When good mutations swarm?

Evolution is a fact. Lineages change over time, and respond to selection pressures as well as being buffeted by stochastic processes. The arguments about the particular details of the process of evolution can be very vociferous. Scientists are human too, and great evolutionary biologists such as R. A. Fisher stooped to venomous insult when backed into a corner (see his disputes with Sewall Wright during the 1930s). But the superstructure of human foibles and follies rests upon a foundation of genuine scientific dispute, and attempts to refine models which map onto reality. For example there have been long been debates with evolutionary biology about the nature of mutation and adaptation, and a combination of empirical and theoretical work has been very fruitful in elucidating general phenomena. Some of the early disputes between R. A. Fisher and Sewall Wright hinged upon their different views when it came to the role of ...