Hi,

I have only been skimming through the neo-Darinism posts (Mostly from Ray &
Todd), so I'm not sure if someone already mentioned this. I just started
reading a book called Nutrition and Evolution by Michael Crawford and David
Marsh. It argues that "the driving force that shapes the changing species -
that shapes life itself - is not random mutation but the complex
biochemical interaction we call nutrition." And, "The presence or absence
of chemicals like oxygen, or nutrients like vitamin A, make certain
directions possible or impossible."

I've only read the introduction so far, but the authors say: "We will show
how the changes in the chemestry of food and differences in choice of foods
are associated with different evolutionary paths. The implication is that
change in food or choice of food is an evolutionary instrument." It is a
little annoying though that, in their effort to minimize the effects of
random mutation, they use some of the same fallacious arguments that
creationists do, but I'll read on and see how it all holds together.

I thought this may be of interest to those participating in this thread.

Chris Armstrong