Robustness and Evolvability in Living Systems

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Release : 2013-10-24
Genre : Science
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Book Rating : 381/5 ( reviews)

Robustness and Evolvability in Living Systems - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Robustness and Evolvability in Living Systems write by Andreas Wagner. This book was released on 2013-10-24. Robustness and Evolvability in Living Systems available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. All living things are remarkably complex, yet their DNA is unstable, undergoing countless random mutations over generations. Despite this instability, most animals do not grow two heads or die, plants continue to thrive, and bacteria continue to divide. Robustness and Evolvability in Living Systems tackles this perplexing paradox. The book explores why genetic changes do not cause organisms to fail catastrophically and how evolution shapes organisms' robustness. Andreas Wagner looks at this problem from the ground up, starting with the alphabet of DNA, the genetic code, RNA, and protein molecules, moving on to genetic networks and embryonic development, and working his way up to whole organisms. He then develops an evolutionary explanation for robustness. Wagner shows how evolution by natural selection preferentially finds and favors robust solutions to the problems organisms face in surviving and reproducing. Such robustness, he argues, also enhances the potential for future evolutionary innovation. Wagner also argues that robustness has less to do with organisms having plenty of spare parts (the redundancy theory that has been popular) and more to do with the reality that mutations can change organisms in ways that do not substantively affect their fitness. Unparalleled in its field, this book offers the most detailed analysis available of all facets of robustness within organisms. It will appeal not only to biologists but also to engineers interested in the design of robust systems and to social scientists concerned with robustness in human communities and populations.

Robustness and Evolvability in Living Systems

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Release : 2005
Genre : Molecular evolution
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Book Rating : /5 ( reviews)

Robustness and Evolvability in Living Systems - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Robustness and Evolvability in Living Systems write by . This book was released on 2005. Robustness and Evolvability in Living Systems available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle.

Biological Robustness

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Release : 2019-01-04
Genre : Philosophy
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Book Rating : 984/5 ( reviews)

Biological Robustness - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Biological Robustness write by Marta Bertolaso. This book was released on 2019-01-04. Biological Robustness available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. This volume reviews examples and notions of robustness at several levels of biological organization. It tackles many philosophical and conceptual issues and casts an outlook on the future challenges of robustness studies in the context of a practice-oriented philosophy of science. The focus of discussion is on concrete case studies. These highlight the necessity of a level-dependent description of robust biological behaviors.Experts from the neurosciences, biochemistry, ecology, biology, and the history and the philosophy of life sciences provide a multiplex perspective on the topic. Contributions span from protein folding, to cell-level robustness, to organismal and developmental robustness, to sensorimotor systems, up to the robustness of ecological systems.Several chapters detail neurobiological case-studies. The brain, the poster child of plasticity in biology, offers multiple examples of robustness. Neurobiology explores the importance of temporal organization and multiscalarity in making this robustness-with-plasticity possible. The discussion also includes structures well beyond the brain, such as muscles and the complex feedback loops involved in the peculiar robustness of music perception. Overall, the volume grounds general reflections upon concrete case studies, opening to all the life sciences but also to non-biological and bio-inspired fields such as post-modern engineering. It will appeal to researchers, students, as well as non-expert readers.

Theories of Population Variation in Genes and Genomes

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Release : 2014-12-17
Genre : Science
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Book Rating : 650/5 ( reviews)

Theories of Population Variation in Genes and Genomes - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Theories of Population Variation in Genes and Genomes write by Freddy Bugge Christiansen. This book was released on 2014-12-17. Theories of Population Variation in Genes and Genomes available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. This textbook provides an authoritative introduction to both classical and coalescent approaches to population genetics. Written for graduate students and advanced undergraduates by one of the world's leading authorities in the field, the book focuses on the theoretical background of population genetics, while emphasizing the close interplay between theory and empiricism. Traditional topics such as genetic and phenotypic variation, mutation, migration, and linkage are covered and advanced by contemporary coalescent theory, which describes the genealogy of genes in a population, ultimately connecting them to a single common ancestor. Effects of selection, particularly genomic effects, are discussed with reference to molecular genetic variation. The book is designed for students of population genetics, bioinformatics, evolutionary biology, molecular evolution, and theoretical biology--as well as biologists, molecular biologists, breeders, biomathematicians, and biostatisticians. Contains up-to-date treatment of key areas in classical and modern theoretical population genetics Provides in-depth coverage of coalescent theory Discusses genomic effects of selection Gives examples from empirical population genetics Incorporates figures, diagrams, and boxed features throughout Includes end-of-chapter exercises Speaks to a wide range of students in biology, bioinformatics, and biostatistics

Enhancing Evolution

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Release : 2010-09-27
Genre : Science
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Book Rating : 387/5 ( reviews)

Enhancing Evolution - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Enhancing Evolution write by John Harris. This book was released on 2010-09-27. Enhancing Evolution available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. In Enhancing Evolution, leading bioethicist John Harris dismantles objections to genetic engineering, stem-cell research, designer babies, and cloning and makes an ethical case for biotechnology that is both forthright and rigorous. Human enhancement, Harris argues, is a good thing--good morally, good for individuals, good as social policy, and good for a genetic heritage that needs serious improvement. Enhancing Evolution defends biotechnological interventions that could allow us to live longer, healthier, and even happier lives by, for example, providing us with immunity from cancer and HIV/AIDS. Further, Harris champions the possibility of influencing the very course of evolution to give us increased mental and physical powers--from reasoning, concentration, and memory to strength, stamina, and reaction speed. Indeed, he says, it's not only morally defensible to enhance ourselves; in some cases, it's morally obligatory. In a new preface, Harris offers a glimpse at the new science and technology to come, equipping readers with the knowledge to assess the ethics and policy dimensions of future forms of human enhancement.