Integrative and Comparative Biology Advance Access originally published online on August 30, 2007
Integrative and Comparative Biology 2007 47(6):894-896; doi:10.1093/icb/icm090
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Book Review |
Design and Information in Biology: From Molecules to Systems. J. A. Bryant, M. A. Atherton and M. W. Collins, editors.
Department of Entomology
North Carolina State University
Raleigh NC 27695
E-mail: bwiegman{at}unity.ncsu.edu
Design and Information in Biology: From Molecules to Systems. J. A. Bryant, M. A. Atherton and M. W. Collins, editors.
Southampton, UK: WIT Press, 2006. 465 pp. ISBN: 1-85312-853-8.
Understanding complex systems—their origin, maintenance, and design—is perhaps the major integrating theme across all of modern science. We live in the so-called Information Age, propelled by an increasingly rich and detailed understanding of the genomic architecture of life, as well as ever-improving computational power. A major emerging theme of our age is that man can continue to learn from, and put to use, the impressive design of natural systems. This book ambitiously champions the growing connection between engineering and biology.
This is the second volume in a series, Design and Nature, a project whose goal is to bring together perspectives from biology, engineering, mathematics, physics, and computer science to explore the origin, evolution, and maintenance of complexity in both natural and man-made systems. Integration of information and insights from multiple disciplines is used to cover a broad diversity of topics with the general theme of exploring the "design" of nature, how this design is assembled and maintained through physical and evolutionary mechanisms, and how these principles and mechanisms can (and perhaps, should) be transferred and replicated in robotics, biomimetics, and other human engineering endeavors.
The book is co-edited by a team of two engineers (Collins and Atherton) and a biologist (Bryant) and includes 14 chapters reviewing a complex and eclectic set of topics, including the origin and evolution of life, the genetic "central dogma," the description of the human genome, the laws of thermodynamics in relation to the evolution of biological complexity, optimal design in insect and plant systems and their implications for robotics, and the adoption and integration of principles and designs found in nature across multiple engineering problems. Complexity is thus both a theme of the book and an appropriate metaphor for its ambitious scope. Individual chapters can be a "road-in" to the vast amount of literature and synthesis available on these topics, but the larger theme is easily lost in the details of individual systems or ideas covered.
Beginning with Collin's somewhat obtuse introduction of the series, the work is seasoned with quotations and historical references drawn from the seminal synthetic work on the evolution and mathematics of complexity. All of the chapters are information-rich, and many review the historical development of the questions they address, providing a detailed context for the subject. Unfortunately, it is impossible to cover these topics simply, and this fact makes it extremely difficult to find a level at which most readers could connect major themes across the chapters. Nonetheless, chapters on genetics and genomics will reinforce these topics for bioengineers while, for biologists, chapters on thermodynamics bring physical laws into the explanation of biological systems at the most fundamental level. Engineers will benefit from chapters that draw examples and lessons from natural systems. The breadth of this book is challenging, but I find it difficult to imagine how integration of design technologies and biological systems could occur without such a wide purview.
A major contribution is the detailed chapter on the origin of life, self-assembly, and evolution contributed by M. Ciofalo, entitled: "Green Grass, Red Blood, Blueprint: Reflections on Life, Self-replication, and Evolution." This is a thorough and informative review of over half a century of cutting-edge research and epistemological development on the question of how self-replicating systems are formed and maintained through evolution, and of the increasingly complex computer simulations that strive to model and test ideas about the origin of life. This piece demonstrates how far we have come in understanding and studying life, but also reveals that we have a long way to go before our own self-replicating machines can match the organization and complexity of even the simplest living organism.
Many would consider the design of insect locomotory appendages and sensory apparatuses, or the morphology and physiology of a palm, to be among the best simple systems to mimic in engineering. Excellent review chapters on the mechanisms of insect flight (R. J. Wooton), walking and behavior (M. Randall), as well as a review of the general properties of sensory perception as information optimization (M. D. Plumbley and S. A. Abdallah) reveal that mimicking these systems is far from simple, and their complexity and success reflect millions of years of natural selection shaping well-integrated and efficient strategies for survival. Robotics engineers are actively incorporating elements from these organisms into their latest designs and the chapters in this volume lay out the general principles that make these among the best systems in the natural world from which to copy.
This book of contributed reviews concludes with several highly readable and interesting chapters that describe, from an engineering perspective, nature-based strategies for optimization and sustainability with increasing complexity in societies and human organizations, engineered products, and intelligent systems. Herein we learn about the RSA (Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce) and its general approach in seeking sustainability in human institutions and corporations; about the use of genetic algorithms and RED (Robust Engineering Design) to improve computationally complex design problems; and about the history of the motorcar with a call for a sustainable life-cycle model to reduce environmental impacts. A final chapter covers the factors that promote the emergence of behavior in robotic systems and draws parallels to selection for group behavior in natural populations.
It could be argued that all scientific inquiry is based on the assertion that gathering information increases our understanding of the natural world, and that we should use this information to further improve countless diverse, human agendas. A great amount of information is gathered and disseminated in this second volume of the Design and Nature series—and it amounts to a sometimes overwhelming and always stimulating array of biological and engineering questions. The high cost of the book will limit its audience to academic and corporate buyers, but it is this same group who has the most to gain from integrating scientific disciplines to a level beyond simple metaphor. That complexity is an inherent and unavoidable outcome of natural systems is a major theme of this book and I have little doubt that such complexity will be replicated in subsequent editions in the series.
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