TY - BOOK ID - 80823820 TI - Modular evolution : how natural selection produces biological complexity PY - 2010 SN - 9780511762994 9780521429641 9780521728775 9780511776441 9780511774928 0511774923 0511776446 9780511773860 0511773862 0521429641 0521728770 0511762992 9786612657955 6612657952 1107205816 9781107205819 0511775687 9780511775680 0511772793 9780511772795 128265795X PB - Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, DB - UniCat KW - Evolution (Biology) KW - Natural selection. KW - Biocomplexity. KW - Molecular evolution. KW - Biochemical evolution KW - Chemical evolution KW - Evolution KW - Life KW - Molecular biology KW - Biological complexity KW - Complexity, Biological KW - Biology KW - Biodiversity KW - Darwinism KW - Selection, Natural KW - Genetics KW - Variation (Biology) KW - Biological invasions KW - Heredity KW - Animal evolution KW - Animals KW - Biological evolution KW - Evolutionary biology KW - Evolutionary science KW - Origin of species KW - Biological fitness KW - Homoplasy KW - Natural selection KW - Phylogeny KW - Origin UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:80823820 AB - Natural selection is more than the survival of the fittest: it is a force engendering higher biological complexity. Presenting a new explanation for the tendency of life to become more complex through evolution, this book offers an introduction to the key debates in evolutionary theory, including the role of genes and sex in evolution, the adaptive reasons for senescence and death and the origin of neural information. The author argues that biological complexity increased through the process of 'modularity transfer': modular phenotypes (proteins, somatic cells, learned behaviours) evolved into new modular information carriers (regulatory proteins, neural cells, words), giving rise to new information systems and higher levels of biological organisation. Modular Evolution makes sense of the unique place of humans in evolution, both as the pinnacle of biological complexity and inventors of non-biological evolution. ER -