What'sNEW
 Horizontal Gene Transfer, a one-minute cartoon video, YouTube.
Dear Martina -- Many thanks for this book; I probably wouldn't have known of it otherwise. Of course, it resonates with me because Kropotkin argues that Darwinism doesn't explain a lot about evolution. He specifically notices the cooperation that animals, from insects to humans, naturally exhibit. His catalog of examples is almost overwhelming. (He extends his argument to include human cultural progress, with relevance to pre-Soviet Russia.)
Today, 125 years later, we know about genes and DNA; this knowledge helps us to understand much about inheritance, genetic defects, microevolution and the like. It does not explain the genetic programming that major evolutionary changes require. However, if new genes aren't really new, surprises like un-selfish evolution are much more logical. As you know, the implications for cosmic life are profound. Thanks, Martina, for knowing about Kropotkin. He was a skeptic and non-conformist who understood life intuitively, 125 years ago. He was my kind of guy!
 Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution, by Peter Kropotkin, Introduction and Notes by David Priestland, Penguin Classics, 2022. First published, 1902.
 Thanks, Martina Car and Anthony Audi of Paradigm Shift Films, LLC.
"Horizontal gene transfer observed in human cells," by Amy McDermott, PNAS, with video, 19 Jun 2026.
Thanks, Google Alerts (and for the one-minute video linked above.)
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