Category: Uncategorized

THE SEEMINGLY SIMPLE ACT of walking has been very hard for robotic scientists to either comprehend or to mimic. It has generated some seriously heavy mathematical models. https://lnkd.in/etRHUtn View in LinkedIn

"UPRIGHT POSTURE developed across the entire skeletal-muscular system, and included considerable behavioral adaptations, with enormous consequences for Homo Sapiens." https://lnkd.in/ecBfjwe View in LinkedIn

NOT ELEGANTLY SIMPLE. "The foot is a complex mechanical structure. It consists of 26 bones (not including the sesamoid and accessory bones), over 30 joints, about 100 ligaments and additional elements (fascia, skin, fat pads). Thirty one muscles are active in the foot, of which 12 are extrinsic and 19 intrinsic." A structure built by a committee. https://lnkd.in/e3bN-6u View in LinkedIn

CONTINGENT IRREVERSIBILITY EXAMPLE 2. "Cancer cells may escape growth control, but have no independent future as protists." https://lnkd.in/eZ5-m7K View in LinkedIn

FIGURES 2-3 and 5-6 shows a nice evolutionary series of the foot metatarsal, cuboid, calcanei and tali bones in closely related species. Worth a look. https://lnkd.in/eC74CRQ View in LinkedIn

CONTINGENT IRREVERSIBILITY EXAMPLE 1. "Mitochondria cannot resume independent existence because most of their genes have been transferred to the nucleus." https://lnkd.in/eZ5-m7K View in LinkedIn

FIGURE 12-14 show a lovely sequential evolution of tarsus foot bones. Beautiful depiction of a gnarly and complex structure as they were adapted for the human foot from pre-existing species. https://lnkd.in/eSbfe-f View in LinkedIn

CONTINGENT IRREVERSIBILITY. "If an entity has replicated as part of a larger whole for a long time, it may have lost the capacity for independent replication that it once had, for accidental reasons that have little to do with the selective forces that led to the evolution of the higher-level entity in the first place." https://lnkd.in/eZ5-m7K View in LinkedIn

SUBTLE BUT DRASTIC. "The subtalar joint complex of man is quite clearly derived from the basic primate pattern, and in particular its unique structural attributes seem to have resulted from the accentuation of trends already incipient in Pan and Gorilla. Quite subtle and easily overlooked morphological changes have drastically modified the function." https://lnkd.in/eSbfe-f View in LinkedIn

HIGHER LEVELS. "In several of the listed transitions, one is effectively dealing with a group of replicators: when does such a group qualify as an organism, or -- viewed from the level if the component replicators --- a 'superorganism'?" https://lnkd.in/eZ5-m7K View in LinkedIn