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Eva Jablonka

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Eva Jablonka (Hebrew: חווה יבלונקה‎) is a theorist and geneticist, known especially for her interest in epigenetic inheritance. Born in 1952 in Poland, she emigrated to Israel in 1957. She is a professor at the Cohn Institute for the History of Philosophy of Science and Ideas at Tel Aviv University. In 1981 whe was awarded the Landau Prize of Israel for outstanding Master of Science (M.Sc) work and in 1988, the Marcus prize for outstanding Ph.D work.^[1] She is a proponent of academic freedom, recognising that on such matters, "academic and political issues cannot really be kept apart", although she is not a proponent of simplistic solutions, and shows a preference to describe her own position.^[2]

Work on evolutionary themes

Jablonka publishes about evolutionary themes, especially epigenetics. Her emphasis on non-genetic forms of evolution has received interest from those attempting to expand the scope of evolutionist thinking into other spheres. An example of her work in this area is the book Animal Traditions (2000), co-authored with Eytan Avital, in which they extend models of human cultural transmission to the non-human animal world, to show that cultural evolution has played an important role in the evolution of other animals.^[3] Jablonka has been described as being in the vanguard of an ongoing revolution within evolutionary biology, and was a keynote speaker at the Artificial Life XI conference in 2008.^[4]

In 2005, Jablonka co-authored with Marion Lamb the book Evolution in Four Dimensions, which is considered by some to be in the vanguard of an ongoing revolution within evolutionary biology. Building on the approach of evolutionary developmental biology, and recent findings ofmolecular and behavioral biology, they argue the case for the transmission of not just genes per se, but heritable variations transmitted from generation to generation by whatever means. They suggest that such variation can occur at four levels. Firstly, at the established physical level of genetics. Secondly, at the epigenetic level involving variation in the “meaning” of given DNA strands, in which variations in DNA translation during developmental processes are subsequently transmitted during reproduction, which can then feed back into sequence modification of DNA itself. The third dimension is one of particular interest to Jablonka, comprising the transmission of behavioural traditions. There are for example documented cases of food preferences being passed on, by social learning, in several animal species, which remain stable from generation to generation while conditions permit. The fourth dimension is symbolic inheritance, which is unique to humans, and in which traditions are passed on “through our capacity for language, and culture, our representations of how to behave, communicated by speech and writing.” ^[5]

In their treatment of the higher levels, Jablonka and Lamb distinguish their approach from the banalities of evolutionary psychology, of "memes", and even from Chomskyian ideas of universal grammar. The argue that there are constant interactions between the levels - epigenetic, behavioural and even symbolic inheritance mechanisms also produce selection pressures on DNA-based inheritance and can, in some cases, even help direct DNA changes themselves - so "evolving evolution". To liven their text, they utilise thought experiments and dialogue with a sceptical enquirer, one IM-Ifcha Mistraba, Aramaic, they say, for "the opposite conjecture".^[5]

Publications

In English:

• Jablonka, E., & Lamb, M.J. (July 8 1988). "Meiotic pairing constraints and the activity of sex chromosomes.". Journal of Theoretical Biology 133 (1): 23-36. PMID 3226141.
• Jablonka, E., & Lamb, M.J. (July 10 1989). "The inheritance of acquired epigenetic variations.". Journal of Theoretical Biology 139 (1): 69-83. PMID 2593687.
  • Eva Jablonka and Marion J. Lamb (1995). Epigenetic Inheritance and Evolution: the Lamarckian Dimension, Oxford University Press.ISBN 0198540639, ISBN 9780198540632, ISBN 978-0198540632
  • Eytan Avital and Eva Jablonka. (2000) Animal Traditions: Behavioural Inheritance in Evolution. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521662737
  • Eva Jablonka and Marion J. Lamb (2005) Evolution in Four Dimensions: Genetic, Epigenetic, Behavioral, and Symbolic Variation in the History of Life. MIT Press. ISBN 0262101076
• Jablonka, E., & Lamb, M.J. (March 21 2006). "The evolution of information in the major transitions.". Journal of Theoretical Biology 239(2): 236-46. PMID 16236324.
• Jablonka, E., & Lamb, M.J. (June 2007). "The expanded evolutionary synthesis—a response to Godfrey-Smith, Haig, and West-Eberhard". Biology and Philosophy 22 (3): 453-472. doi:10.1007/s10539-007-9064-z. ISSN 0169-3867.
  • Jablonka, E., & Lamb, M.J. (21 January 2008). "The evolution of heteromorphic sex chromosomes.". Biological Reviews 65 (3): 249-276.doi:10.1111/j.1469-185X.1990.tb01426.x. ISSN 0169-3867. (First published 1990).

In Hebrew:

• Eva Jablonka (1994) History of Heredity. Ministry of Defence Publishing House, Israel.
• Eva Jablonka (1994-1997) Evolution: A Textbook in Evolutionary Biology for the Open University, Israel. Open University Press. 7 units. 700 pages.

References

1. ^ "Eva Jablonka's Curriculum Vitae from Cohn Institute webpage". Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas. Retrieved 2009-10-17.
2. ^ "Eva Jablonka's Position on Academic Freedom". Israel Academia Monitor. Retrieved 2009-10-17.
3. ^ Sterelny, K. (2007). Dawkins vs. Gould: Survival of the Fittest. Cambridge, U.K.: Icon Books. p. 164. ISBN 1-84046-780-0. Also ISBN 978-1840467-80-2
4. ^ Seth Bullock, Jason Noble, Richard Watson, & Mark A. Bedau (Eds) (June 2008). Proceedings of the Eleventh International Conference on the Simulation and Synthesis of Living Systems. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. p. vii. ISBN 978-0-262-75017-2.
5. ^ ^{a b} Rose, Steven (23 July 2005). "Review of Jablonka & Lamb's Evolution in Four Dimensions". The Guardian. Retrieved 2009-10-17.

External links

• CV
• Epigenetic Inheritance and Evolution - Partial online text
• Evolution in Four Dimensions - Partial online text

Categories: Israeli scientists | Evolutionary biologists | 1952 births | Living people | Israeli scientist stubs | Biologist stubs