Name: Arrival of the Fittest
ISBN: 9781591846468

作者: Andreas Wagner
出版社: Current
副标题: Solving Evolution’s Greatest Puzzle
出版年: 2014-10
页数: 304
定价: USD 27.95
装帧: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781591846468

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内容简介 · · · · · ·

“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...

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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.

作者简介 · · · · · ·

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.

原文摘录 · · · · · ·

生命的开端不是一个自我复制的分子，而是一张新陈代谢的网络。 (查看原文)

简不易 2赞 2019-06-13 12:05:26

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Arrival of the Fittest的书评 · · · · · · ( 全部 6 条 )

热门最新好友只看本版本的评论

格列柯南 2019-07-25 05:28:42 浙江人民出版社2018版

达尔文的“痛风”及演化论的最新修正

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... (展开)

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Bottle Rocket 2021-05-12 10:09:15 Current2015版

进化背后的图结构

看了一下其他的几篇书评，没有一个说到点子上。用下面一张图表达一下我的心情。好了，玩笑到此为止。我虽然不是学生物的，但在科研里研究搜索算法也做过蛋白质折叠的相关问题，同时一直对进化机制感兴趣，在此就说一下个人对本书的理解。另外本人并非数学专业，如有术语错误请... (展开)

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面具@知道疯子 2015-01-12 18:03:31

这本书有点意思

这本书有点意思，说白了，就是从genotype->phnotype之间的关系，所谓的基因型到表现型。这个有个专门的名词env-devo, 演化发育生物学，研究的是从分子细胞层面到组织器官乃至行为层面的对应关系（btw：这个方面Sean. B. Carroll的两本书，造就适者，无尽之形最美两本书非常... (展开)

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