evolutionary biology, each linked to a single image that will exemplify this broader understanding. The first will relate to a very surprising new discovery about the human brain that links to my redefinition of HIV-1 as an “aggressive symbiont”. The second will link the fascinating but highly controversial topic of James Lovelock’s Gaia with our present concerns about global warming. The third will examine my contribution to just one facet of Lynn Margulis’s theory for the origin of nucleated cells and link it both to the dance of the chromosomes in mitosis and the human eye. The fourth will link the current race to create the first truly artificial (and thus entirely alien) life form in the lab and link this to the cover image of my science-based thriller, The Doomsday Genie.”
|
