UCTV - University of California Television

First Aired: 2/9/2004
58 minutes

The standard metaphors used to describe DNA and development are examined, including the claim that DNA "makes" protein, that DNA is "self-replicating" and the organisms "adapt" to their environments. In this lecture by distinguished evolutionary geneticist Richard Lewontin, he explains that DNA is manufactured by the cell machinery, that proteins are folded by rules that are not related to DNA sequence and that organisms, rather than adapting to their environment, are actively engaging in constructing their own environments, so that organisms and environments co-evolve. (#8393)