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OPTION #1. "The vast majority of people believe that there are only two alternative ways to explain the origins of biological diversity. One way is Creationism that depends upon intervention by a divine Creator. That is clearly unscientific because it brings an arbitrary supernatural force into the evolution process." https://lnkd.in/eWQrjgq View in LinkedIn

CELL CYCLE CHECKPOINTS. "There are checkpoints for numerous aspects of cell reproduction: nutrition, DNA replication, telomere capping, DNA damage, cell growth and size, chromosome alignment on the mitotic spindle, and spindle orientation. Clearly, keeping all the different processes needed for the cell cycle in proper order and ensuring their completion without damage involves constant short-term reading and writing on the genome." http://www.thethirdwayofevolution.com/people/view/james-a-shapiro View in LinkedIn

SADLY, science is riddled with both old and new examples of innovative --heretical -- ideas that evoked an often vicious outcry from fellow scientists. Think: prions (Stanley Prusiner); think: jumping genes (Barbara McKlintock; think: synthetic life (Craig Venter). Paradigm shifts appear to be as painful today as they were for Copernicus, Kepler and Darwin. But Thomas Kuhn convincingly tells us that scientific progress is a discontinuous and often painful process. https://lnkd.in/et98Sus View in LinkedIn

JUNK DNA IS NOT JUNK. "As we are learning from the ENCODE project data, the vast majority of genomic DNA, including many so-called “non-coding” (nc) segments, participate in biologically specific molecular interactions." An old but important theme. http://www.thethirdwayofevolution.com/people/view/james-a-shapiro View in LinkedIn

IN THE LAST 50 YEARS, we have learned an enormous amount about molecular genetics. Much of what we now know deepens our understanding of the process of evolution. However, synthesizing this vast body of information from numerous silos into a coherent whole is a daunting task. Fortunately, some brave souls have undertaken this task. And by leaving the safety of their foxholes, have become a target of attacks from many sides. View in LinkedIn

SIMPLIFICATIONS. "Two dangerous oversimplifications have been (i) to consider the genome as a mere physical carrier of hypothetical units called “genes” that determine particular cell or organismal traits, and (ii) to think of the genome as a digitally encoded Read-Only Turing tape that feeds instructions to the rest of the cell about individual characters." http://www.thethirdwayofevolution.com/people/view/james-a-shapiro View in LinkedIn

CORE VERSUS PLASTIC GENES. "The conserved core genes show either strong (e.g., myoviruses) or moderate (e.g., siphoviruses) vertical evolution, depending upon the phage family in question. The plastic regions of phage genomes show rampant horizontal gene transfer, accumulating and shuffling cellular and phage genes/ORFs alike, seemingly only limited by the physical constraint of the size of the genome that can be encapsidated." (ORF = Open Reading Frame). http://gbe.oxfordjournals.org/content/2/140.full View in LinkedIn

GENE OWNERSHIP. "Where Dawkins talks of selfish genes, Noble talks of prisoner genes. Where Dawkins writes of genes: "They are in you and me; they created us, body and mind; and their preservation is the ultimate rationale for our existence", Noble writes: "They are in you and me; we are the system that allows their code to be read; and their preservation is totally dependent on the joy we experience in reproducing ourselves (our joy, not theirs!). We are the ultimate rationale for their existence." https://lnkd.in/eZTtZJ3 View in LinkedIn

GENE-CENTRIC INITIATOR. "Ever since Richard Dawkins published The Selfish Gene in 1976, the notion of genetic determinism - the idea that our lives are controlled by our genes - has become one of the central tenets of much scientific understanding." https://lnkd.in/eZTtZJ3 View in LinkedIn

FALSE SIMPLIFICATIONS. "We must recognize that cells possess a cybernetic capacity beyond our ability to imitate. Therefore, it should not surprise us when we discover extremely dense and interconnected control architectures at all levels. Simplifying assumptions about cell informatics can be more misleading than helpful in understanding the basic principles of biological function." https://lnkd.in/eFS9cuj View in LinkedIn