Redefining evolution
Fascinating article about a possible revolution in the understanding of molecular biology because of new research involving RNA and mRNA influence on evolution and gene expression.
9 votes  by tyrhaynes    4 comments   

Comments

airobo    1 votes   Tuesday, January 15, 2008 at 3:00 PM
> Pruitt argues that it might be useful for organisms to carry a cache of
> non-chromosomal genetic information 'remembered' from past generations

That's such an interesting concept. So cells pass two sets of genetic data to future generations: RNA is temporary and DNA is permanent. I bet this could have potential applications in genetic algorithms.
[Reply]
wal    1 votes   Tuesday, January 15, 2008 at 4:36 PM
Our biology seems to be one of those problems in which complexity increases exponentially as we make progress understanding it. That, unfortunately, makes even the exponential growth of computer processing power unable to catch up with our needs to fully understand the problem.
[Reply]
cosmic    1 votes   Wednesday, January 16, 2008 at 10:53 AM
But our biology is finite, and at some point we'll have a complete understanding of it and there will not nothing new to discover. We'll have an abundance of processing power to spare.
[Reply]
akkartik    1 votes   Monday, January 21, 2008 at 10:25 AM
Another interesting glimpse of what goes on inside the cell is Matt Ridley's talk at the Selfish Gene retrospective: http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/bios/ridley.html
[Reply]
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