The Rhetoric of Informational Molecules: Authority and Promises in the Early Study of Molecular Evolution

2007 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 649-677 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edna Suárez Díaz
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Evolution ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Rhetorical Analysis ◽  
Molecular Evidence ◽  
History Of ◽  
Political Dimensions ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
New Research

ArgumentThis paper explores the connection between the epistemic and the “political” dimensions of the metaphor of information during the early days of the study of Molecular Evolution. While preserving some of the meanings already documented in the history of molecular biology, the metaphor acquired a new, powerful use as a substitute for “history.” A rhetorical analysis of Emilé Zuckerkandl's paper, “Molecules as Documents of Evolutionary History,” highlights the ways in which epistemic claims on the validity and superiority of molecular evidence for evolution were intimately connected with authority issues in evolutionary biology. The debate is situated within the framework of the battle for resources between traditional evolutionists and molecular biologists at the beginning of the 1960s. The architects of evolutionary synthesis questioned the idea that molecular characters constitute “cleaner” and “more direct” evidence of evolution. Nevertheless, the information discourse constituted a productive space for the development of a new research program that, paradoxically, has made explicit the limitations of the information metaphor in reconstructing life's history.

scholarly journals New thinking: the evolution of human cognition

2012 ◽  
Vol 367 (1599) ◽  
pp. 2091-2096 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cecilia Heyes
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Primate Species ◽  
New Thinking ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Research ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Vast Range

Humans are animals that specialize in thinking and knowing, and our extraordinary cognitive abilities have transformed every aspect of our lives. In contrast to our chimpanzee cousins and Stone Age ancestors, we are complex political, economic, scientific and artistic creatures, living in a vast range of habitats, many of which are our own creation. Research on the evolution of human cognition asks what types of thinking make us such peculiar animals, and how they have been generated by evolutionary processes. New research in this field looks deeper into the evolutionary history of human cognition, and adopts a more multi-disciplinary approach than earlier ‘Evolutionary Psychology’. It is informed by comparisons between humans and a range of primate and non-primate species, and integrates findings from anthropology, archaeology, economics, evolutionary biology, neuroscience, philosophy and psychology. Using these methods, recent research reveals profound commonalities, as well striking differences, between human and non-human minds, and suggests that the evolution of human cognition has been much more gradual and incremental than previously assumed. It accords crucial roles to cultural evolution, techno-social co-evolution and gene–culture co-evolution. These have produced domain-general developmental processes with extraordinary power—power that makes human cognition, and human lives, unique.

Adaptation

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan B. Losos
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Central Focus ◽  
History Of ◽  
Definition Of

Adaptation—the fit of organisms to their environments—has been a central focus in scientific research for centuries, predating even the rise of evolutionary biology. At its core, the study of adaptation is the study of natural selection—how is it that populations become so well suited to survive and reproduce in the environment in which they occur? Nonetheless, the topic of adaptation has many wrinkles and nuances. Even the definition of adaptation is not agreed on by all. The manner in which adaptations evolve (or fail to evolve) and the consequences they have for the evolutionary history of a lineage have been the subjects of considerable scientific research and discussion for more than a century.

Inside the Melanoplinae: New molecular evidence for the evolutionary history of the Eurasian Podismini (Orthoptera: Acrididae)

2014 ◽  
Vol 71 ◽  
pp. 224-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ioana C. Chintauan-Marquier ◽  
Christiane Amédégnato ◽  
Richard A. Nichols ◽  
François Pompanon ◽  
Philippe Grandcolas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Molecular Evidence ◽  
History Of

Biological evolution

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Briggs ◽  
Hans Halvorson ◽  
Andrew Steane
Keyword(s):  
Design Education ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Biological Evolution ◽  
Sequence Of Events ◽  
Living Things ◽  
History Of ◽  
Informed Opinion ◽  
Life On Earth ◽  
Insight Into

The chapter discusses the history of life on Earth, and the lessons to be learned from the neo-Darwinian synthesis of evolutionary biology. The long and complex sequence of events in the evolutionary history of life on Earth requires considered interpretation. The neo-Darwinian synthesis is well-supported by evidence and gives rich insight into this process, but does not itself furnish a complete explanation or understanding of living things. This is because a process of exploration can only explore; it cannot fully dictate and can only partially constrain what type of thing will be found. What is found is constrained by other considerations, such as what is possible, and what can make sense. A brief critique of some of Richard Dawkins’ work is given, and also of the movement known as ‘Intelligent Design’. Education policy is well served by a fair appraisal of informed opinion in this area.

