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THE TOUCHSTONE QUOTATION. "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution". Theodosius Dobzhansky (geneticist). It may be just a piece of the puzzle, but it is the best we have just now. https://lnkd.in/dfRbEgj View in LinkedIn

ON GROWTH AND FORM. "Cell and tissue, shell and bone, leaf and flower, are so many portions of matter, and it is in obedience to the laws of physics that their particles have been moved, moulded and conformed. They are no exceptions to the rule that God always geometrizes. Their problems of form are in the first instance mathematical problems, their problems of growth are essentially physical problems, and the morphologist is, ipso facto, a student of physical science." (D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson). https://lnkd.in/dvUQ__w View in LinkedIn

ON GROWTH AND FORM promoted the idea of nature conforming to exquisite mathematical laws, leading the reader to marvel at the harmony and symmetry of nature's designs. "For the harmony of the world is made manifest in Form and Number, and the heart and soul and all the poetry of Natural Philosophy are embodied in the concept of mathematical beauty". https://lnkd.in/daGvtQB View in LinkedIn

DESCENT WITH MODIFICATION. "The myth here is that evolution equates to progress, an error inherited from Darwin's contemporary Herbert Spencer, who was using the word 'evolution' to support his metaphysical belief in universal progress. Darwin purposefully avoided using the term 'evolution' (preferring “descent with modification”) because of the risk of this misunderstanding." (Spencer's misfeatured shadow). https://lnkd.in/dMZi4Xr View in LinkedIn

EVOLUTION IS MESSY, and all living things are morphs, riddled with vestigial parts and bolt-on exaptations from the general tool kit of rebuilding and redesigning. Structures built by a committee, never from scratch. And most of that committee is viral. D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson idealized the beauty of biological structures, in line with centuries of thinking about an ascendancy to Perfection. Actually, an ascendancy to a bigger, sometimes better, junk yard. View in LinkedIn

GOOD ENOUGH. "Response: It is true that natural selection weeds out individuals that are unfit in a particular situation, but for evolution, “good enough” is good enough." ("When I was at home, I was in a better place, but travellers must be content." (Touchstone, by Shakespeare). https://lnkd.in/djzVhcc View in LinkedIn

STIRRED BUT NOT RESOLVED. "We do not claim to know whether there is any best story, any theory by which the apparent differential success of eukaryotes can be objectively probed and causally rationalized." http://www.pnas.org/content/112/33/10278.full View in LinkedIn

JUNK DNA WAS FOREIGN MATERIAL. "A large fraction of the human genome is composed of interspersed repetitive sequences that by and large represent inactivated copies (fossils) of transposable elements." https://lnkd.in/efudabf View in LinkedIn

MANY FOREIGN GENES. "Approximately one-sixth of the genes in the tardigrade genome were found to have been acquired through horizontal transfer, a proportion nearly double the proportion of previous known cases of extreme horizontal gene transfer (HGT) in animals. Foreign genes have impacted the composition of the tardigrade genome: supplementing, expanding, and replacing endogenous gene families, including those families implicated in stress tolerance." https://lnkd.in/eRtAbJz View in LinkedIn

TRANSITIONAL MORPHS. Nothing is as it seems to be. We marvel at nature's inventiveness, with good reason. But no living morsel under the sun has been purpose built. All are morphs from previous borrowed inventions, with limitless examples of aeons of tinkering for new purposes. All are morphs in restless transitions, destination unknown, with a thousand blind ends, and a few startling successes. Morphs, both genetically and phenotypically. https://lnkd.in/dxcB7XZ View in LinkedIn