Quando eu fazia o mestrado em História da Ciência na PUC-SP, o desfecho da vida de Paul Kammerer (suicídio) me impressionou. Ele tentou demonstrar que a transmissão de caracteres adquiridos (a la Lamarck) ocorria na natureza. Os resultados de seus experimentos está eivado de muitas zonas cinzentas e macabras como soi muito bem dentro da Nomenklatura científica e do darwinismo ortodoxo em relação aos críticos e oponentes: inquisição sem fogueiras através da destruição de carreiras acadêmicas. Eu sei do que estou falando!
Aqui e ali a gente se depara com Lamarck redivivus na literatura especializada. Dizem as más línguas que Lamarck será incorporado na nova teoria geral da evolução - a Síntese Evolutiva Ampliada que deve ser anunciada em 2010, mas você ficou sabendo primeiro aqui.
Albert Vargas, um pesquisador da Universidade do Chile, acabou de publicar um artigo no The Journal of Experimental Zoology indicando a possibilidade da experiência de Kammerer não ter sido uma fraude e que ele antecipou a fundação da epigenética (uma área em biologia cujas descobertas contrariam a teoria evolutiva).
A conferir.
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Early 20th Century Evolutionist May Have Discovered Epigenetics
ScienceDaily (Sep. 3, 2009) — A new study into the research of the renowned Lamarckian experimentalist Paul Kammerer may help to end the controversy which has engulfed his research for almost a century. The study, published in The Journal of Experimental Zoology, suggests that far from being a fraud Kammerer may have discovered the field of epigenetics, placing him decades ahead of his contemporaries.
Paul Kammerer, a leading proponent of the Lamarckian theory of evolution, achieved global prominence in the 1920's by arguing that acquired traits could be passed down through generations. In his most controversial experiment, Kammerer forced midwife toads, a species that lives and mates on land, to live in water. Their offspring preferred to live and mate in water and by the third generation he noted that they began to develop black nuptial pads on their forelimbs, a feature common to water dwelling species.
In 1926 Kammerer fell into disgrace when it was found that his only remaining fixed specimen had been injected with India ink to produce the appearance of the black nuptial pads. Kammerer's own role in the alleged fraud has never been proven, but six weeks after its discovery he committed suicide. Eventually, a naturally occurring specimen with nuptial pads was found, demonstrating that midwife toads do have the potential to develop them.
Now Dr. Alexander Vargas, from the University of Chile, has re-examined Kammerer's experiments finding remarkable resemblances to newly discovered aspects of epigenetics, a flourishing new field of science which studies influences in inheritance beyond the DNA sequence.
"Today Kammerer's scientific legacy is non-existent and he is often cited as an example of scientific fraud," said Vargas. "However, the specific similarities of Kammerer's experiments to epigenetic mechanisms are very unlikely to have been the result of his imagination. These new biological arguments provide a modern context suggesting that Kammerer could be the actual discoverer of epigenetic inheritance."
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Read more here/Leia mais aqui.
