The Origin of Species

On a tight, student budget I find myself in the library more often than I do at the book store. And so, when I felt as though I should go on a more exploratory look into Richard Dawkins' back-catalogue, I popped down into the Science and Engineering library to collect a couple of my requested texts. In doing so, I thought it best to start at the very basic beginnings of modern biology - Darwin's Origin of Species. I wasn't surprised to find that Darwin employs a very specific, specialised lexis when discussing his topic, and he devotes many of his thematic arguments to the rodents of British society: the rat and the pigeon. Yet amidst the somewhat dated and elevated assertions lies a fundamental explanation of the beginnings of every known, animal characteristic. Obviously, most of the questions surmised throughout the text have been answered by more recent research, but even so, simple questions I had previously not thought of were included. Not only were we given a very reasonable and modern explanation for the origins of anomalies like the complexities of the eye, but also explanations for the origins of the Basking Shark's interior mouth, and the human mammary glands - questions I had not previously thought to ask. So, for a text which I assumed would raise more questions than it answers, I am suitably impressed. What's more, Darwin notes that individual mutations are not necessarily beneficial to the variant; a snail, for instance, is as genetically evolved as a human. Through use, or disuse, species develop characteristics that are then passed on to subsequent generations. The ostrich cannot fly, for example, and the flying squirrel has developed thin membranes used to glide through the air. Even on a local scale, I have often noted that swimmers have larger hands than their peers - is this because are hands are repeatedly in use through swimming, or have we become high level swimmers due to our larger hands? You may say the latter, but I would suggest a combination of both. And therefore, can we conclude that, through use or disuse, we alter our genetic code that we pass on to subsequent generations? This is a topic I find fascinating. I will, undoubtedly, keep you informed as to the progress of my biological quest.