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“A PRIORI, there is no privileged level of causation.” http://rsfs.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/2/1/55 View in LinkedIn

THE ISSUE OF DIRECTIONALITY. “Must higher level biological processes always be derivable from lower level data and mechanisms, as assumed by the idea that an organism is completely defined by its genome? Or are higher level properties necessarily also causes of lower level behaviour, involving actions and interactions both ways?” http://rsfs.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/2/1/55 View in LinkedIn

A BLUEPRINT FOR LIFE? “Are organisms encoded as molecular descriptions in their genes?’ And, second, ‘by analysing the genome, could we solve the forward problem of computing the behaviour of the system from this information, as was implied by the original idea of the “genetic program” and the more modern representation of the genome as the “book of life”?...The answer to both questions was ‘no’.” https://lnkd.in/dAdQzhV View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE features the thinking of Professor Denis Nobel, the brilliant polymath Oxford University academic, in his article entitled: “A theory of biological relativity: no privileged level of causation.” Denis Nobel is an exceptional and original thinker. Enjoy these philosophical ruminations. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_Noble View in LinkedIn

LIFE SPAN VS FECUNDITY. "AP has also been tested in a long-running experiment using artificial selection for increased life span in Drosophila flies. After two years of selection, life span increased, while early fecundity declined, which corroborates the AP hypothesis. After further selection however, life span continued to rise, while fecundity also rose at all ages, including early in life." (AP = antagonistic pleiotrophy hypothesis). View in LinkedIn

NEGATIVE CORRELATION. "Various methods of preventing reproduction can extend life span, and reproductive effort is negatively correlated with life span across species." View in LinkedIn

THE TRADE-OFF GAME. "In Pacific salmon and the marsupial Antechinus stuartii, the ability to exploit tissue protein as an energy reserve may increase reproductive success. In Octopus, the behavioral effects of optic gland secretion are likely to have an impact on hatching success, as time spent feeding is time not spent on brood care. In semelparous plants, a trade-off between survival and reproduction is supported by both experimental and comparative evidence." View in LinkedIn

GOING FOR BUST. "In vertebrates, for example, the high levels of free corticosteroids that trigger rapid senescence and death also allow tissue protein to be consumed as an energy source during a brief and intensely competitive breeding season." View in LinkedIn

ADAPTIVE OR INCIDENTAL? "In many semelparous organisms, the adaptive function of the nominal ‘death program’ is apparently to increase reproduction, with organismal death resulting as an incidental side-effect (making organismal senescence an example of “by-product death." View in LinkedIn

"THE FAILURE OF SELECTION to maximize life span raises the question of why evolution would favor organisms that forego the potential advantage of longer reproductive lives." View in LinkedIn