Darwinian Research Articles

“A Single and Indivisible Principle of Unity”: On Growth and Form in Context

AbstractD’Arcy Thompson’s On Growth and Form is one of the key works at the intersection of science and the imagination. This introductory essay explores the book and its context, drawing on archival sources to provide a unique perspective. It looks at Thompson’s own life and career, his experiences at University College, Dundee, and how he came to write the book. It describes the contents of the 1917 first edition (as many today are familiar only with the 1961 abridgement of the 1942 second edition). It looks at the book’s initial reception, exploring the context of biological ideas of the time, particularly in regard to Thompson’s perceived opposition to Darwinian theory and the debate between vitalism and mechanism. It explores the early influence of the book on ecologists and systems theorists and other early attempts at mathematical biology, as well as its significant influence on artists and architects. It then describes the development of the second edition of the book and the subsequent increase of interest in his work from both artists and scientists. It concludes by summarizing recent initiatives in the D’Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum.

It from bit: AI and the laws of nature

AbstractThe present rate of growth of powerful AI systems motivates an accurate comparison between the notion of computers and the workings of natural sciences. Statements such as “intelligence doesn't require flesh, blood or carbon atoms” or “it's computation all the way down” incite a substrate‐independent view, providing shortcuts for Darwinian evolution and the possible appearance of sentient machines. This view is discussed and contrasted from a quantum chemical perspective. The qualitative difference between the developed AI and the evolved HI is recognized and the importance of a material constituent, formulated in terms of energy‐temperature, conjugate to an immaterial ingredient, in the context of time‐entropy, is pointed out as a necessary feature. The popular dictum “it from bit” does not appear valid unless amended with its obverse “bit from it.”

René-Edouard Claparède (1832–1871), Genevan naturalist and early adopter of Darwin's theory of evolution

René-Edouard Claparède was a ground-breaking Swiss naturalist specializing primarily in invertebrate embryology and the study of Protista and Annelida. While a student in Berlin he was encouraged by Christian Ehrenberg to use the latest microscopes and became renowned as a skilful observer and illustrator of the smallest organisms then known and of tiny anatomical details. A popular lecturer in zoology and comparative anatomy in his home town of Geneva, he nonetheless encountered difficulties in that city, still considered the “Protestant Rome”, due to his strong support for Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. His involvement in the first French translation of On the origin of species ( Darwin 1862 ) proved problematic too, although his remark, “It is better to be an improved ape than a degenerate Adam,” became a catchphrase in discussions of this contentious debate. Premature death meant that Claparède's work was quickly surpassed in many areas, but the diversity of his many publications, given here in the most complete bibliography compiled to date, is a testament to a widely respected, although overshadowed, naturalist.

PHILOSOPHICAL ASPECTS AND SCIENTIFIC SIGNIFICANCE OF HENRI BERGSON'S INTUITIONISM AND THE IDEA OF "VITAL ENTHUSIASM"

The article analyzes the views of the famous French philosopher Henri Bergson on vitality and intuitionism. Bergson contrasted his theory of creative evolution with Darwin's theory of evolution in a rationalistic spirit. He reveals that Darwin's views were mechanistic in nature. It also shows the difference between intellect and intuition. Since natural processes are characterized by vitality, they prove to be creative in nature.

