Reddit reviews The Music of Life: Biology Beyond Genes
We found 5 Reddit comments about The Music of Life: Biology Beyond Genes. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Oxford University Press USA
Biology doesn't the work the way the Neo-Darwinists, who you're thinking of, tells it does.
I recommend you take a look at this paper: http://videnssamfundet.au.dk/fileadmin/www.videnssamfundet.au.dk/nyheder/kalender/afviklede_aktiviteter/ingold.pdf
I also would recommend at the work of biologists like:
The famous physiologist Denis Noble and his two books:
"Dance to the Tune of Life: Biological Relativity": https://www.amazon.com/Dance-Tune-Life-Biological-Relativity/dp/1107176247/
"The Music of Life: Biology Beyond Genes": https://www.amazon.com/Music-Life-Biology-Beyond-Genes/dp/0199228361/
James A. Shapiro's "Evolution: A View from the 21st Century": https://www.amazon.com/Evolution-View-21st-Century-paperback/dp/0133435539
The Music Of Life - by Denis Noble might be similar to the sort of thing you are after. Not quite how to deconstruct it, but how to think still.
In it he talks about looking at biology from many different levels, rather than the all too easy mindset of looking at the smallest component alone for all the answers.
Friendly to non-biologists, cheap, and relatively short so can't go to far wrong.
Glad someone asked!
http://www.amazon.com/Music-Life-Biology-Beyond-Genes/dp/0199228361/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1280144167&sr=8-2-spell
http://www.musicoflife.co.uk/
My sisters doing medicine at Oxford uni and recommended it.
Biology doesn't work that way. Selection is not the single factor in evolution and selection doesn't operate at the level of the gene.
There's no "selfish gene", Neo-Darwinists like the asshole Dawkins are just arrogant pricks and not actual scientists.
I recommend you take a look at this paper: http://videnssamfundet.au.dk/fileadmin/www.videnssamfundet.au.dk/nyheder/kalender/afviklede_aktiviteter/ingold.pdf
And this: https://thebaffler.com/salvos/whats-the-point-if-we-cant-have-fun
I also would recommend at the work of biologists like:
The famous physiologist Denis Noble and his two books:
"Dance to the Tune of Life: Biological Relativity": https://www.amazon.com/Dance-Tune-Life-Biological-Relativity/dp/1107176247/
"The Music of Life: Biology Beyond Genes": https://www.amazon.com/Music-Life-Biology-Beyond-Genes/dp/0199228361/
James A. Shapiro's "Evolution: A View from the 21st Century": https://www.amazon.com/Evolution-View-21st-Century-paperback/dp/0133435539
What it Means to be 98% Chimpanzee: Apes, People, and their Genes: https://www.amazon.com/What-Means-98%25-Chimpanzee-People/dp/0520226151/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Epigenetics refers to heritable changes in gene expression (and therefore phenotype) that are not coded in the DNA. Thus, two organisms which are genetically identical but phenotypically different are different because of epigenetics.
At the molecular level, DNA is wound around proteins called histones. Histones can be modified by the addition of small chemical groups (like acetyl or methyl groups) at certain positions in the genome. These modifications decorate the surface of the chromosome and can act to draw in enzymes such as RNA polymerase which then might "activate" a gene. Another major epigenetic mechanism is DNA methylation - again, chemical alterations this time to DNA itself (though not altering its sequence) can affect the expression level of surrounding genes. Small, non-coding RNAs might also be tools of epigenetics, but that might be complicating things.
Epigenetics is therefore about the inheritance of acquired characteristics. This is not something we're used to thinking about - it seems anti-Darwinian. But at the cellular level, inheritance of acquired characteristics dominates. After all, nearly all cells in our body have the same DNA sequence but have different phenotypes (liver cell, brain cell, skin cell, sperm cell) because they express different genes due to their different 'epigenetic environment'. When a liver cell divides it doesn't birth a brain cell or a sperm cell. Its progeny is another liver cell; the daughter cell has acquired the characteristics of the parent due to epigenetics.
I'm not sure I understand your question about 'adapted response' I'm afraid.
By the way, if you are interested in this topic I would highly recommend Denis Noble's book The Music of Life