EAST TEXAS MENSA

THE DARWIN AWARDS

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST

From the introduction to THE DARWIN AWARDS by Wendy Northcutt © 2003

Great trivia from a book that isn’t just funny stories about stupid people! You ought to buy one. . .

Evolution is the process of species changing over time to better suit their environments. Alfred Russell Wallace, who is considered the co-discoverer of evolution, referred to the mechanism of evolution as "survival of the fittest". He used this phrase because he felt that the term coined by Charles Darwin, natural selection, incorrectly implied a directed force behind the selection. In order for “survival of the fittest” to cause a species to evolve there are four requirements. The species must show variation, and that variation must be inheritable. Not all members of the population shall survive to reproduce, but the inherited characteristics of some members make them more likely to do so.

Inheritable Variation

Every species scientists have studied has been found to consist of individuals exhibiting a variety of traits. Numerous differences exist between even the most closely related individuals, from amoeba to zebra. Some variations are caused by environmental factors and are not inheritable; for instance, chronic food scarcity results in shorter humans. However, many variations are the result of different genetic instructions and are inherited. For example, even with ample food, short parents produce shorter children than tall parents. Only inheritable characteristics are subject to evolutionary pressures.

‘These inheritable characteristics are encoded in long strands of DNA. Populations constantly acquire new variations because the process by which DNA is copied is prone to infrequent but inevitable errors. The error rate of DNA transcription is not accidental, but rather is a carefully tuned variable that introduces an optimized amount of random mutation into a population. Because the vast majority of random mutations are deleterious, if they occur too frequently, the species would be too sickly to survive. If mutations occur too infrequently, the evolution rate would be too slow to keep up with the changing environment of a cooling Earth, or, later, with the competition of other species adapting faster to their surroundings.

Some Succeed While Others Fail

Wild adult squirrels have two lifters of three pups every summer, and they live about four years. Given these numbers, a single pair of squirrels could multiply to 63,967 trillion in thirty-three years if they all survived. That’s more than enough squirrels to cover the entire surface of the planet! Obviously, most squirrels die before they produce nine children.

Because not all squirrels survive to reproduce, and because inherited traits play a role in which ones survive, there is a selective pressure that favors certain traits. If you spend time watching squirrels, you will see that some are fatter than others; some hide better, and some are more aggressive about obtaining food. The parents of each new generation are the most successful squirrels from the past summer. Thus, successful traits become more prevalent over time, and less successful traits eventually disappear.

Survival of the Fittest . . . Human?

That humans have evolved is evident from the fossil record, and the large worldwide population of humans proves that we have inherited successful traits. We meet all the requirements necessary to be involved in the race for “survival of the fittest.” We show a wide variation of inheritable characteristics, and as the stories in this book attest, some members of the species are demonstrably less able to survive than others!

The Darwin Awards that follow show that Nature is still improving on the human design. But they also illustrate the creativity that distinguishes us from less adaptable species. The same innovative spirit that causes the downfall of the Darwin Award winners is also responsible for the social and scientific advances that make the human race great.

Glowing Green Monkeys (from Chapter 2)

In 2001 scientists inserted a jellyfish gene into a monkey, creating what the media referred to as “glowing green monkeys.” The jellyfish gene produces Green Fluorescent Protein, or GFP which fluoresces under ultraviolet light. GFP is a commonly used marker to test for cells that have successfully incorporated a more useful gene. Although the monkeys did not look unusual to the naked eye, their hair did glow green under UV light, showing that the DNA marker had indeed made the leap from an invertebrate into a mammal, and that it happened to have been inserted near the gene that codes for hair color.

The glowing green monkey made a splash in the national media, but in scientific circles it was considered rater pedestrian. It simply showed that the same techniques used for years on other mammals would also work on primates, a notion that had previously been assumed but not confirmed. While the green monkey was not useful in and of itself—the inserted gene is only a marker—there are many interesting uses for transgenic animals and gene transfer technology.

Transgenic animals have been available to scientists for many years. Simple one-celled animals such as bacteria and yeast have been producing foreign proteins for decades. Millions of transgenic mice, rabbits, and goats are used in laboratories each year, and even more are raised on farms.

Of what use are all these mutants?

Transgenic animals are used to model human diseases. Such research has resulted in a deeper understanding of spina bifida, multiple sclerosis, cancers, Alzheimer’s disease, cystic fibrosis, rheumatoid arthritis and other ills that plague mankind. Improved knowledge based on animal models has resulted in effective new therapies for many diseases.

Transgenic animals have been created to improve their agricultural utility. We now have sheep producing thicker wool coats, fish growing larger faster, and cows giving more milk, thanks to the introduction of foreign genes. Genes from Alaskan fish that can survive in cold waters have been transferred to other fish species to confer resistance to cold. Scientists have even developed transgenic cows that produce milk with less lactose or cholesterol!

Transgenic animals are used to create biological pharmaceuticals. Bacteria and yeast produce insulin, human and animal growth hormones, and other drugs. But many bioactive proteins cannot be expressed in one-celled organisms because they depend upon protein processing found in more complex animals. Transgenic sheep express a protein in their milk that that treats emphysema. Transgenic cows can be milked for Factor IX, a clotting factor for hemophiliacs. Transgenic goats produce tissue plasminogen activator, an anticlotting drug used on heart-attack victims.

If the uses described above aren’t amazing enough, here’s one that sounds like it's straight from the pages of a lurid science-fiction novel: Transgenic pigs are being developed to be blood and organ donors for humans. Pig organs have already been used as “bridge organs” for patients who need an immediate transplant when none is available, but because humans reject foreign proteins, the animal transplant must soon be replaced with a proper human organ. But researchers are substituting human proteins for the pig’s natural proteins, in hopes of creating animal organs suitable for permanent transplant.

Primate research — the glowing green monkey — brings us a step closer to inserting foreign genes into humans. For some that thought evokes the specter of a race of superhumans grown from made-to-order babies. But scientists prefer to use transgenic research to better the human condition, rather than bring a comic book fantasy to life. It's far more likely that the first transgenic humans will be those permanently cured of genetic diseases such as Huntington’s disease and sickle-cell anemia.

Take comfort in the knowledge that humans have been performing genetics experiments for centuries. How else could we have bred a Chihuahua from a wolf? If transgenic research gives us nothing else, perhaps it will give us humans who express the Green Fluorescent Protein and glow green under the black lights at dance clubs.

References:
www.frame.org.uk/Transgenics.htm
www.agwest.sk.ca/even_inf_may95.shtml
www.nexiabiotech.com/HTML/technology/bele.shtml
www.actionbioscience.org/biotech/margawati.html

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