Download or read book The Tinkerer s Accomplice written by J. Scott Turner and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2010-09-30 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most people, when they contemplate the living world, conclude that it is a designed place. So it is jarring when biologists come along and say this is all wrong. What most people see as design, they say--purposeful, directed, even intelligent--is only an illusion, something cooked up in a mind that is eager to see purpose where none exists. In these days of increasingly assertive challenges to Darwinism, the question becomes acute: is our perception of design simply a mental figment, or is there something deeper at work? Physiologist Scott Turner argues eloquently and convincingly that the apparent design we see in the living world only makes sense when we add to Darwin's towering achievement the dimension that much modern molecular biology has left on the gene-splicing floor: the dynamic interaction between living organisms and their environment. Only when we add environmental physiology to natural selection can we begin to understand the beautiful fit between the form life takes and how life works. In The Tinkerer's Accomplice, Scott Turner takes up the question of design as a very real problem in biology; his solution poses challenges to all sides in this critical debate.
Download or read book The Tinkerer s Accomplice written by J. Scott Turner and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Physiologist Scott Turner argues eloquently that the apparent design we see in the living world only makes sense when we add to Darwin’s towering achievement the dimension that much modern molecular biology has left on the gene-splicing floor: the dynamic interaction between living organisms and their environment.
Download or read book Jung in the 21st Century Volume Two written by and published by Routledge. This book was released on with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Biology written by Francisco J. Ayala and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2009-12-07 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of specially commissioned essays puts top scholars head to head to debate the central issues in the lively and fast growing field of philosophy of biology Brings together original essays on ten of the most hotly debated questions in philosophy of biology Lively head-to-head debate format sharply defines the issues and paves the way for further discussion Includes coverage of the new and vital area of evolutionary developmental biology, as well as the concept of a unified species, the role of genes in selection, the differences between micro- and macro-evolution, and much more Each section features an introduction to the topic as well as suggestions for further reading Offers an accessible overview of this fast-growing and dynamic field, whilst also capturing the imagination of professional philosophers and biologists
Download or read book Emergent Technologies and Design written by Michael Hensel and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-09-13 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Emergence - the process by which new and coherent structures, patterns and properties ‘emerge’ from within complex systems Traditional architecture starts from the premise that architectural structures are singular and fixed, and however well integrated are separate from their environment and context. Emergence requires that the opposite is true – that those structures are complex energy and material systems that have a lifespan, exist as part of an environment of other active systems, and develop in an evolutionary way. This book, based on the authors’ internationally renowned Emergent Technologies and Design course at the Architectural Association in London, introduces a new approach to the practice of architecture. The authors use essays and projects to demonstrate the interrelationship of concepts such as emergence and self-organisation with the latest technologies in design, manufacturing and construction. With projects from their course, and critiques and commentary from some of the world’s leading design theorists and practitioners, the authors of Emergent Technologies and Design have introduced a radical new way of understanding the way in which architecture is conceived, designed and produced.
Download or read book Science Fiction and Organization written by Matthew Higgins and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2003-08-29 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This international collection explores how science fiction can enrich studies of organization. The papers assembled draw upon perspectives from across the arts and social sciences.
Download or read book Signature in the Cell written by Stephen C. Meyer and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 2009-06-23 with total page 628 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This book attempts to make a comprehensive, interdisciplinary case for a new view of the origin of life"--Prologue.
Download or read book Transport Phenomena in Biomedical Engineering written by Robert A. Peattie and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2012-11-20 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Design, analysis and simulation of tissue constructs is an integral part of the ever-evolving field of biomedical engineering. The study of reaction kinetics, particularly when coupled with complex physical phenomena such as the transport of heat, mass and momentum, is required to determine or predict performance of biologically-based systems whether for research or clinical implementation. Transport Phenomena in Biomedical Engineering: Principles and Practices explores the concepts of transport phenomena alongside chemical reaction kinetics and thermodynamics to introduce the field of reaction engineering as it applies to physiologic systems in health and disease. It emphasizes the role played by these fundamental physical processes. The book first examines elementary concepts such as control volume selection and flow systems. It provides a comprehensive treatment with an overview of major research topics related to transport phenomena pertaining to biomedical engineering. Although each chapter is self-contained, they all bring forth and reinforce similar concepts through applications and discussions. With contributions from world-class experts, the book unmasks the fundamental phenomenological events in engineering devices and explores how to use them to meet the objectives of specific applications. It includes coverage of applications to drug delivery and cell- and tissue-based therapies.
