Eva Jablonka facts for kids

Eva Jablonka (born 1952) is an Israeli scientist. She studies how living things change over time, which is called evolution. She also studies genetics, which is about how traits are passed down. She is especially known for her work on something called epigenetic inheritance.

Eva Jablonka was born in Poland in 1952. She moved to Israel in 1957. Today, she is a professor at the Cohn Institute at Tel Aviv University. She has won important awards for her excellent research. In 1981, she received the Landau prize for her Master's degree work. In 1988, she won the Marcus prize for her Ph.D. work. She believes that scientists should be free to explore new ideas.

Exploring Evolution

Eva Jablonka writes many books and papers about evolution. She is very interested in how traits can be passed down in ways that do not just involve genes. This idea has made many people think differently about evolution. Some people see her as a leader in new ways of understanding how life changes. She supports the idea of an "extended evolutionary synthesis." This means looking at more than just genes to understand evolution.

Books on Inheritance

Jablonka has written several important books. Her first book about epigenetics was Epigenetic Inheritance and Evolution: the Lamarckian Dimension. She wrote it with Marion J. Lamb in 1995. This book looked at how changes that happen during an animal's life might be passed on.

In 2000, she wrote Animal Traditions with Eytan Avital. This book showed that animals can learn behaviors from each other. These learned behaviors can then be passed down through generations. This is a type of "cultural evolution" in animals.

Her book Evolution in Four Dimensions (2005) was also written with Marion J. Lamb. In this book, they explain that living things pass on more than just genes. They suggest there are four main ways that traits can be passed from one generation to the next:

• Genetic inheritance: This is the most well-known way. It involves passing on DNA and genes.
• Epigenetic inheritance: This is about how the "meaning" of DNA can change. These changes can be passed on. For example, how DNA is used can be affected by the environment.
• Behavioral inheritance: This is when animals learn behaviors from others. For instance, some animals learn what to eat from their parents. These learned behaviors can last for many generations.
• Symbolic inheritance: This is unique to humans. It involves passing on ideas and traditions through language, stories, and writing.

Jablonka and Lamb believe that these four ways of passing on traits are always interacting. They think that changes in behavior or culture can even affect how our genes change over time. To make their ideas easier to understand, they use fun thought experiments. They also have a character named IM-Ifcha Mistabra, who asks questions and helps explain things.

New Ideas on Consciousness

In 2019, Jablonka and Simona Ginsburg published The Evolution of the Sensitive Soul. In this book, they shared a new idea about how consciousness began. They suggest that consciousness started with a complex type of learning. They call this "unlimited associative learning."

In 2022, Jablonka and Ginsburg wrote another book called Picturing the Mind: Consciousness through the Lens of Evolution. They explore what consciousness is and how it developed. They also discuss which animals might be conscious, like octopuses and bees. They even think about what makes humans special, such as our ability to make music or use language.

Selected Publications

Books

• Eva Jablonka and Marion J. Lamb (1995). Epigenetic Inheritance and Evolution: the Lamarckian Dimension, Oxford University Press.
• Eytan Avital and Eva Jablonka. (2000) Animal Traditions: Behavioural Inheritance in Evolution. Cambridge University Press.
• Eva Jablonka and Marion J. Lamb (2005) Evolution in Four Dimensions: Genetic, Epigenetic, Behavioral, and Symbolic Variation in the History of Life. MIT Press.
• Simona Ginsburg and Eva Jablonka (2019) The Evolution of the Sensitive Soul. MIT Press.
• Eva Jablonka and Marion J. Lamb (2020) Inheritance Systems and the Extended Synthesis. Cambridge University Press.
• Simona Ginsburg and Eva Jablonka (2022) Picturing the Mind: Consciousness through the Lens of Evolution. MIT Press.

Books in Hebrew

• Eva Jablonka (1994) History of Heredity. Ministry of Defence Publishing House, Israel.
• Eva Jablonka (1994–1997) Evolution: A Textbook in Evolutionary Biology for the Open University, Israel. Open University Press.

See also

In Spanish: Eva Jablonka para niños