Category: Uncategorized

NEW THINKING. Güenther Witzany is another member of the group of Darwin reformers who are applying modern genetics to old Darwinian ideas in a totally new synthesis. He has been criticized for being a philosopher who comments on genetics, but those comments are narrow and petty. He has made major contributions to the big view of evolution and sorting out how to interpret modern genetics in the Darwinian paradigm. Over 100 Publications, mostly on biology. https://lnkd.in/evPAh84 View in LinkedIn

ACTIVE NOT PASSIVE INSCRIPTIONS. "Research dating back to the 1930s has shown that genetic change is the result of cell-mediated processes, not simply accidents or damage to the DNA. This cell-active view of genome change applies to all scales of DNA sequence variation, from point mutations to large-scale genome rearrangements and whole genome duplications (WGDs). This conceptual change to active cell inscriptions controlling RW genome functions has profound implications for all areas of the life sciences." (RW = Read-Write). http://www.thethirdwayofevolution.com/people/view/james-a-shapiro View in LinkedIn

CELLULAR GENOME INSCRIPTIONS. "Cells operate under changing conditions and are continually modifying themselves by genome inscriptions. These inscriptions occur over three distinct time-scales (cell reproduction, multicellular development and evolutionary change) and involve a variety of different processes at each time scale (forming nucleoprotein complexes, epigenetic formatting and changes in DNA sequence structure)." http://www.thethirdwayofevolution.com/people/view/james-a-shapiro View in LinkedIn

SELF-WRITING CODE. "The genome has traditionally been treated as a Read-Only Memory (ROM) subject to change by copying errors and accidents. In this review, I propose that we need to change that perspective and understand the genome as an intricately formatted Read–Write (RW) data storage system constantly subject to cellular modifications and inscriptions." http://www.thethirdwayofevolution.com/people/view/james-a-shapiro View in LinkedIn

ANYONE WHO FOLLOWS this blog will see a concentration on topics including: emergence, origin of life, viruses and bacteria, horizontal gene transfer, transposons, plasmid origins, and epigenetics, among others. Lightly connecting the dots between new knowledge. But the heavy lifting of putting it all together in a coherent theory has been done by some of the brightest minds in the field. Enjoy the detailed postings to follow. View in LinkedIn

Dolly the Sheep creator calls for biobank to save endangered animals http://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/jul/05/dolly-the-sheep-creator-calls-for-biobank-to-save-endangered-animals?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other View in LinkedIn

GRAND SYNTHESIS. "Shapiro integrates advances in symbiogenesis, epigenetics, and saltationism into a unified approach that views evolutionary change as an active cell process, regulated epigenetically and capable of making rapid large changes by horizontal DNA transfer, inter-specific hybridization, whole genome doubling, symbiogenesis, or massive genome restructuring." (Regarding (James A. Shapiro, Evolution: A View from the 21st Century). http://www.thethirdwayofevolution.com/people/view/james-a-shapiro View in LinkedIn

MC ESCHER'S DRAWING HANDS. "The capacity of living organisms to alter their own heredity is undeniable. Our current ideas about evolution have to incorporate this basic fact of life." (James A. Shapiro, Evolution: A View from the 21st Century, p.2). http://www.thethirdwayofevolution.com/people/view/james-a-shapiro View in LinkedIn

NATURAL GENETIC ENGINEERING. "The general argument of the book, buttressed by all these examples—that genomes can be highly responsive to environmental influences, becoming “reformatted” to greater or lesser extent—is clearly important...the general phenomenon is given a name here, namely “natural genetic engineering,” defined as the ability of cells to alter their genomes in response to environmental challenge." https://lnkd.in/esN4a97 View in LinkedIn

SOIL PROCESSING. "In one square metre of a favourable soil environment roughly one litre of soil is contained within an earthworm population’s gut where 4-10% of total soil is consumed annually. Extrapolation indicates that over 10 years ~50% of soil will have passed through an earthworm and ~90% within 40 years. Within the United Kingdom an estimated 89.5 million litres of soil resides in the earthworm gut at any one time (1L M(-2) of favourable UK soil) and therefore the egested material clear represents the major constituent of soil." https://lnkd.in/eVE-4GB View in LinkedIn