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How does complexity of development, structure, and function of organisms emerge from the relative simplicity of biochemistry and genetics? In Theoretical Biology, Brian Goodwin and Peter Saunders bring together a distinguished group of contributors to provide a broad-based yet coherent inquiry into biological processes. In the spirit of C. H. Waddington's Towards a Theoretical Biology, the authors seek to establish the generative principles that apply throughout the field of biology to give a unifying logical structure to diverse empirical phenomena. Major topics include self-organization in complex systems; order and adaptability in genetic networks; development and evolution; and the relevance of physics and mathematics to biology.

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Heavy reading
Great book, but not for most people. The brief biography of Wolfgang Yourgrau is fascianting. Many of the issues discussed in the book are now out of date since it was published in 1983. But still it is very thought provoking. ... Read more

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In the last decade, "evolutionary psychology" has come to referexclusively to research on human mentality and behavior, motivated by anativist interpretation of how evolution operates. This book encompassesthe behavior and mentality of nonhuman as well as human animals and afull range of evolutionary approaches. Rather than a collection by andfor the like-minded, it is a debate about how evolutionary processeshave shaped cognition.

The debate is divided into five sections: Orientations, on thephylogenetic, ecological, and psychological/comparative approaches tothe evolution of cognition; Categorization, on how various animals parsetheir environments, how they represent objects and events and therelations among them; Causality, on whether and in what ways nonhumananimals represent cause and effect relationships; Consciousness, onwhether it makes sense to talk about the evolution of consciousness andwhether the phenomenon can be investigated empirically in nonhumananimals; and Culture, on the cognitive requirements for nongenetictransmission of information and the evolutionary consequences of suchcultural exchange.

Contributors: Bernard Balleine, Patrick Bateson, Michael J. Beran, M. E.Bitterman, Robert Boyd, Nicola Clayton, Juan Delius, Anthony Dickinson,Robin Dunbar, D. P. Griffiths, Bernd Heinrich, Cecilia Heyes, William A.Hillix, Ludwig Huber, Nicholas Humphrey, Masako Jitsumori, LouisLefebvre, Nicholas Mackintosh, Euan M. Macphail, Peter Richerson, DuaneM. Rumbaugh, Sara Shettleworth, Martina Siemann, Kim Sterelny, MichaelTomasello, Laura Weiser, Alexandra Wells, Carolyn Wilczynski, DavidSloan Wilson. ... Read more

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The Real Evolutionary Psychology
The pioneers of evolutionary psychology have developed a small set of principles that they defend at all costs (modularity of mind, selfishness of humans, strongly distinct male and female behavior, the derivative character of culture, the irrelevance of game theory and mathematical model building, the nefariousness of behavioral genetics, and so on). I am, frankly, quite sick of the ideological intransigence of the supporters of this little coterie of researchers. It is time to reclaim evolutionary psychology in the large, which is simply the study of the evolution of mind and brain in animals (including humans), applying the usual standards of scientific practice. This edited collection does exactly that.

The volume is weak on organic evolution and neuroscience, a fact which perhaps flows from its focus on "cognition," but in the area of cognition, it is a valuable summary of current views, at least up to 1998 or so. The essays are of uniformly high quality with ample references, and there is considerable inter-chapter reference, so one gets the impression that one is assimilating a whole product, not just a random assortment of topics and authors. The topics include such low-level pheonomena as imprinting, abstraction, and discrimination, as well as much higher level topics, including consciousness and culture. It would be to the reader's advantage to have had a course or two in elementary psychology and perhaps one on animal behavior, because the level of discourse is pretty high (almost no equations, however). ... Read more

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This is an OCR edition without illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from the publisher's website (GeneralBooksClub.com). You can also preview excerpts of the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Biology; Science / Life Sciences / Biology / General; Science / Life Sciences / Evolution; ... Read more

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This book covers applications of computational techniques to biological problems.These techniques are based by an ever-growing number of researchers with different scientific backgrounds - biologists, chemists, and physicists.

The rapid development of molecular biology in recent years has been mirrored by the rapid development of computer hardware and software.This has resulted in the development of sophisticated computational techniques and a wide range of computer simulations involving such methods.Among the areas where progress has been profound is in the modeling of DNA structure and function, the understanding at a molecular level of the role of solvents in biological phenomena, the calculation of the properties of molecular associations in aqueous solutions, computationally assisted drug design, the prediction of protein structure, and protein - DNA recognition, to mention just a few examples.This volume comprises a balanced blend of contributions covering such topics.They reveal the details of computational approaches designed for biomoleucles and provide extensive illustrations of current applications of modern techniques.

A broad group of readers ranging from beginning graduate students to molecular biology professions should be able to find useful contributions in this selection of reviews.
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This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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IThe authors have made a unique and valuable contribution, creating a guidebook to the bewildering array of concepts underlying modern biology. --ARBAWill be especially useful to researchers and students of biology, historians of science, libraries, and the general public with an interest in biology." --TAXON ... Read more

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This book originated as a Festschrift to mark the publication of Volume 50 of the journal Acta Biotheoretica in 2002 and the journal?s 70th anniversary in 2005. In it, eleven previously unpublished research papers have been collected that reflect the entire scope of topics on which Acta Biotheoretica publishes. Acta Biotheoretica is a journal on theoretical biology, published by Kluwer Academic Publishers, that has its roots in the Dutch tradition of theoretical biology. From the perspective of this tradition, theoretical biology is understood as encompassing a broad spectrum of disciplines ranging from mathematical biology to philosophy of biology. To reflect the Dutch roots of the journal, all papers have been invited from authors that work in The Netherlands. This book is aimed at an audience of theoretical and mathematical biologists, philosophers of biology and philosophers of science, and biologists in general