圖書標籤: 進化論 生物 進化 係統生物學 科普 復雜係統 分子生物 evolution
发表于2024-11-22
Arrival of the Fittest pdf epub mobi txt 電子書 下載 2024
“Natural selection can preserve innovations, but it cannot create them. Nature’s many innovations—some uncannily perfect—call for natural principles that accelerate life’s ability to innovate.”
Darwin’s theory of natural selection explains how useful adaptations are preserved over time. But the biggest mystery about evolution eluded him. As genetics pioneer Hugo de Vries put it, “natural selection may explain the survival of the fittest, but it cannot explain the arrival of the fittest.”
Can random mutations over a mere 3.8 billion years really be responsible for wings, eyeballs, knees, camouflage, lactose digestion, photosynthesis, and the rest of nature’s creative marvels? And if the answer is no, what is the mechanism that explains evolution’s speed and efficiency?
In Arrival of the Fittest, renowned evolutionary biologist Andreas Wagner draws on over fifteen years of research to present the missing piece in Darwin’s theory. Using experimental and computational technologies that were heretofore unimagined, he has found that adaptations are not just driven by chance, but by a set of laws that allow nature to discover new molecules and mechanisms in a fraction of the time that random variation would take.
Consider the Arctic cod, a fish that lives and thrives within six degrees of the North Pole, in waters that regularly fall below 0 degrees. At that temperature, the internal fluids of most organisms turn into ice crystals. And yet, the arctic cod survives by producing proteins that lower the freezing temperature of its body fluids, much like antifreeze does for a car’s engine coolant. The invention of those proteins is an archetypal example of nature’s enormous powers of creativity.
Meticulously researched, carefully argued, evocatively written, and full of fascinating examples from the animal kingdom, Arrival of the Fittest offers up the final puzzle piece in the mystery of life’s rich diversity.
Andreas Wagner is a professor in the Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies at the University of Zurich in Switzerland, and an external professor at the Santa Fe Institute. He lectures worldwide and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He lives in Zurich, Switzerland.
2015年7月4日 想讀; 2016-03-19 在讀。
評分2015年7月4日 想讀; 2016-03-19 在讀。
評分用淺顯的語言描述進化過程中的“創新”是如何齣現的。濃縮瞭作者多年的研究成果。不過感覺有點太淺顯瞭。
評分主要意思就是基因型是天文數字級的龐大,雖能實現有用錶型的比例極小,但絕對數量足夠多,且不同基因型可實現相似錶型,而且基因型變化不是隨機的,而是存在一個hypercube graph,通過某種BFS式的搜尋機製,可在很短路徑內就找到其他有用的基因型,加上自然選擇對有利基因的保存,生命得以如此強健又能創新。書讓人不夠滿意的地方在於談得太空泛,基因型網絡實證舉得太少,且不夠精專。對這種機製的形成也沒闡述。原來我去年讀的30%差不多就概括瞭全書的大意。最後一章哲學思索,強調瞭研究和利用生物蘊含的數學機製的重要性,展望瞭下係統生物學和生物信息學的前景。
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这是一本读起来略显枯燥的书,一些内容稍显冗余,前后事例也有反复,但是我更愿意将这看做一本纪实的科幻作品,其中更多的是给我们一些已经被现实证明的思想实验,而这些实验背后的洞见将有助于我们看清这个世界。 这个书中详细列举了关于生命诞生与演化的各种猜想,并从丰富的...
評分一、萧伯纳又丑又蠢的孩子 爱尔兰剧作家萧伯纳有这样一个经典幽默广为流传,说是美国舞蹈家邓肯仰慕其才华,写信告诉他:“假如我们两个结婚生子,孩子拥有你的智慧和我的美貌,那该多好!”萧伯纳回信说,“要是生的孩子相貌像我,智慧如你,岂不糟糕!” 萧伯纳的故事道出了...
評分一、萧伯纳又丑又蠢的孩子 爱尔兰剧作家萧伯纳有这样一个经典幽默广为流传,说是美国舞蹈家邓肯仰慕其才华,写信告诉他:“假如我们两个结婚生子,孩子拥有你的智慧和我的美貌,那该多好!”萧伯纳回信说,“要是生的孩子相貌像我,智慧如你,岂不糟糕!” 萧伯纳的故事道出了...
評分一、萧伯纳又丑又蠢的孩子 爱尔兰剧作家萧伯纳有这样一个经典幽默广为流传,说是美国舞蹈家邓肯仰慕其才华,写信告诉他:“假如我们两个结婚生子,孩子拥有你的智慧和我的美貌,那该多好!”萧伯纳回信说,“要是生的孩子相貌像我,智慧如你,岂不糟糕!” 萧伯纳的故事道出了...
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Arrival of the Fittest pdf epub mobi txt 電子書 下載 2024