Eva Jablonka
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Eva Jablonka (; born 1952) is an Israeli
evolutionary theorist Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...
and
geneticist A geneticist is a biologist or physician who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a scientist or a lecturer. Geneticists may perform general research on genetic process ...
, known especially for her interest in epigenetic inheritance. Born in 1952 in
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
, she emigrated to
Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
in 1957. She is a
professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...
at the Cohn Institute for the History of Philosophy of Science and Ideas at
Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...
. In 1981 she 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. 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.


Work on evolutionary themes

Jablonka publishes about
evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...
ary themes, especially
epigenetics In biology, epigenetics is the study of changes in gene expression that happen without changes to the DNA sequence. The Greek prefix ''epi-'' (ἐπι- "over, outside of, around") in ''epigenetics'' implies features that are "on top of" or "in ...
. Her emphasis on non-genetic forms of evolution has received interest from those attempting to expand the scope of evolutionist thinking into other spheres. Jablonka has been described as being in the vanguard of an ongoing revolution within evolutionary biology, and is a leading proponent of the
extended evolutionary synthesis The Extended Evolutionary Synthesis (EES) consists of a set of theoretical concepts argued to be more comprehensive than the earlier modern synthesis of evolutionary biology that took place between 1918 and 1942. The extended evolutionary synthe ...
.Thomas Dickens, Qazi Rahman. (2012)
''The extended evolutionary synthesis and the role of soft inheritance in evolution''
Proceedings of the Royal Society: B biological sciences, 279 (1740). pp. 2913-2921.
Her first book on the subject of epigenetics, ''Epigenetic Inheritance and Evolution: the Lamarckian Dimension'' (1995), was co-authored with Marion Lamb. Her book ''Animal Traditions'' (2000), co-authored with Eytan Avital, extended models of human
cultural transmission Cultural learning is the way a group of people or animals within a society or culture tend to learn and pass on information. Learning styles can be greatly influenced by how a culture socializes with its children and young people. Cross-cultural ...
to the non-human animal world, to show that
cultural evolution Cultural evolution is an evolutionary theory of social change. It follows from the definition of culture as "information capable of affecting individuals' behavior that they acquire from other members of their species through teaching, imitation ...
has played an important role in the evolution of other animals. Also Jablonka again co-authored with Lamb on '' Evolution in Four Dimensions'' (2005). Building on the approach of
evolutionary developmental biology Evolutionary developmental biology, informally known as evo-devo, is a field of biological research that compares the developmental biology, developmental processes of different organisms to infer how developmental processes evolution, evolved. ...
, and recent findings of
molecular A molecule is a group of two or more atoms that are held together by attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions that satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemistry, ...
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 Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinians, Augustinian ...
. Secondly, at the epigenetic level involving variation in the "meaning" of given
DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...
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 Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...
, our representations of how to behave, communicated by speech and writing.” In their treatment of the higher levels, Jablonka and Lamb distinguish their approach from the banalities of evolutionary psychology, of "memes", and even from Chomskian ideas of universal grammar. They 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 Mistabra, Aramaic, they say, for "the opposite conjecture". In 2008, Jablonka and Lamb published the paper ''Soft inheritance: Challenging the Modern Synthesis'' which claimed there is evidence for Lamarckian epigenetic control systems causing evolutionary changes and the mechanisms underlying epigenetic inheritance can also lead to saltational changes that reorganize the epigenome. In 2019, Jablonka and Simona Ginsburg published ''The Evolution of the Sensitive Soul: Learning and the Origins of Consciousness''. In it, Jablonka and Ginsburg propose a new theory about the origin of consciousness, centered on learning. Inspired by methodologies used to mark the transition from non-life to life, the authors suggest a set of criteria marking the transition to minimal consciousness: a complex form of associative learning, which they term unlimited associative learning. In 2022, Jablonka and Ginsburg published ''Picturing the Mind: Consciousness through the Lens of Evolution''. In it, they examined the questions of what consciousness is and how it evolved, and who or what is conscious. They suggest that consciousness is found not only in humans but also in such animals as octopuses and bees, as well as speculating about aliens and
artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...
. They also examine what sets humans apart, be it music, toolmaking, sentience, or symbolic language.


Reception

J. Bruce Walsh was skeptical of Jablonka's claims in the book ''Epigenetic Inheritance and Evolution'' regarding the importance of epigenetic inheritance in evolution. R. J. Berry, however, wrote that the book made a strong case for the importance of epigenetic inheritance in evolution and recommended the book for evolutionary biologists. Jan Zima wrote a positive review for the book ''Evolution in Four Dimensions'' concluding "the book can be recommended both to professional scientists and all the students interested in biological ideas and the current ways of thinking about biology". Stuart Newman also positively reviewed the book. Stuart Newman. (2007). ''Evolution in Four Dimensions: Genetic, Epigenetic, Behavioral and Symbolic Variation in the History of Life by Eva Jablonka; Marion Lamb''. Integrative and Comparative Biology, Vol. 47, No. 6, Integrative Biology of Pelagic Invertebrates. pp. 901-903. Thomas Dickens and Qazi Rahman have written that epigenetic mechanisms such as
DNA methylation DNA methylation is a biological process by which methyl groups are added to the DNA molecule. Methylation can change the activity of a DNA segment without changing the sequence. When located in a gene promoter (genetics), promoter, DNA methylati ...
and
histone modification In biology, histones are highly basic proteins abundant in lysine and arginine residues that are found in eukaryotic cell nuclei and in most Archaeal phyla. They act as spools around which DNA winds to create structural units called nucleosomes. ...
are genetically inherited under the control of natural selection, and do not challenge the modern evolutionary synthesis. Dickens and Rahman however took issue with the claims of Jablonka and Marion Lamb on Lamarckian epigenetic processes.


Selected publications


Books

*Eva Jablonka and Marion J. Lamb (1995). ''Epigenetic Inheritance and Evolution: the Lamarckian Dimension'', Oxford University Press. , , *Eytan Avital and Eva Jablonka. (2000) ''Animal Traditions: Behavioural Inheritance in Evolution''. Cambridge University Press. *Eva Jablonka and Marion J. Lamb (2005) ''Evolution in Four Dimensions: Genetic, Epigenetic, Behavioral, and Symbolic Variation in the History of Life''. MIT Press. * Simona Ginsburg and Eva Jablonka (2019) ''The Evolution of the Sensitive Soul''. MIT Press * Eva Jablonka and Marion J. Lamb (2020) ''Inheritance Systems and the Extended Synthesis''. Cambridge University Press * Simona Ginsburg and Eva Jablonka (2022) ''Picturing the Mind: Consciousness through the Lens of Evolution''. MIT Press


Articles

* * * * *


Books 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


External links


Eva Jablonka CV''Epigenetic Inheritance and Evolution''
Partial online text.
''Evolution in Four Dimensions''
Partial online text. {{DEFAULTSORT:Jablonka, Eva Israeli geneticists Evolutionary biologists Extended evolutionary synthesis Women evolutionary biologists 1952 births Living people Israeli women scientists Academic staff of Tel Aviv University Women geneticists Israeli scientists 20th-century Israeli women scientists 21st-century Israeli women scientists