Evolution

I like plants and I like a nice garden, but I really can't get interested in the detail and by God the work! So, watching gardening programmes and the Chelsea Flower Show on TV is endured not enjoyed (wife driven, naturally).

But you know, interesting things crop up in the strangest of places. A week or so ago one of the shows had a chap talking about a plant that he said is able to adapt quickly to new environments, so if it finds itself somewhere wet, it passes on coping strategies to its offspring (is that what plants have?).

At the time I just thought 'smart little bugger', but later whilst reposing in a bath (the soak is much underrated in modern society) it struck me that this was potentially something fundamental. In one of my earliest posts I moaned at the flaws, as they appeared to me, in the theory of evolution as currently understood.

Big forward jumps, survival of the fittest etc. The usual how and why the eye. And I become convinced that somehow we manage to pass into our DNA ideas rather than merely length of thigh bone and hair colour. Things that are important to the parents get passed on. A clue for me is instinct. What the hell is that?

The Joey finds its way from birth canal to pouch containing the nipple it needs to survive. How does it know a journey is required, who gave it directions and why is it born with the strength to achieve the trek?

And back to the plant. We may wonder about the thoughts our dog has, but a plant is surely a mechanical device. Having accidentally found the chemical reaction to turn sunlight into fuel to grow as a plant, it has ways to move moisture up the stem and deploys colour and lovely sweet stuff to attract bees to carrying away the pollen, to seed new plants and ensure the survival of the species.

Whoa! Back up! They do what? Darwin of course recognises that it was an accident, a mutation that one day meant a plant produced a colour that attracted a bee. The sweet substance was also a lucky accident and so the symbiotic relationship was formed. Really? That is a lot of accidents. What came first, the bee or the nectar?

But the plant in our programme, it was suggested, skips the randomness of accidents and the long drawn out process of evolution. It somehow changes to cope with differing conditions it encounters as it grows and then passes that information on to the next generation, so it is better able to cope from the outset. I know the first part still accords with Darwinian theory, but how does it ensure (and possibly, why) that its seed develops differently?

There has to be a feedback loop into the DNA. Which might also link in to the stories of 'the power of the mind' to make yourself well. And why pregnant women seem to have strange cravings for food that contains nutrients she is low on, at that time. How the hell does she know what good a lump of coal is going to be? Instant chemical analysis?

Anyway, I clearly don't know, but food for thought surely?