My, my, my – this explains it all. Heads are exploding in California and where ever the mental asylum is that Ludwig van Quackquack resides.
UPDATE – in regard for the delicate sensitivities of a few posters here, this is a thread for humor and poking fun at a certain other blog, personally I have no dog in the fight regarding the debate over Darwinism.
hat tip – loppyd of Spitfire Murphy
by Andy Coghlan
Widespread inbreeding between the Darwin and Wedgwood families was probably to blame for Charles Darwin’s ill health, and the childhood tragedies and infertility that blighted his family.
That’s the conclusion of an analysis examining links between ill health over four generations of the Darwin-Wedgwood dynasty and the degree of inbreeding between the families.
The analysis supports Darwin’s fears that inbreeding was damaging his health and that of his children, following his ground-breaking studies demonstrating that cross-bred plants are far fitter and more vigorous than self-fertilised plants. “This caused him to reflect on his own condition,” says Tim Berra of Ohio State University in Mansfield.
After Darwin married his first cousin, Emma Wedgwood, they had 10 children, three of whom died as children. Three of the others married but remained childless, suggesting infertility problems. And Darwin himself, who suffered unremitting ill health following his epic trip on The Beagle, was the product of an “inter-Wedgwood” union, his maternal grandparents being third cousins to each another.
[…]
Read the rest here: Darwin dynasty’s ill health blamed on inbreeding
Tags: Andy Coghlan, Charles Darwin
