J. B. S. Haldane and the origin of life

In 1929 the British biologist John Burdon Sanderson Haldane published a hypothesis on the origin of life on earth, which was one of the most emblematic of the interwar period. It was a scenario describing the progressive evolution of matter on the primitive earth and the emergence of life. Firstly, this paper presents the main ideas put forward by Haldane in this famous text. The second part makes comparisons between Haldane and Alexander Ivanovitch Oparin’s ideas regarding the origins of life (1924). These two theories, apparently very similar, presented distinct conclusions. The third part focusses on Haldane’s reflections on the emergence of life during the 1950s and 1960s, and shows how they were linked to the recent developments of prebiotic chemistry and molecular biology.     

Last judgment: the visionary biology of J.B.S. Haldane

This paper seeks to reinterpret the life and work of J. B. S. Haldane by focusing on an illuminating but largely ignored essay he published in1927, “The Last Judgment” – the sequel to his better known work, Daedalus (1924). This astonishing essay expresses a vision of the human future over the next 40,000,000 years, one that revises and updates Wellsian futurism with the long range implications of the “new biology” for human destiny. That vision served as a kind of lifelong credo, one that infused and informed his diverse scientific work, political activities, and popular writing, and that gave unity and coherence to his remarkable career. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

J. B. S. Haldane,Ernst Mayr and the Beanbag Genetics Dispute

Starting from the early decades of the twentieth century, evolutionary biology began to acquire mathematical overtones. This took place via the development of a set of models in which the Darwinian picture of evolution was shown to be consistent with the laws of heredity discovered by Mendel. The models, which came to be elaborated over the years, define a field of study known as population genetics. Population genetics is generally looked upon as an essential component of modern evolutionary theory. This article deals with a famous dispute between J. B. S. Haldane, one of the founders of population genetics, and Ernst Mayr, a major contributor to the way we understand evolution. The philosophical undercurrents of the dispute remain relevant today. Mayr and Haldane agreed that genetics provided a broad explanatory framework for explaining how evolution took place but differed over the relevance of the mathematical models that sought to underpin that framework. The dispute began with a fundamental issue raised by Mayr in 1959: in terms of understanding evolution, did population genetics contribute anything beyond the obvious? Haldane’s response came just before his death in 1964. It contained a spirited defense, not just of population genetics, but also of the motivations that lie behind mathematical modelling in biology. While the difference of opinion persisted and was not glossed over, the two continued to maintain cordial personal relations.     

The levels of metals in dock-yard sediments with particular reference to the contributions from ship-bottom paints

Levels of the metals copper, lead, tin and zinc have been determined in a range of shipbottom paints by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Copper, lead and zinc have been similarly determined in concentrated nitric acid digests and 1M ammonium acetate extracts of sediments taken from enclosed dock-basins at Liverpool, Tilbury and Manchester.At each of the dock-yards concentrations of all the metals in nitric acid extracts were elevated in the vicinity of dry-docks. These elevations are believed to be due to the presence of residues from the ship-bottom paints. The amounts of copper and zinc, which are major components of antifoulant paints, in the ammonium acetate extracts correlate closely with the levels in the nitric acid digests; lead, which is found mainly in anticorrosive and primer paints, does not.Direct toxic effects of the metals to marine organisms are considered, but are not thought to be important in view of the large dilution and dispersed capacities usually available. The possibility of organisms developing genetic resistance to heavy metals in enclosed dock-basins is discussed. It is noted that many of the dock-yard organisms are components of the ship-fouling ecosystem, so that the premature exposure to the toxins of antifoulant paints may result in the development of toxin resistance of considerable economic importance.