Steve Jones and the Darwinian Forecast

When the announcement came that Professor Steve Jones was to lecture on campus, I didn’t hesitate in seizing the opportunity to interview the eminent geneticist. TV presenter, award-winning writer and head of genetics at University College London, Steve Jones’ reputation precedes him. He is the only biologist to have dared to rewrite and update Darwin’s Origin of Species in his book Almost Like a Whale, and the more recently published Darwin’s Island.

The Darwinist professor has been the subject of much debate and controversy due to outlandish claims, so I was expecting an interesting, opinionated conversation.

As we sat down together, he turned to say, in a very matter-of-fact tone, “There are all kinds of philosophers and historians that talk with great certainty about what Darwin meant … and their only problem is that they don’t know anything about what the (language) of biology means. It’s really strange that if you did Chemistry, you wouldn’t need philosophers to tell you what it all means, but for some reason Evolution needs philosophers.”

It has frequently been reported that Prof Jones refuses to engage with creationists. When challenged on this he simply put, “The problem with an argument is that one (has to be) willing to concede to something, to at least have the opinion that they might be wrong, and to accept evidence which is fairly presented. The problem with creationists is that they don’t.”

Recently, much controversy has surfaced from Jones’ theory that human evolution has stopped. Prof Jones explains that now “in Britain 99 per cent of all babies [live] until they’re 21. Natural selection works on differences in survival and differences in reproductive success. If 99 per cent of all babies survive, there are no differences, so there can’t be any natural selection.”

However, research by evolutionary biologist Dr. Stephen Stearns at Yale University refutes this claim. His study on modern women’s reproduction rate show that shorter, heavier women are on average more likely to have more children then tall, lighter women. These traits of weight and height are passed on to their daughters, who are also prone to have more children. If this trend continues, the average woman by 2409 will be 2 cm shorter and a whole kilo heavier. The theory continues to be debated as Dr Stern’s study is dependent on social and cultural development, which doubtlessly changes with the times.

In 2005 it was announced that the human genome project had been completed. There is no denying that this has had an overwhelming effect on the field of genetics, so what would be this reputed professor’s take? “At that time, geneticists (thought) all genetics was finished. But actually the exact opposite is true! We’ve finished the human genome, but it doesn’t look anything like we expected (and) we just don’t understand what going on.”

Jones also commented on the main disillusionments of gene therapy. He condoned the false hope it has given and the belief that, “for common disease (such as Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes) there would be one common cause.” He explains; “What’s actually happened is that far from there being shared (genes) in common diseases, there are, in fact, too many. There are hundreds of genes in most cases, each of which has a minute effect on the disease in general. So, that actually tells you something embarrassing; that there is no (one) disease, (instead) there are 10 different diseases with different causes and somewhat similar symptoms which are mixed up in the same one.”

Nevertheless, we cannot be pessimistic.  Gene therapy treatment may be developing slowly, but there are still successes. For example, Professor John Burns from Newcastle Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, has saved many through his preventative work on genetics of familial colon cancer. With more experimental data and advances in biotechnology, we can only wonder at what genetics really has in store for us.

Prof Steve Jones’ lecture at the University of Manchester can be found as a podcast on http://livestream.manchester.ac.uk/livelecture/BIOL10521_1/. His book, Darwin’s Island, is available now in all bookshops.