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First, Barbara McClintock, then exile

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Product Details From The Evolution Revolution by Lee Spetner:

Much has been learned in the life sciences in the last several decades about how an organism can alter its genome to enable it to adapt to new environmental conditions. Transposable genetic elements were discovered some seventy years ago by Barbara McClintock (McClintock 1941, 1950, 1955, 1956, 1983), but they were initially dismissed by mainstream geneticists as spurious phenomena. McClintock pursued her research despite it being considered a backwater area, and eventually the importance of her work was recognized by the Nobel Prize committee in awarding her the Prize in Medicine in 1983.

The transposable genetic elements she discovered have been subsequently revealed to be members of a class of genetic rearrangements that do not occur spontaneously by chance but are under strict cellular control. In these rearrangements, sections of DNA can move from one place to another in the genome, or can be removed entirely. These controlled genetic changes can reveal latent genes that were in the genome but were previously unavailable to the organism. Hall (1999) has called them cryptic genes, but more about these genes later.

Environmental changes are known to elicit various kinds of stress in an organism. Furthermore, McClintock noticed in her early work in plants that some types of stress can trigger genetic rearrangements (McClintock 1984). Organisms seem to have the ability to relieve the stress by altering both their phenotype and genotype. Stress has been defined generally as an environmental condition threatening to upset the balance and stability of the organism. Stress in an organism includes many kinds of stimuli. In microorganisms, stress can be an excess or deprivation of necessary molecules, such as sugars or salts. It could also be excessively high or low temperature.

In plants and animals, stress is usually a more complex form of environmental insult. Stress can elicitgenetic rearrangements, which can in turn activate latent (or cryptic) genes. Many examples are known of genetic rearrangements activating latent genes (e.g., Shapiro 1992 & 2009, Hall 1999). Slack et al. (2006) have reported that stress can elicit an adaptive response in E. coli by selectively amplifying genes. Hersh et al. (2004) have reported that stress can induce adaptive genetic changes in E. coli. In subsequent sections I will discuss stress in both single-celled and higher organisms, and its heritable effects. (P. 47)

Lee Spetner? One of the people you should know about if you don’t.

