The logic of chance : the nature and origin of biological evolution

Abstract

Toward a postmodern synthesis of evolutionary biology - The fundamentals of evolution : Darwin and modern synthesis - From modern synthesis to evolutionary genomics : multiple processes and patterns of evolution - Comparative genomics : evolving genomescapes - Genomics, systems biology, and universals of evolution : genome evolution as a phenomenon of statistical physics - The web genomics of the prokaryotic world : vertical and horizontal flows of genes, the mobilome, and the dynamic pangenomes - The phylogenetic forest and the quest for the elusive Tree of Life in the age of genomics - The origins of eukaryotes : endosymbiosis, the strange story of introns, and the ultimate importance of unique events in evolution - The non-adaptive null hypothesis of genome evolution and origins of biological complexity - The Darwinian, Lamarckian, and Wrightean modalities of evolution, robustness, evolvability, and the creative role of noise in evolution - The virus world and its evolution - The last universal common ancestor, the origin of cells, and the primordial gene pool - Origin of life : the emergence of translation, replication, metabolism, and membranes - the biological, geochemical, and cosmological perspectives - The postmodern state of evolutionary biology - Appendix A. Postmodernist philosophy, metanarratives, and the nature and goals of the scientific endeavor - Appendix B. Evolution of the cosmos and life : eternal inflation, "many worlds in one," anthropic selection, and a rough estimate of the probability of the origin of life