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    Robustness and Evolvability in Living Systems
    Robustness and Evolvability in Living Systems
    Robustness and Evolvability in Living Systems
    Ebook352 pages8 hours

    Robustness and Evolvability in Living Systems

    By Andreas Wagner

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    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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPrinceton University Press
    Release dateOct 24, 2013
    ISBN9781400849383
    Robustness and Evolvability in Living Systems
    Author

    Andreas Wagner

    Andreas Wagner is a professor and chairman at the Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies at the University of Zurich. He is the author of four books on evolutionary innovation, including Life Finds a Way, which is also published by Oneworld. He lives in Zurich.

    Read more from Andreas Wagner

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    • 5/5
      To date, this is the best book on robustness and evolvability (in my opinion). Chapters are also almost independent so you can read the bits you're interested in. A. Wagner did a great job putting this information together.

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