Jean-Baptiste Lamarck proposed, way back in 1801, that the effect of the environment and an organism’s response to it was the mechanism for change over time and generations. His theory was disputed and derided by Georges Cuvier who could not admit to change in organisms – that they were integrated wholes incapable of change in form or function. Cuvier was a giant of scientific thought and prestigue in many other fields, so his influence was so great that even Lamarck’s patron, Buffton abandoned his support of Lamarck.

Poor Lamarck, who died in poverty and obsurity, is finally being vindicated by a branch of science called epigenetics. It turns out that many mechanisms of gene expression and phenotyping are heritable and reversable after all! These mechanisms operate without necesarily effecting the genome of the organism itself. Many of these mechanisms are related to the effect on the organism by its environment and the stresses it undergoes. (more…)