the switch don't control the lights
In 1980 at the University of Sussex,
Surrounded by structuralists and epigeneticists,
Lewis Wolpert, distinguished embryologist,
Stood up and yelled out at all his antagonists
That development was controlled by genes,
But at the time nobody seemed
To agree, but now 30 years since,
Nobel Prizes have been awarded to the discovery of PAX6.
(And they said the switch don’t control the lights)
And evo-devo made flies that grew
Legs out their eyes and lizards with two
Heads that acted independently,
Hyenas that don’t have vaginas, rotifers grow spines,
Conjoined twins show how evolution is defined.
The two-legged goat could hop down stairs,
Could our ancestors have also been so impaired?
Well its probably unlikely, but it just goes to show
How development in genes is powerful.
(And they said the switch don’t control the lights)
Genetic assimilation seems almost Lamarkian,
But phenotypes will eventually hark back
To genotypes, like the blue tit that learned to drink milk
By prying open the bottles left on people’s front steps.
Eventually cream pilfering would become innate,
Genetic changes help the fittest stay great.
And so Wolpert’s been vindicated by the scientific community,
But he sounded like a quack while he flashed the university
Saying, “The switch don’t control the lights?”
