#356 David Haig: Genetics, Development, and Intragenomic Conflict
RECORDED ON JULY 28th, 2020.
Dr. David Haig is an evolutionary biologist, geneticist, and professor in Harvard University’s Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology. He is interested in intragenomic conflict, genomic imprinting and parent–offspring conflict, and wrote the book Genomic Imprinting and Kinship. His major contribution to the field of evolutionary theory is the kinship theory of genomic imprinting. He’s the author of several books, including the most recent one, From Darwin to Derrida: Selfish Genes, Social Selves, and the Meanings of Life.
In this episode, we start off by talking about some basic concepts in evolutionary biology, like what is a gene, units of selection, multi-level selection theory and group selection. We then get into intragenomic conflict, parental antagonism, and parent-offspring conflict. We talk about epigenetics, and development in the context of natural selection from a gene-centered perspective. Finally, we get into some of the topics from Dr. Haig’s latest book, and discuss purpose and meaning.
Time Links:
What is a gene?
Units of selection
About group selection
Intragenomic conflict
What is parental antagonism?
Parent-offspring conflict
Gene expression in different environments, and epigenetics
Gene-selectionism and developmental systems theory
Is there purpose in evolution by natural selection?
How do we get at meaning through natural selection?
Pragmatic truths?
Follow Dr. Haig’s work!
Follow Dr. Haig’s work:
Faculty page: https://bit.ly/39yAFGO
Works on ResearchGate: https://bit.ly/39yAPho
Amazon page: https://amzn.to/30XLBKj
From Darwin to Derrida: Selfish Genes, Social Selves, and the Meanings of Life: https://amzn.to/3hEtSy0