Concepts in 2002

Most multicellular organisms pass through a single-cell stage from which they then develop. This feature may render them more evolvable.

Those evolving-human commercials are just nature philosophy brought up to date.

Efficient cloning will require the ability to reset the gene-expression programmes of specialized cells, in the same way that sperm and eggs form undifferentiated embryonic cells.

A primary function of mitochondria may have been to compartmentalize respiration, thus protecting cells from the damaging side-effects of oxygen metabolism.

A cut into the soul as a result of a horrifying experience can persist as a crippling disease with its core conceptualized as post-traumatic stress disorder.

Today we are so used to statistical predictions that it is difficult to appreciate the profundity of this retreat into probabilities.

How economists' controversial practice of discounting really affects the evaluation of environmental policies.

These tightly regulated oceanic communities consume small particles but let larger ones sink into the depths below.

The possibility has emerged that fusion could be a significant means by which cells might be 'reprogrammed' for a different function in adulthood.

Computer science could provide the abstraction needed for consolidating knowledge of biomolecular systems.

On traditional measures, many animals appear to have a sense of 'body-ness' or 'mine-ness', but no sense of 'I-ness'.

Paul Dirac's prediction of antimatter stands alone in being motivated solely by faith in pure theory, without any hint whatever from data.

Only now are we beginning to unravel the mechanisms behind a cell's ability to point in any direction and navigate effectively.

Ageing is bad for us and yet it happens to everyone. So why does it occur at all?

The prevailing model of tumour progression carries with it a striking conceptual inconsistency.

Molecular evolution has not always kept pace with our aspirations for a longer and better life.

Any external stimulus triggering a response inside the cell also triggers a process inhibiting the response to further exposure to the same stimulus.

The use of immunological diversity to generate selective catalysts has come full circle, to the realization that antibodies have an intrinsic catalytic ability to destroy antigens.

The soft path seeks to improve the overall productivity of water use and deliver water services matched to the needs of end users, rather than seeking sources of new supply.

Development is not just more than growth — it is more than maturation, requiring constant negotiation with the environment.