For more information about David Berlinski - his new books,
video clips from interviews, and upcoming events - please visit
his website at www.davidberlinski.org. Like Hell itself,
Darwin's theory of evolution is often said to be protected by
walls that are at least seven miles thick, in that it is not
only true, but unassailable. It is a considerable irony,
therefore, that some of the most cogent criticisms of Darwin's
theory are the result of work undertaken by very orthodox
members of the biological establishment itself. Such criticisms
are inevitably designated as calls for further research. They
are, nonetheless, what they are. A recent study by J.G.
Kingsolver et al (hereinafter Kingsolver) entitled "The Strength
of Phenotypic Selection in Natural Populations," published in
the March 2001 issue of The American Naturalist, is an
interesting example. It is field studies of natural selection
that is at issue in this study. Such studies are addressed to
living species under natural conditions, and it comes