The codes of life : the rules of macroevolution / edited by Marcello Barbieri.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Barbieri, Marcello, editor.

Alumni and Friends Memorial Book Fund.

Series:

Biosemiotics ; v. 1.

Biosemiotics ; v. 1

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Macroevolution.

Biology--Semiotics.

Biology.

Genetic code.

Coding theory.

Physical Description:

xix, 436 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

[New York, N.Y.] : Springer Science + Business Media, [2008]

Summary:

Building on a range of disciplines - from biology and anthropology to philosophy and linguistics - this book draws on the expertise of leading names in the study of organic, mental and cultural codes brought together by the emerging discipline of biosemiotics.

The book's 18 chapters present a range of experimental evidence which suggests that the genetic code was only the first in a long series of organic codes, and that it has been the appearance of new codes - organic, mental and cultural - that paved the way for the major transitions in the history of life.

While the existence of many organic codes has been proposed since the 1980s, this volume represents the first multi-authored attempt to deal with the range of codes relevant to life, and to reveal the ubiquitous role of coding mechanisms in both organic and mental evolution. This creates the conditions for a synthesis of biology and linguistics that finally overcomes the old divide between nature and culture.

The book will appeal to all those interested in the origins and evolution of life, including biologists (from molecular and cellular biologists to evolutionary and developmental biologists), ecologists, anthropologists, psychologists, philosophers of science, linguists, and researchers interested in the history of science, the origins of life, artificial life and intelligence, information theory and communication technology.

Contents:

Codes of biosequences / Edward N. Trifonov

The mechanisms of evolution : natural selection and natural conventions / Marcello Barbieri

Catalytic propensity of amino acids and the origins of the genetic code and proteins / Ádám Kun ... [et al.]

Why the genetic code originated : implications for the origin of protein synthesis / Massimo Di Giulio

Self-referential formation of the genetic system / Romeu Cardoso Guimarães, Carlos Henrique Costa Moreira, and Sávio Torres de Farias

The mathematical structure of the genetic code / Diego L. Gonzalez

The arithmetical origin of the genetic code / Vladimir shCherbak

Protein linguistics and the modular code of the cytoskeleton / Mario Gimona

A lipid-based code in nuclear signaling / Nadir M. Maraldi

Biological information transfer beyond the genetic code : the sugar code / Hans-Joachim Gabius

The immune self code : from correspondence to complexity / Yair Neuman

Signal transduction codes and cell fate / Marcella Faria

Towards an understanding of language origins / Eörs Szathmáry

The codes of language : turtles all the way up? / Stephen J. Cowley

Code and context in gene expression, cognition, and consciousness / Seán Ó Nualláin

Neural coding in the neuroheuristic perspective / Alessandro E.P. Villa

Error detection and correction codes / Diego L. Gonzalez

The musical code between nature and nurture : ecosemiotic and neurobiological claims / Mark Reybrouck.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Alumni and Friends Memorial Book Fund.

ISBN:

9781402063398

1402063393

OCLC:

166358088