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CRITERIA. "The first criterion for vestigiality is that in comparison to its state in the sister groups the structure exhibits extreme reduction. The second criterion is that the structure has lost the specialized morphology that it exhibits in the sister groups. The third criterion is that the structure has lost a salient ancestral function." https://lnkd.in/eMd4h72 View in LinkedIn

NO LACK. "Mammals provide a plethora of examples of vestigial structures." https://lnkd.in/eMd4h72 View in LinkedIn

VESTIGIAL. "History has revised them, creationists deny them, but vestigial organs are still an unmistakable part of our evolutionary heritage." https://lnkd.in/eTmF_BF View in LinkedIn

PROBLEM SOLVED. "A widely accepted resolution to the seemingly inextricable duality of genotype–phenotype is that the modern ‘DNA–protein’ world evolved from simpler precursor system involving only one major molecular species that played both the role of information carrier and of enzymatic catalyst. In modern organisms, RNA is a biochemical mediator, enabling the translation of DNA to protein." http://rsif.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/10/79/20120869.short View in LinkedIn

TWO HISTORIES. "Life is a dynamic process, and organismal structures disclose the history of the two principal levels of biological change: evolutionary and developmental. Vestiges (from the Latin vestigium, for footprint) reveal traces of prior states. Like actual footprints, vestiges offer glimpses of what was once there but is no longer present. In biological terms, they reveal former evolutionary and developmental conditions, and in this way they offer valuable keys to unlock the past." http://evolution-outreach.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s12052-014-0012-5 View in LinkedIn

ANALOG OR DIGITAL. "The chicken-or-egg problem, as traditionally posed, thus amounts to a debate of whether analogue or digital hardware came first." http://rsif.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/10/79/20120869.short View in LinkedIn

DEEP VESTIGIAL STRUCTURES. "Vestigial features of humans and other organisms are well known and have long been used as key evidence for evolution. Such features include not only anatomical structures but also physiological processes, biochemical reactions, and even behaviors." Not to mention transposons derived from ancient viruses that dominate genomes. http://evolution-outreach.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s12052-014-0012-5 View in LinkedIn

CHICKENS & EGGS. "A longstanding debate—often dubbed the chicken or the egg problem—is which came first, genetic heredity or metabolism? A conundrum arises because neither can operate without the other in contemporary life, where the duality is manifested via the genome–proteome systems." http://rsif.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/10/79/20120869.short View in LinkedIn

DARWIN ON VESTIGES. "Along with paleontological evidence from the fossil record and biogeographic evidence from species distributions, Darwin turned, naturally, to comparative anatomy, citing such well-known topics as homologous and analogous (convergent) features and similarities in skeletons and patterns of embryonic development. Darwin cited another prominent finding of comparative anatomy as an obvious line of evidence for evolution: vestigial features." http://evolution-outreach.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s12052-014-0012-5 View in LinkedIn

GREY ZONE SHIFT. "We therefore identify the transition from non-life to life with a fundamental shift in the causal structure of the system, specifically a transition to a state in which algorithmic information gains direct, context-dependent, causal efficacy over matter." http://rsif.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/10/79/20120869.short View in LinkedIn