WHERE TO? FILMING EMIGRATION ANXIETY IN PREWAR LEBANESE CINEMA

2019 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-201
Author(s):  
Ghenwa Hayek
Keyword(s):  
Cultural History ◽  
Cultural Narratives ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
New Research ◽  
Research Avenue

AbstractI propose that careful reading of films and film coverage provides a new research avenue for scholars interested in the social and cultural history of the 1950s and the 1960s in Lebanon. Looking specifically at the manner in which George Nasser's 1957 filmIla Ayn?(Where To?) embraces and modifies the generic conventions of neorealist melodrama to articulate anxieties over the effects of emigration on Lebanon, this article explores the manner in which contemporaneous cultural critics used the film to, in turn, express their dismay at migration from Lebanon. Reading the film closely for the affects it contains and for those it produced in its readers, I argue that this technique, attendant to both sides of this dynamic, affords us new insights into the manner in which cinema produced during Lebanon's golden period interacted with and complicated the dominant cultural narratives of that era.

Local population studies using parish registers: ideas for future research

2019 ◽  
pp. 55-63
Author(s):  
Andrew Hinde ◽  
Paul Tomblin
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Population Studies ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Short Note ◽  
Future Research ◽  
History Of ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
New Research

This short note discusses possible ideas for future research using parish register data and ways in which local and amateur historians might contribute to a new research agenda. In this, it is an attempt to resurrect and strengthen the links between amateur and professional historians that were integral to the work of the Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure in the 1960s and 1970s, and which led to the foundation of the journal Local Population Studies. The ideas discussed here are not fully formed, and should be seen as a contribution to a research agenda which is likely to be fluid, open-ended and responsive to initiatives from local and family historians.

scholarly journals Molecular Evolution of Multiple Forms of Kisspeptins and GPR54 Receptors in Vertebrates

Endocrinology ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 150 (6) ◽  
pp. 2837-2846 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yeo Reum Lee ◽  
Kenta Tsunekawa ◽  
Mi Jin Moon ◽  
Haet Nim Um ◽  
Jong-Ik Hwang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Evolution ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Cancer Metastasis ◽  
Vertebrate Species ◽  
Multiple Forms ◽  
Ligand Selectivity ◽  
Mature Form ◽  
Sequence Identity ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Brain

Kisspeptin and its receptor GPR54 play important roles in mammalian reproduction and cancer metastasis. Because the KiSS and GPR54 genes have been identified in a limited number of vertebrate species, mainly in mammals, the evolutionary history of these genes is poorly understood. In the present study, we have cloned multiple forms of kisspeptin and GPR54 cDNAs from a variety of vertebrate species. We found that fish have two forms of kisspeptin genes, KiSS-1 and KiSS-2, whereas Xenopus possesses three forms of kisspeptin genes, KiSS-1a, KiSS-1b, and KiSS-2. The nonmammalian KiSS-1 gene was found to be the ortholog of the mammalian KiSS-1 gene, whereas the KiSS-2 gene is a novel form, encoding a C-terminally amidated dodecapeptide in the Xenopus brain. This study is the first to identify a mature form of KiSS-2 product in the brain of any vertebrate. Likewise, fish possess two receptors, GPR54-1 and GPR54-2, whereas Xenopus carry three receptors, GPR54-1a, GPR54-1b, and GPR54-2. Sequence identity and genome synteny analyses indicate that Xenopus GPR54-1a is a human GPR54 ortholog, whereas Xenopus GPR54-1b is a fish GPR54-1 ortholog. Both kisspeptins and GPR54s were abundantly expressed in the Xenopus brain, notably in the hypothalamus, suggesting that these ligand-receptor pairs have neuroendocrine and neuromodulatory roles. Synthetic KiSS-1 and KiSS-2 peptides activated GPR54s expressed in CV-1 cells with different potencies, indicating differential ligand selectivity. These data shed new light on the molecular evolution of the kisspeptin-GPR54 system in vertebrates.

scholarly journals Molecular evolution of UCP1 and the evolutionary history of mammalian non-shivering thermogenesis

2009 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A Hughes ◽  
Martin Jastroch ◽  
Mark Stoneking ◽  
Martin Klingenspor
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Evolution ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Shivering Thermogenesis
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