Evolution Research - Personal Posts

The day-to-day purpose of this blog (when time allows!) is to reflect ongoing research into the possibility of a testable internal evolutionary mechanism based on an extension to homeostasis (see Why research an 'Internal Evolutionary Mechanism'? and The Internal Evolutionary Mechanism: Basic Concept).

The ultimate objective being the putting together of a series of arguments designed to arouse the curiosity of someone with the resources to prove, or disprove, the proposal.

In the meantime, as an independent researcher, my own resources are limited and help in any of the following areas would be very welcome! (email evoresearch@googlemail.com)

1) Access to Journals (JSTOR, Nature, Science, PNAS, etc.)

A few months ago I emailed Niles Eldredge about an 1889 paper by JM Clarke describing fibonacci spirals in trilobite eyes which Niles refers to in his book Time Frames (scanned here).

Unfortunately, Niles had lost track of the citation but did think the paper may have been published by American Scientist. One internet contact then searched JSTOR on my behalf while others provided details of trilobite papers which might be of interest.

The activity was spread over two weeks at the end of which the wanted paper still hadn't been found. Many such quests come to a (hopefully temporary) halt but it would be so much faster - as well as maintaining 'continuity of research' - if I were able to access resources directly.

2) Papers

Individual authors have been very helpful in responding to requests for copies of papers.
When direct approaches aren't possible it can be quite good fun using Google to track down papers 'hidden' in obscure regions of cyberspace. Overall, however, this is very much a hit-or-miss approach and it doesn't help when such papers are subsequently moved or deleted! (although they are sometimes 'retrievable' via archive.org).

3) Expertise

Two areas where help is required immediately spring to mind:

a) Help in developing a mathematical analogy of the proposed internal evolutionary mechanism - see the flowchart in The Internal Evolutionary Mechanism: Basic Concept). I also need advice on analysing matrices, specifically this one: Cytochrome C and species divergence

b) I would be very interested in hearing of phenomena such as those described in Info wanted on two intriguing 'Lamarckian' experiments (email)

4) Donations

Until I win the lottery and am able to hire the services of a fully-equipped lab (not that I'm holding my breath!) donations will be offset against the cost of books/papers/subscriptions/etc..

Secure transactions via PayPal can be made by using the "donate" button at the top of the sidebar, or email for alternative methods of making a contribution.

John Latter / Jorolat

(Support/Sponsor 'Evolution Research')

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