Natural selection eliminates organisms from the gene pool by killing them.

ECONOMIST: Come up and see my etchings

The finding that may cause most controversy, however, is that in the Asian groups there has been strong selection for one variant of a gene that, in a different form, is responsible for Gaucher's disease.

ECONOMIST: Human evolution

This is interesting in as much as it shows how such thinking has changed over the years, but her real purpose seems to be to create doubt in the reader's mind about whether selection at the level of the gene is the only mechanism of evolution, which is what Mr Dawkins and his fellow selfish-geners believe.

ECONOMIST: Richard Dawkins under fire

But according to Gene Kritsky, an entomologist at the College of Mount St Joseph, in Cincinnati, Ohio, natural selection is working against this resonance too.

ECONOMIST: The 17-year cicadas are about to emerge in force

"This discovery represents a significant advance because it avoids the need for cross-kingdom gene transfer, " he said, noting that many other scientists are working towards the total removal of selection markers.

BBC: NEWS | Science/Nature | Scientists hope to ease GM fears