rss_2.0Sciendo RSS Feed for BioCosmoshttps://sciendo.com/journal/BIOCOSMOShttps://www.sciendo.comhttps://sciendo-parsed-data-feed.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/641452b8627d370c6a6a23ad/cover-image.jpghttps://sciendo.com/journal/BIOCOSMOS140216https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/biocosmos-2023-0001<abstract> <title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> <p>Synonymous mutations in a protein coding gene lead to a remarkably similar average “collateral” mutation effect size across alternative reading frames (1). Here we quantify the rarity of this feature among possible block structure codes as 0.77%. Then we develop a simple model of evolutionary search with two types of mutation. Across different mutation step sizes and ratios of the two types, the fitness-maximizing region corresponds to using a single average mutation value. The analogous constant average collateral mutation effect observed for the standard genetic code may likewise facilitate evolutionary search in alternative frame sequences.</p> </abstract>ARTICLEtruehttps://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/biocosmos-2023-00012023-03-17T00:00:00.000+00:00https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/biocosmos-2022-0003ARTICLEtruehttps://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/biocosmos-2022-00032022-08-16T00:00:00.000+00:00https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/biocosmos-2022-0002<abstract> <title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> <p>The post-genomic era raises questions about neo-Darwinian genetic determinism. Instead, open aspects of macroevolution become intelligible by Evo-Devo research. At all developmental levels, self-organization acts robustly towards “wholeness”, as exemplified by organoid technologies. In retinal reaggregates histotypical features are reached along different formative routes. Thus, tissue formation is not merely gene-directed, but channeled by unpredictable external conditions. These insights restrict conceptions of onto- and phylogenesis. Neither is characterized by unlimited randomness nor by finite genocentrism. A re-examination of Driesch’s drive to wholeness, i.e., robustness and intentionality, appears timely, while his teleologic postulates remain undecidable by reductionist reasoning.</p> </abstract>ARTICLEtruehttps://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/biocosmos-2022-00022022-05-25T00:00:00.000+00:00https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/biocosmos-2022-0006<abstract> <title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> <p>It is often argued both by scientists and the lay public that it is extremely unlikely for life or minds to arise spontaneously, but this argument is hard to quantify. In this paper I make this argument more rigorous, starting with a review of the concepts of information and entropy, and then examining the specific case of Maxwell's demon and how it relates to living systems. I argue that information and entropy are objective physical quantities, defined for systems as a whole, which allow general arguments in terms of physical law. In particular, I argue that living systems obey the same rules as Maxwell's demons.</p> </abstract>ARTICLEtruehttps://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/biocosmos-2022-00062022-04-13T00:00:00.000+00:00https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/biocosmos-2021-0001ARTICLEtruehttps://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/biocosmos-2021-00012021-11-10T00:00:00.000+00:00https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/biocosmos-2021-0002<abstract> <title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> <p>Highly accurate self-replication of cellular phenotype is a requirement for biological evolution. I previously investigated the degree of self-replication fidelity needed in a viable, evolving population of living cells. Here I present a phase transition approach from non-living chemical complexity to evolving living creatures and illustrate the necessary non-continuity of whatever process led to the origin of evolution. A theoretical approach to the relationship between replication fidelity, survival probability and the capacity to grow and evolve is presented consistent with previous data from experimental simulations. The implications for the origin of life to include explanations for non-continuity are discussed.</p> </abstract>ARTICLEtruehttps://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/biocosmos-2021-00022021-12-05T00:00:00.000+00:00en-us-1