From theory to a model that integrates biological facts

“Just a Theory”: 7 Misused Science Words

Article Excerpt: Hypothesis. Theory. Law. These scientific words get bandied about regularly, yet the general public usually gets their meaning wrong.

Now, one scientist is arguing that people should do away with these misunderstood words altogether and replace them with the word “model.”

My comment: I’ve already replaced these misunderstood words with a “model.”

Nutrient-dependent/pheromone-controlled adaptive evolution: a model

Conclusion [from my model]: An environmental drive evolved from that of nutrient ingestion in unicellular organisms to that of pheromone-controlled socialization in insects. In mammals, food odors and pheromones cause changes in hormones such as LH, which has developmental affects on pheromone-controlled sexual behavior in nutrientdependent reproductively fit individuals across species of vertebrates.

Comment from the article linked above:  Genes may influence human beings, but so, too, do epigenetic changes. These modifications alter which genes get turned on, and are both heritable and easily influenced by the environment. The environment that shapes human behavior can be anything from the chemicals a fetus is exposed to in the womb to the block a person grew up on to the type of food they ate as a child, Kruger said. All these factors interact in a messy, unpredictable way.

My comment: In my model of adaptive evolution, the environment interacts with genes in a very predictable way. The epigenetic ‘landscape’ becomes the physical landscape of genes (i.e., DNA) via the epigenetic effects of olfactory/pheromonal input (i.e., food odors and pheromones).  Thus, Kruger misses an important fact in the context of my model. “[C]hemicals a fetus is exposed to in the womb…” and the metabolism of food to species-specific pheromones during development predictably result in the de novo creation of olfactory receptor genes. The de novo creation of olfactory receptor genes links the ecological environment to the social environment during predictable development of nutrient-dependent pheromone-controlled behaviors in every species on this planet. See for example, this graphic representation of my model, presented earlier this month at a conference that Daniel Kruger helped to organize.

See also: Human pheromones and food odors: epigenetic influences on the socioaffective nature of evolved behaviors

About James V. Kohl 1308 Articles
James Vaughn Kohl was the first to accurately conceptualize human pheromones, and began presenting his findings to the scientific community in 1992. He continues to present to, and publish for, diverse scientific and lay audiences, while constantly monitoring the scientific presses for new information that is relevant to the development of his initial and ongoing conceptualization of human pheromones. Recently, Kohl integrated scientific evidence that pinpoints the evolved neurophysiological mechanism that links olfactory/pheromonal input to genes in hormone-secreting cells of tissue in a specific area of the brain that is primarily involved in the sensory integration of olfactory and visual input, and in the development of human sexual preferences. His award-winning 2007 article/book chapter on multisensory integration: The Mind’s Eyes: Human pheromones, neuroscience, and male sexual preferences followed an award winning 2001 publication: Human pheromones: integrating neuroendocrinology and ethology, which was coauthored by disinguished researchers from Vienna. Rarely do researchers win awards in multiple disciplines, but Kohl’s 2001 award was for neuroscience, and his 2007 “Reiss Theory” award was for social science. Kohl has worked as a medical laboratory scientist since 1974, and he has devoted more than twenty-five years to researching the relationship between the sense of smell and the development of human sexual preferences. Unlike many researchers who work with non-human subjects, medical laboratory scientists use the latest technology from many scientific disciplines to perform a variety of specialized diagnostic medical testing on people. James V. Kohl is certified with: * American Society for Clinical Pathology * American Medical Technologists James V. Kohl is a member of: * Society for Neuroscience * Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology * Association for Chemoreception Sciences * Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality * International Society for Human Ethology * American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science * Mensa, the international high IQ society