Synergetic paradigm of the global world

All sociological paradigms are based on the existing picture of the world, which determines them through cognitive models. Thus, the Darwinian evolutionism and dialectical materialism that developed in the last century were mainly based on four cognitive models: scholastic (nature and society as texts), mechanistic (nature and society as machines), statistical (nature and society as balances of average values) and systemic (nature and society as organisms). Contemporary sociological paradigms - of social facts, social behavior, social definitions and determinism - are also based on these cognitive models; however, today social processes go beyond these cognitive models, and there is a growing interest in an interdisciplinary approach called ‘synergetics’ (1). The synergetic approach uses such concepts as ‘order’, ‘chaos’, ‘nonlinearity’, ‘uncertainty’, ‘instability’, ‘dissipative structures’, ‘bifurcation’, ‘attractor’ and etc. Synergetics studies the general laws of self-organization, stability and destruction of ordered structures in complex systems of various nature; it is a theory of self-organization and development of open systems of any origin [6]. The synergetic style of scientific thinking presupposes a probabilistic vision of the world, which developed in the 19th century. Synergetics contributes to the formation of a new type of scientific thinking - post-non-classical, to the inclusion of humanistic and axiological parameters in scientific research and to the development of non-linear thinking, proving the inadequacy of the model of consistent and gradual cumulative development. The new sociological paradigm should accept the idea of synergetics about the interconnectedness of epistemology and ontology, i.e. the idea that the cognitive activity of the subject changes reality: the very choice of the object, conceptual scheme, methods and the use of the results obtained forms, changes and destroys the ontological basis; therefore, the researcher is responsible for the world that he creates and reforms.

Environmental Stability and Its Importance for the Emergence of Darwinian Evolution.

The emergence of Darwinian evolution represents a central point in the history of life as we know it. However, it is generally assumed that the environments in which life appeared were hydrothermal environments, with highly variable conditions in terms of pH, temperature or redox levels. Are evolutionary processes favored to appear in such settings, where the target of biological adaptation changes over time? How would the first evolving populations compete with non-evolving populations? Using a numerical model, we explore the effect of environmental variation on the outcome of the competition between evolving and non-evolving populations of protocells. Our study found that, while evolving protocells consistently outcompete non-evolving populations in stable environments, they are outcompeted in variable environments when environmental variations occur on a timescale similar to the average duration of a generation. This is due to the energetic burden represented by adaptation to the wrong environmental conditions. Since the timescale of temperature variation in natural hydrothermal settings overlaps with the average prokaryote generation time, the current work indicates that a solution must have been found by early life to overcome this threshold.

Binding of herpesvirus entry mediator (HVEM) and HSV-1 gD affect reactivation but not latency levels.

Previously we reported that the HSV-1 latency associated transcript (LAT) specifically upregulates the cellular herpesvirus entry mediator (HVEM) but no other known HSV-1 receptors. HSV-1 glycoprotein D (gD) binds to HVEM but the effect of this interaction on latency-reactivation is not known. We found that the levels of latent viral genomes were not affected by the absence of gD binding to HVEM. However, reactivation of latent virus in trigeminal ganglia explant cultures was blocked in the absence of gD binding to HVEM. Neither differential HSV-1 replication and spread in the eye nor levels of latency influenced reactivation. Despite similar levels of latency, reactivation in the absence of gD binding to HVEM correlated with reduced T cell exhaustion. Our results indicate that HVEM-gD signaling plays a significant role in HSV-1 reactivation but not in ocular virus replication or levels of latency. The results presented here identify gD binding to HVEM as an important target that influences reactivation and survival of ganglion resident T cells but not levels of latency. This concept may also apply to other herpesviruses that engages HVEM.

Thomas Pangle’s Neo-Epicurean Reading of Aristotle’s Biology

In his 2020 reading of Aristotle’s biology, “A Synoptic Introduction to the Ontological Background of Aristotle’s Political Theory,” Thomas L. Pangle (2020) speaks de facto on behalf of contemporary Neo-Epicureanism. For Pangle reads Aristotle by way of advancing the cause of an Epicurean use of Plato. Proposing to liberate Aristotle from a 2,400 year-old Platonic tradition having allegedly unduly minimized the importance of biology in understanding both ontology and politics, Pangle argues for fundamental compatibility between the Stagirite and Darwinian evolutionism. The present article offers strong reasons to reject Pangle's central contentions.

