Necessity: Mother of Mutation?

Anybody who hasn't seen some variant of the "Cavemen Preferred Blondes" "news" story that is floating around today should check out this link.

The logic that traits desirable in a mate would lead to the majority of mothers being those with desirable traits makes enough sense.

BUT the idea that the mutation developed in response to a perceived need just doesn't pass the laugh test.

Say I, Ms. Cavewoman, decide I would be more attractive with 2" long eyelashes. No matter how hard I wish, mine aren't going to mutate anytime soon. So I go on wishing. Incredibly, even with stumpy eyelashes, I manage to catch a man and, in the fullness of time, have a daughter. Man, I hope she has those killer eyelashes.

No luck.

Meanwhile, my friends who were dealt normal mutations -- the kind that we sometimes call congenital birth defects -- are living their nasty, brutish, and short lives tormented by unrequited love, sadly excluded from the gene pool.

What would be really really neat is if some scientists somewhere could demonstrate that a mutation can can be conjured up at the call of need.

In the meantime, I'm going to start wishing for a third arm . . .