Biological Information New Perspectives Proceedings Of The Symposium

In the spring of 2011, a diverse group of scientists gathered at Cornell University to discuss their research into the nature and origin of biological information. This symposium brought together experts in information theory, computer science, numerical simulation, thermodynamics, evolutionary theory, whole organism biology, developmental biology, molecular biology, genetics, physics, biophysics, mathematics, and linguistics. This volume presents new research by those invited to speak at the conference. The contributors to this volume use their wide-ranging expertise in the area of biological information to bring fresh insights into the explanatory difficulties that biological information raises. Going beyond the conventional scientific wisdom, which attempts to explain biological information reductionistically via chemical, genetic, and natural selective determinants, the work represented here develops novel non-reductionist approaches to biological information, looking notably to telic and self-organizational processes. Several clear themes emerged from these research papers: 1) Information is indispensable to our understanding of what life is. 2) Biological information is more than the material structures that embody it. 3) Conventional chemical and evolutionary mechanisms seem insufficient to fully explain the labyrinth of information that is life. By exploring new perspectives on biological information, this volume seeks to expand, encourage, and enrich research on the nature and origin of biological information.

In the spring of 2011, a diverse group of scientists gathered at Cornell University to discuss their research into the nature and origin of biological information. This symposium brought together experts in information theory, computer science, numerical simulation, thermodynamics, evolutionary theory, whole organism biology, developmental biology, molecular biology, genetics, physics, biophysics, mathematics, and linguistics. This volume presents new research by those invited to speak at the conference.The contributors to this volume use their wide-ranging expertise in the area of biological information to bring fresh insights into the many explanatory difficulties associated with biological information. These authors raise major challenges to the conventional scientific wisdom, which attempts to explain all biological information exclusively in terms of the standard mutation/selection paradigm.Several clear themes emerged from these research papers: 1) Information is indispensable to our understanding of what life is; 2) Biological information is more than the material structures that embody it; 3) Conventional chemical and evolutionary mechanisms seem insufficient to fully explain the labyrinth of information that is life. By exploring new perspectives on biological information, this volume seeks to expand, encourage, and enrich research into the nature and origin of biological information.

In the spring of 2011, a diverse group of scientists gathered at Cornell University to discuss their research into the nature and origin of biological information. This symposium brought together experts in information theory, computer science, numerical simulation, thermodynamics, evolutionary theory, whole organism biology, developmental biology, molecular biology, genetics, physics, biophysics, mathematics, and linguistics. This volume presents new research by those invited to speak at the conference. The contributors to this volume use their wide-ranging expertise in the area of biological information to bring fresh insights into the explanatory difficulties that biological information raises. Going beyond the conventional scientific wisdom, which attempts to explain biological information reductionistically via chemical, genetic, and natural selective determinants, the work represented here develops novel non-reductionist approaches to biological information, looking notably to telic and self-organizational processes. Several clear themes emerged from these research papers: 1) Information is indispensable to our understanding of what life is. 2) Biological information is more than the material structures that embody it. 3) Conventional chemical and evolutionary mechanisms seem insufficient to fully explain the labyrinth of information that is life. By exploring new perspectives on biological information, this volume seeks to expand, encourage, and enrich research on the nature and origin of biological information.

In the spring of 2011, a diverse group of scientists gathered at Cornell University to discuss their research into the nature and origin of biological information. This symposium brought together experts in information theory, computer science, numerical simulation, thermodynamics, evolutionary theory, whole organism biology, developmental biology, molecular biology, genetics, physics, biophysics, mathematics, and linguistics. This volume presents new research by those invited to speak at the conference. The contributors to this volume use their wide-ranging expertise in the area of biological information to bring fresh insights into the many explanatory difficulties associated with biological information. These authors raise major challenges to the conventional scientific wisdom, which attempts to explain all biological information exclusively in terms of the standard mutation/selection paradigm. Several clear themes emerged from these research papers: 1) Information is indispensable to our understanding of what life is; 2) Biological information is more than the material structures that embody it; 3) Conventional chemical and evolutionary mechanisms seem insufficient to fully explain the labyrinth of information that is life. By exploring new perspectives on biological information, this volume seeks to expand, encourage, and enrich research into the nature and origin of biological information.

The didactical level of exposition, together with many astonishing images and animations, accompanied by the related simple computer programming codes (in Python and POV-Ray languages) make this book an extremely and unique useful tool to test the power of algorithmic information in generating ordered structure models (2D and 3D) like regular geometric shapes, complex shapes like fractals and cellular automata, and biological systems as the organs of a living body. Informational biologists besides mathematicians and physicists of complexity may learn to test their own capabilities in programming and modelling ordered structures starting from random initial conditions at different scale of each system: from elementary particles, to biological systems, to galaxies and the whole universe. Moreover the philosophical comments comparing some aspects of modern information theory to the Aristotelian notion of 'form are very appealing also for the epistemologist and the philosopher involved in complexity matters.

The Wistar Symposium Series, Volume 4 New Perspectives on Evolution Proceedings of a multidisciplinary symposium designed to interrelate recent discoveries and new insights in the field of evolution held at the University of Pennsylvania, April 18 and 19, 1990 Sponsored by The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Edited by Leonard Warren and Hilary Koprowski During the past two-and-a-half decades, astonishing advances have been made in our knowledge and understanding of evolution. New Perspectives on Evolution reflects these developments in a broad-ranging work. Rather than selecting one or a few aspects of evolution for discussion, the book offers a panoramic view of the field. Within this comprehensive format, it spotlights the spectacular contributions of molecular biology, virology, immunology, and protein and nucleic acid chemistry. The book displays how progress in these fields has greatly advanced our understanding of the evolutionary process. New Perspectives on Evolution offers authoritative contributions from an illustrious group of experts. The book opens with an historical perspective of the field written by one of the great formulators of our present notions about evolution. Then, contributors explain how the giant strides made in molecular approaches to gene and DNA technology permit the study of interspecies relationships. The power of these approaches could never have been imagined by Darwin. With its inclusive view and insightful information on progress in evolutionary knowledge and theory, New Perspectives on Evolution will particularly interest and enlighten cellular, molecular, and developmental biologists, as well as geneticists, zoologists, sociologists, and ecologists. In general, this provocative work will interest all investigators in the biological sciences.