Gender Equality and Progress Analysis in Representative Regions Based on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Thousands of years ago, the emergence of patrilineal society replaced the matriarchal society, and humans have lived under this social system ever since. Although Darwins theory of evolution and many scholars believe that this change is a symbol of human progress, with the continuous progress of human civilization, the patrilineal social system that is almost equal to the history of mankind is being overthrown by the torrent of the times. With the perseverance of the past few generations, people can clearly feel that the status of women is constantly improving, and the boundaries between the sexes are continuously blurring. But in some areas and regions, the movement appears to have reached a dead end. This article quantifies the achievements of the gender equality movement in the global region over the past few decades from the data level and indicates the areas we still have work to do through data analysis. Starting from data processing, the author first showed the current situation of gender equality, then proposed the concept of closing the loop on gender equality issues, and analyzed the efforts made by human beings in the gender equality movement since 2000 from the aspects of health, education and work and existing problems. Finally, this paper analyzes the gaps in the movement in various regions. Undoubtedly, affirmative action movements of gender in various countries and regions are making progress in line with local characteristics. However, in contrast, some fields have not made significant progress due to special historical and cultural reasons.

"Sans doute habituée à une existence sédentaire": Des Esseintes's Turtle and the Residue of Naturalism

Abstract: This article analyzes the decorated turtle in Huysmans's 1884 À rebours . It argues that des Esseintes's unfortunate animal, which perishes under its heavy ornamentation, plays out the apprehensions of its owner and embodies the psychological and physical perils that await him. Turtles—fundamental to nineteenth-century discoveries in developmental biology as well as to Darwin's theories of evolution—are at once instructive specimens and labile signifiers in competing narratives: sites and objects of theorization. The narrator's use of this animal thus also amounts to an insertion of naturalism within the novel's storied decadence. To make this argument, this article examines the turtle episode in the context of late nineteenth-century scientific and fictional writings about turtles, including Jules Hosch's 1878 short story "Histoire d'une tortue et d'un étudiant."

Implementarea algoritmilor genetici. Abordări practice

In the paper, the authors analyze the main concepts related to the operation of the Genetic Algorithm in order to find an optimal solution, expressed through the fitness function. By analogy with the evolutionary dimension of Darwin's theory, which involves the generation of populations (generations) of chromosomes, the genetic algorithm involves the selection of the most "efficient", most "adaptable" chromosomes from the current generation. Thus, new chromosomes are formed by applying one of the three genetic operators (or all three): selection, crossover and mutation. In this sense the authors examine the most popular methods related to the implementation of the genetic operators mentioned above. A concrete application of the Genetic Algorithm is examined and at the same time the stopping conditions of the respective algorithm are investigated.

Understanding the Software of the Mind, Self and Culture: The Scientific Foundation of Indigenous and Cultural Psychology

The understanding of the nature and the software of the mind has generated immense debate in religion, philosophy, sciences and psychology. Drucker notes that the basic assumption about the reality is the foundation for science, axiom and algorithm adopted for the theory, concept and method. The assumption differentiates what is important from what is noise. In the medieval Europe, the Catholic Church provided a unified theory of the world as a reflection of God’s grand design and purpose. They held the power to define and thus had the power to control people’s lives. Their power was challenged during the Renaissance with the emergence of humanism. The Cartesian duality of separating the mind from body allowed the separation of church and state and science to flourish. In East Asia, Confucius articulated a different set of assumptions. Humans are defined as ingan 人間 (‘human between’) and assume relationship and compassion as the basic foundation. This is the basis of the cultural difference and theory of the mind. The Darwinian Evolutionary Theory replaced the religious definition, Cartesian duality, and empathy with the biological traits, instincts and natural selection. Psychology adopted the biological model to explain human behaviour. Research in paleoanthropology, genetics, and neurobiology outline the limitations of the biological model in explaining the human mind and behaviour. Bandura has documented the importance of human agency, consciousness, and self-efficacy in explaining human behaviour and provided empirical results with greater predictive and explanatory power than the traditional psychological theories. Indigenous and cultural psychology represents the continuation of the assumptions, theory and concepts outlined by Wilhelm Wundt and Albert Bandura. Kim outlines the transactional model of science, where human agency (measured by self-efficacy) can explain a person’s performance and outcome. Empirically, the Harvard Study of Adult Development, the 85-year longitudinal study, found the unexpected results that challenge the previous held assumptions. Waldinger and Schulz have found that maintaining good relationship is the most important predictor of happiness, health and longevity and not high income, success, IQ and personality. Kim and Kim found that for Millennials and Gen Z, happiness is predicted by relational and social efficacy, positive outlook, and receiving social support from family, friends and online communities, replicating previous results found across three generations and for the past 25 years in Korea. These results point to the importance of examining the basic assumptions of the theories in psychology and the scientific foundation of indigenous and cultural psychology.

