Evolution Research - General Evolution News

An interview with NASA's Astrobiology Magazine, Part 4:

Bacteria may not have brains, but they are intelligent. So says Lynn Margulis, co-author of Microcosmos: Four Billion Years of Microbial Evolution (Amazon UK | US). To mark the 20th anniversary of the book's publication, Astrobiology Magazine spoke with Margulis, who laid out the evidence for bacterial intelligence. She also explained why she thinks that, most likely, Mars is a dead world.

Part 1 of the interview via: "Microbial Planet: Symbiogenesis and Lynn Margulis"
Part 2 of the interview via: "We Are All Microbes: Symbiogenesis and Lynn Margulis"
Part 3 of the interview via "Bacteria Don't Have Species: Symbiogenesis and Lynn Margulis"

From Lynn Margulis' homepage:

She argues that inherited variation, significant in evolution, does not come mainly from random mutations. Rather new tissues, organs, and even new species evolve primarily through the long-lasting intimacy of strangers. The fusion of genomes in symbioses followed by natural selection, she suggests, leads to increasingly complex levels of individuality. Dr. Margulis is also acknowledged for her contribution to James E. Lovelock's Gaia concept. Gaia theory posits that the Earth's surface interactions among living beings sediment, air, and water have created a vast self-regulating system.

James Lovelock has recently written "The Revenge of Gaia: Earth's Climate Crisis and the Fate of Humanity" (Currently appearing on the 'Featured Books' page of the Evolution Book Store: UK | US - or go directly to the Amazon book webpage: UK | US - see "The End of Eden: Gaia and James Lovelock" [Science, Change]

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