Interestingly enough, this article entitled, Does Evolution Evolve Under Pressure?, in Wired Science magazine discusses a slight departure in the topics discussed Tuesday in class regarding understanding the concept of evolution and natural selection.  According to the article, Susan Rosenberg theorized that bacteria can self- mutate in the sense that they can, under pressure, induce increased rates of mutations in the hopes of finding an “escape route”.  This sort of theory straddles the lines between Darwinian and Lamarckian realms of thought: the grey area between self-mutation and trial and error. Some may argue that this is a form of artificial selection because the general course of evolution is not occurring – it is being tampered with by the organism itself. This then also begs the question that if this theory holds to be true, then what does this indicate for certain realms of study such as antibiotic resistance and the evolution of cancer? If scientists or researchers could somehow try to control for stressors that induce mutations in the first place, could that somehow impede the process of evolving antibiotic resistance and further change the practice of medicine and oncology? Ideally, if this theory holds to be true and applicable, evolution could not only be important to understand in medical education as an important framework and understanding why, but now could have direct implications to preventative medicine in terms of determining how. Doctors could advise against certain stressors that induce certain mutations in some bacterial infections or certain tumors (that can also develop antibiotic resistance).  The article also goes into further detail describing studies that were able to create conditions that induce organisms to mutate at higher frequencies. This theory largely remains controversial, and it would be interesting to look into how critics explain a reasoning behind the successes of these mentioned experiments. A link is provided to the article below: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2014/01/evolution-evolves-under-pressure/