Light-driven eco-evolutionary dynamics in a synthetic replicator system.

Darwinian evolution involves the inheritance and selection of variations in reproducing entities. Selection can be based on, among others, interactions with the environment. Conversely, the replicating entities can also affect their environment generating a reciprocal feedback on evolutionary dynamics. The onset of such eco-evolutionary dynamics marks a stepping stone in the transition from chemistry to biology. Yet the bottom-up creation of a molecular system that exhibits eco-evolutionary dynamics has remained elusive. Here we describe the onset of such dynamics in a minimal system containing two synthetic self-replicators. The replicators are capable of binding and activating a co-factor, enabling them to change the oxidation state of their environment through photoredox catalysis. The replicator distribution adapts to this change and, depending on light intensity, one or the other replicator becomes dominant. This study shows how behaviour analogous to eco-evolutionary dynamics-which until now has been restricted to biology-can be created using an artificial minimal replicator system.

Spontaneous Emergence of Multicellular Heritability.

The major transitions in evolution include events and processes that result in the emergence of new levels of biological individuality. For collectives to undergo Darwinian evolution, their traits must be heritable, but the emergence of higher-level heritability is poorly understood and has long been considered a stumbling block for nascent evolutionary transitions. Using analytical models, synthetic biology, and biologically-informed simulations, we explored the emergence of trait heritability during the evolution of multicellularity. Prior work on the evolution of multicellularity has asserted that substantial collective-level trait heritability either emerges only late in the transition or requires some evolutionary change subsequent to the formation of clonal multicellular groups. In a prior analytical model, we showed that collective-level heritability not only exists but is usually more heritable than the underlying cell-level trait upon which it is based, as soon as multicellular groups form. Here, we show that key assumptions and predictions of that model are borne out in a real engineered biological system, with important implications for the emergence of collective-level heritability.

450 million years in the making: mapping the evolutionary foundations of germinal centers.

Germinal centers (GCs) are distinct microanatomical structures that form in the secondary lymphoid organs of endothermic vertebrates (i.e., mammals and some birds). Within GCs, B cells undergo a Darwinian selection process to identify clones which can respond to pathogen insult as well as affinity mature the B cell repertoire. The GC response ultimately generates memory B cells and bone marrow plasma cells which facilitate humoral immunological memory, the basis for successful vaccination programs. GCs have not been observed in the secondary lymphoid organs of ectothermic jawed vertebrates (i.e., fishes, reptiles, and amphibians). However, abundant research over the past decades has indicated these organisms can produce antigen specific B cell responses and some degree of affinity maturation. This review examines data demonstrating that the fundamentals of B cell selection may be more conserved across vertebrate phylogeny than previously anticipated. Further, research in both conventional mammalian model systems and comparative models raises the question of what evolutionary benefit GCs provide endotherms if they are seemingly unnecessary for generating the basic functional components of jawed vertebrate humoral adaptive immune responses.

In vitro fitness of SARS-CoV-2 variants as assessed by competition experiments followed by ddRT-PCR and whole genome sequencing.

To develop a new method for reliable and rapid determination of the fitness of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern. Competition experiments between two SARS-CoV-2 variants were performed in cells of the upper (nasal human airway epithelium) and lower (Calu-3 cells) respiratory tracts followed by quantification of variant ratios by droplet digital reverse transcription (ddRT)-PCR. In competition experiments, the delta variant outcompeted the alpha variant in both cells of the upper and lower respiratory tracts. A 50/50% mixture of delta and omicron variants indicated a predominance of omicron in the upper respiratory tract whereas delta predominated in the lower respiratory tract. There was no evidence of recombination events between variants in competition as assessed by whole gene sequencing. Differential replication kinetics were shown between variants of concern which may explain, at least partly, the emergence and disease severity associated with new SARS-CoV-2 variants.