Download or read book Molecular Cellular and Tissue Engineering written by Joseph D. Bronzino and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2018-10-08 with total page 1891 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Known as the bible of biomedical engineering, The Biomedical Engineering Handbook, Fourth Edition, sets the standard against which all other references of this nature are measured. As such, it has served as a major resource for both skilled professionals and novices to biomedical engineering. Molecular, Cellular, and Tissue Engineering, the fourth volume of the handbook, presents material from respected scientists with diverse backgrounds in molecular biology, transport phenomena, physiological modeling, tissue engineering, stem cells, drug delivery systems, artificial organs, and personalized medicine. More than three dozen specific topics are examined, including DNA vaccines, biomimetic systems, cardiovascular dynamics, biomaterial scaffolds, cell mechanobiology, synthetic biomaterials, pluripotent stem cells, hematopoietic stem cells, mesenchymal stem cells, nanobiomaterials for tissue engineering, biomedical imaging of engineered tissues, gene therapy, noninvasive targeted protein and peptide drug delivery, cardiac valve prostheses, blood substitutes, artificial skin, molecular diagnostics in personalized medicine, and bioethics.
Download or read book On the Origin of Autonomy written by Bernd Rosslenbroich and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2014-04-15 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume describes features of autonomy and integrates them into the recent discussion of factors in evolution. In recent years ideas about major transitions in evolution are undergoing a revolutionary change. They include questions about the origin of evolutionary innovation, their genetic and epigenetic background, the role of the phenotype and of changes in ontogenetic pathways. In the present book, it is argued that it is likewise necessary to question the properties of these innovations and what was qualitatively generated during the macroevolutionary transitions. The author states that a recurring central aspect of macroevolutionary innovations is an increase in individual organismal autonomy whereby it is emancipated from the environment with changes in its capacity for flexibility, self-regulation and self-control of behavior. The first chapters define the concept of autonomy and examine its history and its epistemological context. Later chapters demonstrate how changes in autonomy took place during the major evolutionary transitions and investigate the generation of organs and physiological systems. They synthesize material from various disciplines including zoology, comparative physiology, morphology, molecular biology, neurobiology and ethology. It is argued that the concept is also relevant for understanding the relation of the biological evolution of man to his cultural abilities. Finally the relation of autonomy to adaptation, niche construction, phenotypic plasticity and other factors and patterns in evolution is discussed. The text has a clear perspective from the context of systems biology, arguing that the generation of biological autonomy must be interpreted within an integrative systems approach.
Download or read book The Nature of Our Humanity written by Paul T. Jersild and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book addresses a current, frontline issue in the perennial exchange between science and religion. Jersild surveys the contemporary scene in genetic research and the visionary goals of a number of scientists concerning the human future. He focuses on human identity - "Who Are We?" - as the critical question, first addressing our biological origins in light of evolution and presenting a holistic understanding of human nature. He then turns to the world of biotechnology and the tension between human limitations and human potential in light of prospective genetic enhancements. The implications of genetic engineering, the impact of pharmacology, and the human desire for perfection and immortality all enter into a volatile mix of ideas and aspirations concerning the human future. Jersild brings a Christian perspective to these developments in spelling out a responsible stance.
Download or read book Introduction to Complexity and Complex Systems written by Robert B. Northrop and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2014-10-07 with total page 542 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The boundaries between simple and complicated, and complicated and complex system designations are fuzzy and debatable, even using quantitative measures of complexity. However, if you are a biomedical engineer, a biologist, physiologist, economist, politician, stock market speculator, or politician, you have encountered complex systems. Furthermore, your success depends on your ability to successfully interact with and manage a variety of complex systems. In order not to be blindsided by unexpected results, we need a systematic, comprehensive way of analyzing, modeling, and simulating complex systems to predict non-anticipated outcomes. In its engaging first chapters, the book introduces complex systems, Campbell's Law, and the Law of Unintended Consequences, and mathematics necessary for conversations in complex systems. Subsequent chapters illustrate concepts via commonly studied biological mechanisms. The final chapters focus on higher-level complexity problems, and introduce complexity in economic systems. Designed as a reference for biologists and biological engineers, Introduction to Complexity and Complex Systems lends itself to use in a classroom course to introduce advanced students studying biomedical engineering, biophysics, or physiology to complex systems. Engaging and illustrative, this book aids scientists and decision makers in managing biological complexity and complex systems.
