Life beyond molecules and genes

Rothman, Stephen.

Life beyond molecules and genes how our adaptations make us alive / [electronic resource] : Stephen Rothman. - West Conshohocken, Pa. : Templeton Press, c2009. - xvi, 222 p.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction : what is it that makes an object alive? -- Life forces and vital substances : the path from vitalism to materialism -- The material causes of life : the modern perspective -- Coming into being : the origin of aliveness -- A more refined understanding : a modern view of what is necessary for life -- A sufficient property of life : a search for the properties that attest to our being alive -- Dr. Bernard's adaptations : the internal adaptations of life and their critical role in understanding life's nature -- The physical world intrudes : how the physical world shapes our adaptive properties and us -- Adaptations as life : adaptations as the sufficient, lifegiving properties -- Spandrels and other irrelevancies: are there sufficient properties of life that are not adaptations? -- Life as complexity : the nature of biological complexity -- Harmony : the concordance of life and its science -- Conclusion : is there life beyond the genome?


Electronic reproduction.
Palo Alto, Calif. :
ebrary,
2011.
Available via World Wide Web.
Access may be limited to ebrary affiliated libraries.






Adaptation (Biology)
Life.
Evolution (Biology)


Electronic books.

QH546 / .R68 2009eb

578.4