Eternidade do Mundo e Evolução: Duas Questões e uma Análise de tipo Tomista

This essay was born out of two astonishments: an admiration and a perplexity. On the one hand, this essay was born out of our admiration for the text of the question De aeternitate mundi, written by St. Thomas Aquinas in the full maturity of his thought (1271). It is a philosophically exemplary text, in terms of construction and discernment, in which the author argues that there is no contradiction between the theology of creation and the possibility of an eternal world, in accordance with Aristotelian physics. On the other hand, we were also motivated by our perplexity with the difficulty that even today the Christian faith in creation experiences in dealing with the Darwinian theory of evolution. It occurred to us, then, to elaborate a question of evolution, entirely analogous, in construction and in discernment, to the question of the eternity of the world, as it had been thought of by St. Thomas Aquinas. Thus, we also argue here that there is no contradiction between the theology of creation and the possibility of a world in evolution, according to Darwin’s biological theory. And we do this by following the structure of the Thomasian question step by step.

Household-Related Factors Leading to Students’ Dropout from Mixed-Day Secondary Schools in Bomet East Sub-County, Kenya

Education is a basic need to every citizen. However, dropout has been at the top barring all countries the world over in ensuring a hundred percent literacy rates. The Kenyan government has since independence come up with various policies in a bid to increase access and retention rate: Free primary Education (2003), Free Day Secondary Education (2008) and a 100% transition rate policy (2018) from primary school to secondary. This study sought to investigate Household – related factors leading to Students’ Dropout from Mixed-Day Secondary Schools in Bomet East Sub-County, Kenya for the period between the year 2020 and 2023. This study tried to determine the reasons as to why students drop out of school and suggested recommendations on what can be done about it. The study was based on The Classical Theory of Equal Opportunities and Social Darwinism that is predicated on a philosophy that everyone has fair and equal access to a good quality education regardless of social background, race, gender, or religion, and where people achieve success in education according to their efforts and ability, free from any form of discrimination. Descriptive Research Design was used. Questionnaires and interview schedules were used to collect data from the sampled respondents in sampled Mixed Day Secondary schools. Piloting was carried out. Percentages and Frequencies were used to analyze the data with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). It was found out that the following household-related factors lead to student’s dropout; female genital mutilation, early marriages, child labour and cultural beliefs. The study suggests five recommendations to curb school dropouts. The findings are hoped to add new knowledge and benefit the teachers, school principals and other school stakeholders to put necessary measures in place to curb the dropout problem.

Nash equilibrium mapping vs. Hamiltonian dynamics vs. Darwinian evolution for some social dilemma games in the thermodynamic limit

Nash equilibrium mapping vs. Hamiltonian dynamics vs. Darwinian evolution for some social dilemma games in the thermodynamic limit

Claude Bernard's non reception of Darwinism.

The aim of this paper is to explain why, while Charles Darwin was well recognized as a scientific leader of his time, Claude Bernard never really regarded Darwinism as a scientific theory. The lukewarm reception of Darwin at the Académie des Sciences of Paris and his nomination to a chair only after 8years contrasts with his prominence, and Bernard's attitude towards Darwin's theory of species evolution belongs to this French context. Yet we argue that Bernard rejects the scientific value of Darwinian principles mainly for epistemological reasons. Like Darwin, Bernard was interested in hereditary processes, and planned to conduct experiments on these processes that could lead to species transformation. But the potential creation of new forms of life would not vindicate Darwinism since biologists can only explain the origin of morphotypes and morphological laws by the means of untestable analogies. Because it can be the object neither of experiments nor of any empirical observation, phylogeny remains out of science's scope. Around 1878 Bernard foresaw a new general physiology based on the study of protoplasm, which he saw as the agent of all basic living phenomena. We will analyze why Bernard regarded Darwinism as part of metaphysics, yet still referred to Darwinians in his latter works in 1878. Basically, the absence of a scientific reception of Darwinism in Bernard's work should not obscure its philosophical reception, which highlights the main principles of Bernard's epistemology.