1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910778181903321

Autore

Keller Evelyn Fox <1936-2023.>

Titolo

Making sense of life [[electronic resource] ] : explaining biological development with models, metaphors, and machines / / Evelyn Fox Keller

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cambridge, MA, : Harvard University Press, 2002

ISBN

0-674-03944-0

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xii, 388 p. ) : ill

Classificazione

WB 4000

Disciplina

570.1

Soggetti

Developmental biology

Biology

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Originally published: 2002.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [351]-381) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Preface Introduction PART ONE Models: Explaining Development without the Help of Genes 1. Synthetic Biology and the Origin of Living Form 2. Morphology as a Science of Mechanical Forces 3. Untimely Births of a Mathematical Biology PART TWO Metaphors: Genes and Developmental Narratives 4. Genes, Gene Action, and Genetic Programs 5. Taming the Cybernetic Metaphor 6. Positioning Positional Information PART THREE Machines: Understanding Development with Computers, Recombinant DNA, and Molecular Imaging 7. The Visual Culture of Molecular Embryology 8. New Roles for Mathematical and Computational Modeling 9. Synthetic Biology Redux-Computer Simulation and Artificial Life Conclusion: Understanding Development Notes References Index

Sommario/riassunto

What do biologists want? How will we know when we have 'made sense' of life? Explanations in the biological sciences are provisional and partial, judged by criteria as heterogenous as their subject matter. This text accounts for this diversity.