Download or read book The Routledge Companion to Ecological Design Thinking written by Mitra Kanaani and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2022-08-31 with total page 836 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This companion investigates the ways in which designers, architects, and planners address ecology through the built environment by integrating ecological ideas and ecological thinking into discussions of urbanism, society, culture, and design. Exploring the innovation of materials, habitats, landscapes, and infrastructures, it furthers novel ecotopian ideas and ways of living, including human-made settings on water, in outer space, and in extreme environments and climatic conditions. Chapters of this extensive collection on ecotopian design are grouped under five different ecological perspectives: design manifestos and ecological theories, anthropocentric transformative design concepts, design connectivity, climatic design, and social design. Contributors provide plausible, sustainable design ideas that promote resiliency, health, and well-being for all living things, while taking our changing lifestyles into consideration. This volume encourages creative thinking in the face of ongoing environmental damage, with a view to making design decisions in the interest of the planet and its inhabitants. With contributions from over 79 expert practitioners, educators, scientists, researchers, and theoreticians, as well as planners, architects, and engineers from the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asia, this book engages theory, history, technology, engineering, and science, as well as the human aspects of ecotopian design thinking and its implications for the outlook of the planet.
Download or read book System City written by and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2013-08-19 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A radical shift is taking place in the way that society is thinkingabout cities, a change from the machine metaphors of the 20thcentury to mathematical models of the processes of biological andnatural systems. From this new perspective, cities are regarded notsimply as spatially extended material artefacts, but as complexsystems that are analogous to living organisms, exhibiting many ofthe same characteristics. There is an emerging view that the designof the thousands of new cities needed for an expanding worldpopulation are to be founded on intelligent and inhabitedinfrastructural systems or ‘flow architectures’ ofurban metabolisms. The physical arrays of the flow architecture ofthe city are intimately connected to the networks of subsidiarysystems that collect and distribute energy, materials andinformation. They animate the city, and should therefore beintimately coupled to the spatial and cultural patterns of life inthe city, to the public spaces through which people flow, andshould unite rather than divide urban morphological and ecologicalsystems. Featured architects: AMID(cero9), Buro Happold, Foster +Partners, Groundlab and SOM. Contributors include: Joan Busquets, Kate Davies and Liam Young,Mehran Gharleghi, Evan Greenberg and George Jeronimidis, MarinaLathouri, Wolf Mangelsdorf, Daniel Segraves, Jack Self, RicardSolé and Sergi Valverde, and Iain Stewart.
Download or read book Handbook of Human Rights written by Thomas Cushman and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-02-20 with total page 769 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Handbook maps out the field of human rights for the humanities and social sciences. It provides a solid foundation for the reader who wants to learn the basic parameters of the field, but also to promote new thinking and frameworks for the future study of human rights in the twenty-first century.
Download or read book The Major Transitions in Evolution Revisited written by Brett Calcott and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2011-04-22 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on recent advances in evolutionary biology, prominent scholars return to the question posed in a pathbreaking book: how evolution itself evolved. In 1995, John Maynard Smith and Eörs Szathmáry published their influential book The Major Transitions in Evolution. The "transitions" that Maynard Smith and Szathmáry chose to describe all constituted major changes in the kinds of organisms that existed but, most important, these events also transformed the evolutionary process itself. The evolution of new levels of biological organization, such as chromosomes, cells, multicelled organisms, and complex social groups radically changed the kinds of individuals natural selection could act upon. Many of these events also produced revolutionary changes in the process of inheritance, by expanding the range and fidelity of transmission, establishing new inheritance channels, and developing more open-ended sources of variation. Maynard Smith and Szathmáry had planned a major revision of their work, but the death of Maynard Smith in 2004 prevented this. In this volume, prominent scholars (including Szathmáry himself) reconsider and extend the earlier book's themes in light of recent developments in evolutionary biology. The contributors discuss different frameworks for understanding macroevolution, prokaryote evolution (the study of which has been aided by developments in molecular biology), and the complex evolution of multicellularity.
Download or read book The Why of Things written by Peter Rabins and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2013-08-27 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the author of the landmark bestseller The-Thirty-Six-Hour-Day comes a lucid, engaging, and nuanced treatment of one of the essential questions in science, medicine, and life: "Why?"