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Comments
ppolish, thanks for the link. It is good they found Quantum criticality in a wide range of important biomolecules: As to:
“Most of the molecules taking part actively in biochemical processes are tuned exactly to the transition point and are critical conductors,” they say. That’s a discovery that is as important as it is unexpected. “These findings suggest an entirely new and universal mechanism of conductance in biology very different from the one used in electrical circuits.” The permutations of possible energy levels of biomolecules is huge so the possibility of finding even one that is in the quantum critical state by accident is mind-bogglingly small and, to all intents and purposes, impossible.,, of the order of 10^-50 of possible small biomolecules and even less for proteins,”,,,
as to their question at the end of their paper:
"what exactly is the advantage that criticality confers?"
I would offer that criticality allows, among many other marvelous and wondrous things that have been barely discovered yet, biophotonic communication between molecules:
Biophotons - The Light In Our Cells - Marco Bischof - March 2005 Excerpt page 2: The Coherence of Biophotons: ,,, Biophotons consist of light with a high degree of order, in other words, biological laser light. Such light is very quiet and shows an extremely stable intensity, without the fluctuations normally observed in light. Because of their stable field strength, its waves can superimpose, and by virtue of this, interference effects become possible that do not occur in ordinary light. Because of the high degree of order, the biological laser light is able to generate and keep order and to transmit information in the organism. http://www.international-light-association.eu/PDF/Biophotons.pdf Bioactive peptide design using the Resonant Recognition Model - 2007 Excerpt: There is evidence that proteins and DNA have certain conducting properties [12]. If so, then charges would be moving through the backbone of the macromolecule and passing through different energy stages caused by the different side groups of various amino acids or nucleotides. This process provides sufficient conditions for the emission of electromagnetic waves. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1997124/ The mechanism and properties of bio-photon emission and absorption in protein molecules in living systems - May 2012 Excerpt: From the energy spectra, it was determined that the protein molecules could both radiate and absorb bio-photons with wavelengths of less than 3microm and 5–7microm, consistent with the energy level transitions of the excitons.,,, http://jap.aip.org/resource/1/japiau/v111/i9/p093519_s1?isAuthorized=no Symphony of Life, Revealed: New Imaging Technique Captures Vibrations of Proteins, Tiny Motions Critical to Human Life - Jan. 16, 2014 Excerpt: To observe the protein vibrations, Markelz' team relied on an interesting characteristic of proteins: The fact that they vibrate at the same frequency as the light they absorb. This is analogous to the way wine glasses tremble and shatter when a singer hits exactly the right note. Markelz explained: Wine glasses vibrate because they are absorbing the energy of sound waves, and the shape of a glass determines what pitches of sound it can absorb. Similarly, proteins with different structures will absorb and vibrate in response to light of different frequencies. So, to study vibrations in lysozyme, Markelz and her colleagues exposed a sample to light of different frequencies and polarizations, and measured the types of light the protein absorbed. This technique, , allowed the team to identify which sections of the protein vibrated under normal biological conditions. The researchers were also able to see that the vibrations endured over time, challenging existing assumptions. "If you tap on a bell, it rings for some time, and with a sound that is specific to the bell. This is how the proteins behave," Markelz said. "Many scientists have previously thought a protein is more like a wet sponge than a bell: If you tap on a wet sponge, you don't get any sustained sound." http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140116084838.htm Proteins Conduct Electricity - November 25, 2012 Excerpt: "The team showed that the protein could carry large currents, equivalent to a human hair carrying one amp. The team also discovered that current flow could be regulated in much the same way as transistors, the tiny devices driving computers and smartphones, work but on a smaller scale: the proteins are only a quarter of the size of current silicon based transistors." The finding represents a leap forward in measurement at the nano scale. “Prior to this work, measurement of millions, if not billions of proteins was only possible, so losing crucial details of how an individual molecule functions.” The team used scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) to read the electronics of a single molecule of cytochrome b562, a protein just 5 nanometers (billions of a meter) long. http://crev.info/2012/11/proteins-conduct-electricity/
Of note: AWG 44 wire is the wire size that is equivalent to the width of a human hair,,
Measurements and Gauge Excerpt: An AWG # 44 wire is about the thickness of a human hair. per unimaxsupply
And AWG 44 wire is rated at well below the .014 Ampacity, which is the the last Ampacity they have listed for AWG 40 wire,,,
AWG Wire Table, AWG Copper Wire Gauge Chart http://www.interfacebus.com/Copper_Wire_AWG_SIze.html
Thus, since 1 divided by .010 is 100, the ampacity (current carrying capacity) for the protein they measured is at least 100 times better than a copper or silver wire would be compared at the size of a human hair. Also of note: The best manmade (intelligently designed) conductor of electricity beats copper and silver by only 30 to 50 times:
Graphene: How It Will Change the Future - Apr 12, 2012 Excerpt: Copper is a great conductor of electricity and heat. Only silver beats copper (by less than 10%). That is why we use copper wires to transmit electricity and data, and copper pots are prized by cooks. Graphene conducts heat and electricity 30-50 times better than copper and silver: electrons flowing in graphene travel near the speed of light. http://finchin.com/graphene-in-plain-english/
