Loose thoughts

2009 is the year of Darwin

200 years since his birth
150 years since the publication of the "On the Origin of the Species"

Until recently I was quite reticent regarding the impact of evolution on current research. Training in biochemistry seeks immediate understanding of direct relations between genotype and phenotype, gene and protein, between structure and function... specially in crystallography where everything is static, though quite beautiful... I still remember my first protein crystal, lysozyme :)

The most important thing I've learn during the past year was the crucial role of time, that sweet independent variable which allows the Human brain to perceive the dynamics underlying biological systems.
Macroscopic but rather subtle differences between mammals, birds, plants, fishes... that's what Darwin could observe back in his time and what an extraordinary observation and impartial description he made! Guided by his insatiable curiosity, persistence and sense of opportunity, he began the most important conceptual revolution in Humanity since Christianity.

"Nothing in Biology makes sense except in the light of Evolution" (Theodosius Dobzhansky)

Though... I wonder... how could natural selection allow the survival of such a self destructive specie as we, humans, are?
Against all the odds we proliferate... we beat natural selection, we overcame the limiting step: cheating mother nature.
And here we are better than ever, the more advanced society Earth has ever seen, addicted to material satisfaction ("I can get NO satisfaction..." is now out of date)...
Everything has a cost:
so that some can be well fed others must experience daily starvation,
so that some can smile others must cry,
so that some can control others must obey,
so that some can yell others must be kept quiet,
so that some can live others must die...

Drift ?
No... organized and powered drift...