Session 6: Adaptation and Evolution
Biology has enveloped this planet with life, even in environments as extreme as oceanic thermal vents with temperatures near the boiling point, or 1,000 feet below the surface of a frozen glacier. To survive the demands of the environment, organisms engage mechanisms to acquire resilience in order to thrive in any environment. The presentation will reveal the personally empowering insights of Jean Baptiste de Lamarck, author of the first scientific paper on evolution 50 years before Darwin, insights that can enhance our life on Earth. Lamarck’s theory emphasized that there is a complementary interaction with organisms and their environments that leads to the expression of resilience-inducing genes. The discussion presents the current science of Epigenetics, the mechanism that supports Lamarck’s theory, while revealing the process that manifests resilience.