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THE SPECIES THORN. “One of the earliest debates in modern philosophy of biology concerned the metaphysical status of species.” https://lnkd.in/dE_ZD9q View in LinkedIn

ORGANISMS AS DEVELOPMENTAL CYCLES. “In fact, this is the view of evolution that developmental systems theorists have been advocating for many years, with the vital corollary that evolution can be driven by changes to any of the factors that contribute to reproducing the developmental cycle.” https://lnkd.in/dE_ZD9q View in LinkedIn

PROCESS EVOLUTION. “While it is self-evident that evolution is a process, it is less clear how we should think about the nature of the entities that participate in this process. The traditional substantialist stance has been to regard them as things. Process ontology, of course, leads us to understand them as processes. If organisms are developmental cycles, then we should regard these developmental cycles, rather than the thing-like time slices that we abstract from them, as the actual entities that compose the evolutionary process.” https://lnkd.in/dE_ZD9q View in LinkedIn

LOW FIDELITY. “Because these epigenetic inheritance systems typically depend on chemical diffusion and molecular transport processes, they exhibit far lower degrees of fidelity than the nucleic acid coding mechanism characteristic of genetic replication.” https://lnkd.in/dE_ZD9q View in LinkedIn

THE NEW INHERITANCE. “In the end, a process ontology forces us to expand our understanding of inheritance itself. Recognizing the material overlap between parent and offspring in reproduction makes it obvious that what gets transmitted is much more than just the DNA. The material (i.e. cytoplasmic) continuum that exists between parent and offspring includes many molecular systems that can be inherited apart from the genome, such as macromolecular steady states and self-sustaining metabolic loops.” https://lnkd.in/dE_ZD9q View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE continues from last weekend and concludes this weekend on the theme of process ontology, rather than a world of things. This perspective becomes interesting when pathology is considered, where developments in thinking about the microbiome have introduced the concept of a balance between symbiotic organisms, and when there is an unbalance or dysbiosis, pathology can emerge, driven not by bad bugs per se but by the shift in balance. View in LinkedIn

Cast Away with Tom Hanks: the symbolism of Wilson, the rope, time, and isolation are worth deep reflection. View in LinkedIn

Cast Away with Tom Hanks: the symbolism of Wilson, the rope, time, and isolation are worth deep reflection. View in LinkedIn

SUSPENSIONS. “Clouds form when the invisible water vapour in the air condenses into visible water droplets or ice crystals. There is water around us all the time in the form of tiny gas particles, also known as water vapour. There are also tiny particles floating around in the air - such as salt and dust - these are called aerosols.” https://lnkd.in/dmZsTC5 View in LinkedIn

GYRES. “Aerosols, and especially their effect on clouds and precipitation, are one of the key components of the climate system and the hydrological cycle. aerosols have a major impact on the dynamics, microphysics, and electrification properties of continental mixed-phase convective clouds." (Major review). https://lnkd.in/dinB_2a View in LinkedIn