Mae-Wan Ho

Mae-Wan Ho was a geneticist known for her criticism of the modern evolutionary synthesis and genetic engineering.
==Background==
Ho received a Ph.D. in biochemistry in 1967 from Hong Kong University, was Postdoctoral Fellow in Biochemical Genetics, University of California San Diego, from 1968 to 1972, Senior Research Fellow in Queen Elizabeth College, Lecturer in Genetics (from 1976) and Reader in Biology (from 1985) in the Open University, and since retiring in June 2000 Visiting Professor of Biophysics in Catania University, Sicily. 
Ho was a co-founder and director of the Institute of Science in Society (ISIS), an "interest" group that campaigns against what it sees as unethical uses of biotechnology. The group published about climate change and GMOs but also about homeopathy, traditional Chinese medicine, and water memory.http://www.i-sis.org.uk/about.php The institute in question also happens to be on the Quackwatch list of questionable organizationshttp://www.quackwatch.org/04ConsumerEducation/nonrecorg.html and has been critcized by for promoting pseudoscience.http://www.dcscience.net/2006/07/19/institute-of-science-in-society/
==Evolution==
Ho rejected the neo-Darwinian synthesis instead advocating a form of non-Darwinian evolution. Her theory of evolution was based on factors.Evolution by Mae-Wan Ho
According to Ho, when studying biochemistry she wanted to know the definition of life, but was unable to find it:
Starting with a paper in 1979 that was later expanded into a book with Peter Saunders and other scientists, Ho published Beyond Neo-Darwinism: An Introduction to the New Evolutionary Paradigm (1984) which claimed that the basic neo-Darwinian framework consisting of natural selection of random mutations is insufficient to account for evolution as selection is limited and cannot account for the origin of new species. Instead Ho, Saunders and a group of other scientists advocated the view that the "dynamical structure of the epigenetic system itself, in its interaction with the environment, is the source of non-random variations which direct evolutionary change" and that a new paradigm shift in evolution has occurred which involves studying the dynamics of the epigenetic system and its response to the environment.Beyond neo-Darwinism—an epigenetic approach to evolution
Ho is a signatory to A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism.
==Reception==
Ho since the 1980s has written that a new paradigm shift for evolution has occurred which has moved beyond neo-Darwinism. In a review of her book Beyond Neo-Darwinism, (1984) denied the paradigm shift and criticized the ideas of Ho and her colleagues.Do we need a new evolutionary paradigm? by John Maynard Smith
Marvalee H. Wake has written that Ho and her colleagues have written some interesting material which offers an expanded approach for studying the processes in evolution but in places have set up straw man arguments in their criticism of natural selection.Beyond Neo-Darwinism. An Introduction to the New Evolutionary Paradigm by Mae-Wan Ho; Peter T. Saunders Review by: Marvalee H. Wake
Because of her criticism of neo-Darwinism, Ho is usually quote mined by creationists.Creationist Website
==Bibliography==
*Mae-Wan Ho. Beyond Neo-Darwinism: An Introduction to the New Evolutionary Paradigm (1984).
*Mae-Wan Ho. The Rainbow and the Worm, the Physics of Organisms (1998). 
*Mae-Wan Ho. Genetic engineering: dream or nightmare? Turning the tide on the brave new world of bad science and big business (2000). 
*Mae-Wan Ho. Living with the Fluid Genome (2003). 
*Mae-Wan Ho. Sam Burcher, Rhea Gala and Vejko Velkovic. Unraveling AIDS: the independent science and promising alternative therapies (2005).
==External links==
*A New Paradigm for Evolution by Mae-Wan Ho
*The Biology of Free Will
==References==
Category:Authors
Category:Evolution
Category:Genetics