Category: Uncategorized

FITNESS IS NOT ALWAYS COMPLEXITY. “Darwinian evolution gives us an understanding of how biological complexity arose, but is less capable of providing a general principle of why it arises. “Survival of the fittest” is not necessarily “survival of the most complex”.” https://lnkd.in/euEN3Eh View in LinkedIn

"INFORMATION IS THE CURRENCY OF LIFE. “Life should not be thought of as a chemical event. Instead, it should be thought of as information...by reimagining living things as self-perpetuating information strings." (Physicist Christoph Adami). https://www.quantamagazine.org/20151119-life-is-information-adami/ View in LinkedIn

MODERN DEFINITION OF LIFE. "Any entity that has the ability to store and exchange information autonomously." https://lnkd.in/eyhNP82 View in LinkedIn

SO-CALLED JUNK DNA. “The C-value paradox is partly resolved by recognizing that not all of DNA is functional: that there is a neutral fraction that can vary from species to species. If we were able to monitor the non-neutral fraction, it is likely that a significant increase in this fraction could be observed throughout at least the early course of evolution. For the later period, in particular the later Phanerozoic Era, it is unlikely that the growth in complexity of genomes is due solely to innovations in which genes with novel functions arise de novo.” http://www.pnas.org/content/97/9/4463.full View in LinkedIn

SIZE DOES NOT MATTER. “As is well known, equating genomic complexity with genome length in base pairs gives rise to a conundrum (known as the C-value paradox) because large variations in genomic complexity (in particular in eukaryotes) seem to bear little relation to the differences in organismic complexity.” http://www.pnas.org/content/97/9/4463.full View in LinkedIn

GENOMIC COMPLEXITY. “If an organism's complexity is a reflection of the physical complexity of its genome (as we assume here), the latter is of prime importance in evolutionary theory. Physical complexity, roughly speaking, reflects the number of base pairs in a sequence that are functional.” http://www.pnas.org/content/97/9/4463.full View in LinkedIn

GENOMIC VS PHENOTYPIC. “It is tempting to believe that genomic complexity is mirrored in functional complexity and vice versa. Such an hypothesis, however, hinges upon both the aforementioned ambiguous definition of complexity and the obvious difficulty of matching genes with function.” http://www.pnas.org/content/97/9/4463.full View in LinkedIn

WOBBLY COMPLEXITY. “Gould, for example, argues that any recognizable trend can be explained by the “drunkard's walk” model, where “progress” is due simply to a fixed boundary condition. McShea investigates trends in the evolution of certain types of structural and functional complexity, and finds some evidence of a trend but nothing conclusive. In fact, he concludes that “something may be increasing. But is it complexity?”” http://www.pnas.org/content/97/9/4463.full View in LinkedIn

THE QUESTION. “Whether or not complexity increases through evolution has become a contentious issue.” https://lnkd.in/eHHiAUS View in LinkedIn

THE MANTRA. “Biology's First Law: The Tendency for Diversity and Complexity to Increase in Evolutionary Systems. "In any evolutionary system in which there is variation and heredity, there is, in the absence of constraint, a tendency for diversity and complexity to increase." http://ndpr.nd.edu/news/24573-biology-s-first-law-the-tendency-for-diversity-and-complexity-to-increase-in-evolutionary-systems/ View in LinkedIn