Biological Robustness

This volume reviews examples and notions of robustness at several levels of biological organization. It tackles many philosophical and conceptual issues and casts an outlook on the future challenges of robustness studies in the context of a practice-oriented philosophy of science. The focus of discussion is on concrete case studies. These highlight the necessity of a level-dependent description of robust biological behaviors.Experts from the neurosciences, biochemistry, ecology, biology, and the history and the philosophy of life sciences provide a multiplex perspective on the topic. Contributions span from protein folding, to cell-level robustness, to organismal and developmental robustness, to sensorimotor systems, up to the robustness of ecological systems.Several chapters detail neurobiological case-studies. The brain, the poster child of plasticity in biology, offers multiple examples of robustness. Neurobiology explores the importance of temporal organization and multiscalarity in making this robustness-with-plasticity possible. The discussion also includes structures well beyond the brain, such as muscles and the complex feedback loops involved in the peculiar robustness of music perception. Overall, the volume grounds general reflections upon concrete case studies, opening to all the life sciences but also to non-biological and bio-inspired fields such as post-modern engineering. It will appeal to researchers, students, as well as non-expert readers.

All living things are remarkably complex, yet their DNA is unstable, undergoing countless random mutations over generations. Despite this instability, most animals do not grow two heads or die, plants continue to thrive, and bacteria continue to divide. Robustness and Evolvability in Living Systems tackles this perplexing paradox. The book explores why genetic changes do not cause organisms to fail catastrophically and how evolution shapes organisms' robustness. Andreas Wagner looks at this problem from the ground up, starting with the alphabet of DNA, the genetic code, RNA, and protein molecules, moving on to genetic networks and embryonic development, and working his way up to whole organisms. He then develops an evolutionary explanation for robustness. Wagner shows how evolution by natural selection preferentially finds and favors robust solutions to the problems organisms face in surviving and reproducing. Such robustness, he argues, also enhances the potential for future evolutionary innovation. Wagner also argues that robustness has less to do with organisms having plenty of spare parts (the redundancy theory that has been popular) and more to do with the reality that mutations can change organisms in ways that do not substantively affect their fitness. Unparalleled in its field, this book offers the most detailed analysis available of all facets of robustness within organisms. It will appeal not only to biologists but also to engineers interested in the design of robust systems and to social scientists concerned with robustness in human communities and populations.

How do we understand and explain the apparent dichotomy between plasticity and robustness in the context of development? Can we identify these complex processes without resorting to 'either/or' solutions? Written by two leaders in the field, this is the first book to fully unravel the complexity of the subject, explaining that the epigenetic processes generating plasticity and robustness are in fact deeply intertwined. It identifies the different mechanisms that generate robustness and the various forms of plasticity, before considering the functional significance of the integrated mechanisms and how the component processes might have evolved. Finally, it highlights the ways in which epigenetic mechanisms could be instrumental in driving evolutionary change. Essential reading for biologists and psychologists interested in epigenetics and evolution, this book is also a valuable resource for biological anthropologists, sociobiologists, child psychologists and paediatricians.

Robust Design brings together 16 chapters by an eminent group of authors in a wide range of fields presenting aspects of robustness in biological, ecological, and computational systems. The volme is the first to address robustness in biological, ecological, and computational systems. It is an outgrowth of a new research program on robustness at the Sante Fe Institute founded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. For those interested in complexity or interdisciplinary science, robustness is seen as currently among the most intellectually active and promising research areas with important applications in all fields of science, business, and economics.

Thorough and accessible, this book presents the design principles of biological systems, and highlights the recurring circuit elements that make up biological networks. It provides a simple mathematical framework which can be used to understand and even design biological circuits. The textavoids specialist terms, focusing instead on several well-studied biological systems that concisely demonstrate key principles. An Introduction to Systems Biology: Design Principles of Biological Circuits builds a solid foundation for the intuitive understanding of general principles. It encourages the reader to ask why a system is designed in a particular way and then proceeds to answer with simplified models.

This book presents the most recent mathematical approaches to the growing research area of networks, oscillations, and collective motions in the context of biological systems. Bringing together the results of multiple studies of different biological systems, this book sheds light on the relations among these research themes. Included in this book are the following topics: feedback systems with time delay and threshold of sensing (dead zone), robustness of biological networks from the point of view of dynamical systems, the hardware-oriented neuron modeling approach, a universal mechanism governing the entrainment limit under weak forcing, the robustness mechanism of open complex systems, situation-dependent switching of the cues primarily relied on by foraging ants, and group chase and escape. Research on different biological systems is presented together, not separated by specializations or by model systems. Therefore, the book provides diverse perspectives at the forefront of current mathematical research on biological systems, especially focused on networks, oscillations, and collective motions. This work is aimed at advanced undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral students, as well as scientists and engineers. It will also be of great use for professionals in industries and service sectors owing to the applicability of topics such as networks and synchronizations.

By incorporating biologically-inspired functions into ICT, various types of new-generation information and communication systems can be created. Just some example of areas already benefiting from such design inspiration are network architectures, information processing, molecular communication, and complex network modeling for solving real world-problems. This book provides the theoretical basis for understanding these developments and explains their practical applications. Highlighted inserts appears throughout to help readers to understand the very latest topics in these emerging research fields. The book ends with a more philosophical discussion on how new ICT solutions can be found by looking at analogous systems in biology. This new way of thinking may help researchers and practitioners to apply innovative ideas in developing next-generation technologies.