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Icons of Evolution: Science or Myth? Why Much of What We Teach About Evolution is Wrong

In Icons of Evolution, Jonathan Wells explores a handful of classical examples used in introductory biology textbooks that illustrate aspects of evolution, textbooks generally aimed at the high school level. These "icons" are primarily attacked on the basis that they are inaccurate, leaving out important details, or downright false; however, these critiques are based primarily on appeals to authority and Wells does little to address the abundance of research beyond these iconic examples. Many of his characterizations of the primary scientific literature are also questionable. In general, he seems to over state the importance and implications of his icons to erect a straw man which he can easily attack.

The manner in which Wells addresses some of the icons seems especially misguided. His discussion of molecular clocks and Darwin's "Tree of Life" centers almost completely on isolated problems/disagreements and raises the specter of the Cambrian "explosion" where questions undoubtedly remain; however, little thought is given to the successes and positive contributions of these molecular techniques and the numerous parallel lines of evidence that support the tree of life. He paints an utterly pessimistic picture of molecular phylogenetics, likely leaving most readers with the perception that the methodology is flawed and in a crisis and that the data produced is wholly invalid. In reality, quite the contrary is true; phylogenies based on molecular data are becoming increasingly valuable and typically agree with phylogenies based on other data sets (such as fossils or morphology.) The evidence in support of common descent, however, is far deeper than Wells' cursory critiques address. When one wades into the true wealth of evidence and looks at the genetic similarities between species despite protein and DNA redundancy, identical insertion locations of endogenous retroviruses, and shared transposons, introns, and pseudogenes (the L-gulono-gamma-lactone oxidase gene is my personal favorite), it becomes clear that Icons of Evolution plays in the shallow wading pool of science and rarely dips its feet into the deeper "big-kids" pool. What is truly significant about these other lines of data is their congruency without exception; we do not see homologous pseudogenes or retroviral insertions where not predicted by common descent. While it is certainly true that grey areas remain and there are numerous unanswered questions, in order for Wells to truly advance his thesis that the iconic "Tree of Life" is unsubstantiated, as well as his other icons, he must address these independent lines of evidence and not just focus on superficial uncertainties.

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