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.     

DNA Polymorphism Among Yewei B, V20B, and Oryza minuta J. S. Presl. ex C. B. Presl

The new cytoplasmic male sterile （CMS） line Yewei A and its maintainer line Yewei B, with better agronomic characteristics, have been developed from a mutant of V20B （a rice maintainer line） through transformation of genomic DNA of wild rice （Oryza minuta J. S. Presl. ex C. B. Presl.）. Analysis of molecular markers, DNA sequences, and Southern blot revealed that high DNA polymorphism exists between the mutant and its receptor, indicating that the special DNA fragment from O. minuta may be integrated into the genome of Yewei B. Therefore, transformation of genomic DNA from distant relatives to the plant of a target receptor may open an avenue for creating a new rice germplasm.