It is also of interest to note that man is just now taking his first baby steps in using photons in integrated circuits:
Synthetic Magnetism Used to Control Light: Opens Door to Nanoscale Applications That Use Light Instead of Electricity (Oct. 31, 2012) Excerpt: The ability to use magnetic fields to redirect electrons is a founding principle of electronics, but a corollary for photons had not previously existed. When an electron approaches a magnetic field, it meets resistance and opts to follow the path of least effort, traveling in circular motion around the field. Similarly, this new device sends photons in a circular motion around the synthetic magnetic field. The Stanford solution capitalizes on recent research into photonic crystals -- materials that can confine and release photons. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121031151609.htm
It is also of interest to note that photonic communication has much greater fidelity, and quality, of communication than molecular communication does:
Photonics Excerpt: Unlike electrons, the driving force behind electronics, photons do not require any copper wires or other barriers to keep them from interacting with one another crossing and mingling photons have no adverse interactions whatsoever, where clashing electronics results in signal confusion and noise.,,, Photonic systems greatly expand the amount of bandwidth available; photonic transmissions are measured in trillion hertz (terahertz), compared with less than 10 billion hertz (gigahertz) used to measure electronics. http://ecommerce.hostip.info/pages/853/Photonics.html
bornagain77
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Thanks Robert for your post of inestimable value to the understanding of the evolution of skin colour. Robert Byers, a UD regular.rvb8
March 9, 2015
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The idea of stress is interesting. I am sure thresholds being crossed does bring instant genetic results change. this is how human colours came instantly to change after the migrations from babel. It was not a slow thing. So stress could be the triggering of some memory in the genes to protect the body. Stress just a special case of a threshol;d being crossed.Robert Byers
March 9, 2015
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That new book by Dr Spetner is on my "to read" list, thanks for the heads up News:) I believe the Physics guys/gals will help usher in the New Evo ideas. Of course, Physics guys/gals like Krauss/Carroll will fight back tooth and nail for Religious reasons sigh. BA77, check out this new paper. Fine tuning in Biology starting to be uncovered? https://medium.com/the-physics-arxiv-blog/the-origin-of-life-and-the-hidden-role-of-quantum-criticality-ca4707924552 "We should emphasize again, that finding a large tight binding Hamiltonian tuned exactly or almost exactly to the critical point by random chance can happen only with an astronomically low probability. So, finding just a single protein with more than 100 amino acids having this property at random is impossible."ppolish
March 9, 2015
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Of note on Barbara McClintock
Barbara McClintock & 'Lean In' Excerpt: Today this is called genetic transposition and the moving gene is sometimes called a “jumping” gene. Barbara’s research was unfortunately 15 – 20 year before its time. Many in the scientific community ignored her or thought she was crazy. In the genetics community, no one thought she was crazy, but her research was hard to follow and understand. Many scientists still held to the belief that the structure of chromosomes was stable and fixed.,,, Finally in the 1960s and 70s the scientific community began to catch up with McClintock. James Shapiro and others found transposable elements in bacteria and other species. http://justtocalifornia.blogspot.com/2013/04/nobel-prize-lean-in.html
Please note that James Shapiro now rejects neo-Darwinism as being a correct paradigm and now champions a view of evolution that he terms 'natural genetic engineering'. He is also a founding member of a group of leading researchers called "The Third Way":
The Third Way of Evolution Below, you will find a list of researchers and authors who have one way or another expressed their concerns on natural selection’s scope and believes that other mechanisms would better explain evolution processes. http://www.thethirdwayofevolution.com/people
Of humorous note: Now 70 years after jumping genes were first discovered by McClintock, and 30 years after Barbara McClintock discovered that they were related to helping an organism cope with stress, neo-Darwinists now, after decades of labeling them as 'junk', have finally decided that they are not junk, but are now claiming that 'jumping genes' are just what evolution would have produced
More Functions Discovered for “Jumping Genes” – March 2015 Excerpt: This all sounds intelligently designed, so how do evolutionists explain it? They merely assert that evolution is a "function" of repetitive elements: "Having emerged within mammals from a common ancestor, the genomic "Alu" elements multiplied during evolution to the point of representing about 10% of the primate and human genomes, whereas they are about ten-fold less abundant in rodents. These small repetitive elements are an important source of genetic variations, due to their ability to move freely around the genome, and they are therefore considered as motors of evolution." That's a clever rhetorical strategy: call it evolutionary junk at first; then when functions are found, call it a "motor of evolution." No wonder evolution is a "fact" to Darwinians. They can't lose. If it's junk or treasure, Darwinian evolution made it. http://www.evolutionnews.org/2015/03/more_functions_1094091.html
With a can't lose strategy like that, pretty soon PZ Myers or Richard Dawkins will be saying that they were the founding members of "The Third Way' and kick Shapiro and the rest to the curb! :)bornagain77
March 9, 2015
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Read both books; the first one is "Not by Chance" (1997). in my opinion a better book.turell
March 9, 2015
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