Antonio Lima-de-Faria's Books

Molecular Geometry of Body Pattern in Birds

By: Antonio Lima-de-Faria

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Molecular Geometry of Body Pattern in Birds

By: Antonio Lima-de-Faria

After having read this book you will never see birds in the same way again. The unexpected patterns displayed by a bird’s body have been seen as bizarre events that demanded little attention or were described as ‘amazing curiosities’. None of these surprising features seem to be fortuitous. They appear to be an integral part of a rigid order and a coherent geometry, which is directed by simple gene interactions and molecular cascades occurring at various cellular levels, and at different times, during the organism’s development. A novel geometry unfolds in front of your eyes, giving the body configurations another meaning. Lima-de-Faria is Professor Emeritus of Molecular Cytogenetics at Lund University, Lund, Sweden. This is his sixth book dealing with the molecular organization of the chromosome and its implications for the understanding of the mechanisms responsible for biological evolution.

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Page Count

171

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Springer Science & Business Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

3642253016

ISBN 13

9783642253010

Molecular Origins of Brain and Body Geometry

Plato's Concept of Reality is Reversed

By: Antonio Lima-de-Faria

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Molecular Origins of Brain and Body Geometry

Plato's Concept of Reality is Reversed

By: Antonio Lima-de-Faria

New concepts arise in science when apparently unrelated fields of knowledge are put together in a coherent way. The recent results in molecular biology allow to explain the emergence of body patterns in animals that before could not be understood by zoologists. There are no ”fancy curiosities” in nature. Every pattern is a product of a molecular cascade originating in genes and a living organism arises from the collaboration of these genes with the outer physical environment. Tropical fishes are as startling in their colors and geometric circles as peacocks. Tortoises are covered with the most regular triangles, squares and concentric circles that can be green, brown or yellow. Parallel scarlet bands are placed side by side of black ones along the body of snakes. Zebras and giraffes have patterns which are lessons in geometry, with their transversal and longitudinal stripes, their circles and other geometric figures. Monkeys, like the mandrills, have a spectacularly colored face scarlet nose with blue parallel flanges and yellow beard. All this geometry turns out to be highly molecular. The genes are many and have been DNA sequenced. Besides they not only deal with the coloration of the body but with the development of the brain and the embryonic process. A precise scenario of molecular events unravels in the vertebrates. It may seem far-fetched, but the search for the origin of this geometry made it mandatory to study the evolution of matter and the origin of the brain. It turned out that matter from its onset is pervaded by geometry and that the brain is also a prisoner of this ordered construction. Moreover, the brain is capable of altering the body geometry and the geometry of the environment changes the brain. Nothing spectacular occurred when the brain arrived in evolution. Not only it came after the eye, which had already established itself long ago, but it had a modest origin. It started from sensory cells on the skin that later aggregated into clusters of neurons that formed ganglia. It also became evident that pigment cells, that decide the establishment of the body pattern, originate from the same cell population as neurons (the neural crest cells). This is a most revealing result because it throws light on the power that the brain has to rapidly redirect the coloration of the body and to change its pattern. Recent experiments demonstrate how the brain changes the body geometry at will and within seconds, an event that could be hardly conceived earlier. Moreover, this change is not accidental it is related to the surrounding environment and is also used as a mating strategy. Chameleons know how to do it as well as flat fishes and octopuses. No one would have dared to think that the brain had its own geometry. How could the external geometry of solids or other figures of our environment be apprehended by neurons if these had no architecture of their own? Astonishing was that the so called ”simple cells”, in the neurons of the primary visual cortex, responded to a bar of light with an axis of orientation that corresponded to the axis of the cell’s receptive field. We tend to consider our brain a reliable organ. But how reliable is it? From the beginning the brain is obliged to transform reality. Brain imagery involves: form, color, motion and sleep. Unintentionally these results led to unexpected philosophical implications. Plato’s pivotal concept that ”forms” exist independently of the material world is reversed. Atoms have been considered to be imaginary for 2,000 years but at present they can be photographed, one by one, with electron microscopes. The reason why geometry has led the way in this inquiry is due to the fact that where there is geometry there is utter simplicity coupled to rigorous order that underlies the phenomenon where it is recognized. Order allows variation but imposes at the same time a canalization that is patent in what we call evolution.

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188

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Springer

Published Date

ISBN 10

3319060562

ISBN 13

9783319060569

Periodic Tables Unifying Living Organisms At The Molecular Level: The Predictive Power Of The Law Of Periodicity

By: Antonio Lima-de-faria

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Periodic Tables Unifying Living Organisms At The Molecular Level: The Predictive Power Of The Law Of Periodicity

By: Antonio Lima-de-faria

The DNA sequencing of a series of living organisms has elucidated many biological problems. But the internal atomic and electronic evolution of DNA remains to be mapped in detail. RNA and DNA now appear to be the prime determinants of biological evolution leading to the sudden appearance of novel organism structures and functions that emerge 'ready made' as a surprise to the organism. This has been demonstrated by the manipulation of genes that led to the sudden production of additional complete wings and legs in flies and birds. The study of this internal atomic construction of macromolecules is being investigated at the large electron accelerators such as the MAX IV Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, Lund University, Sweden.The periodicity of the chemical elements is well known from its iconic Table. Significantly, this periodicity can now be seen to extend to the properties of living organisms. Biological properties as different as: flight, vision, luminescence and regeneration, as well as others, show unexpectedly periodic emergence. They resurface, without previous announcement, in most unrelated plant and animal families and they emerge irrespective of whether the organism is a simple invertebrate or a most complex mammal.Moreover, this periodicity does not necessarily start at the cell or DNA levels but appears initially in crystals and minerals, where it is shown to be a pure atomic and electronic process, e.g. in luminescence and regeneration.The assembled molecular evidence led to the construction of Periodic Tables of living organisms, placing them in a position comparable to the periodicity of the chemical elements. Surprisingly, there are striking resemblances between the periodicities of the chemical elements and those of living organisms. In addition, the two types of Tables increase our insight into the events directing atomic evolution since the periodic law established in chemical elements turns out to be applicable to the periodicity of living organisms. The new Periodic Tables introduce a predictive capacity in biological evolution that before was hardly contemplated.Eric Scerri, from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, California University, Los Angeles, who is the Author of the book 'The Periodic Table. Its Story and its Significance', Oxford University Press, stated in an e-mail that 'Professor Lima-de-Faria's book is wonderful and a pioneering work'.

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Page Count

332

Publisher

World Scientific

Published Date

ISBN 10

9813227036

ISBN 13

9789813227033

Book's by Antonio Lima-de-Faria

Molecular Geometry of Body Pattern in Birds

Molecular Geometry of Body Pattern in Birds

Molecular Origins of Brain and Body Geometry

Molecular Origins of Brain and Body Geometry

Periodic Tables Unifying Living Organisms At The Molecular Level: The Predictive Power Of The Law Of Periodicity

Periodic Tables Unifying Living Organisms At The Molecular Level: The Predictive Power Of The Law Of Periodicity

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