Unsolved Problems in Biology
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Chapters
[edit | edit source]- Introduction
- What is Life? Are there life forms in the universe that are not based on carbon? Is there a clear boundary between carbon-based life and Artificial life?
- How Did It Start? What are the different hypotheses of origin of life? Did life begin on this planet, was there inanimate intervention (such as a meteor hitting the earth) or intelligent, extraterrestrial design? What are the mechanisms of biorhythms and chronobiology? Why is magnetite in living creatures?
- Sexual Reproduction: Why have so many biological systems developed sexual reproduction?
- Tree of Life: Do all animals link together to a primary source?
- Protein folding: Given a DNA sequence, what shape will the protein fold into? Given a particular desired shape, what DNA sequence will produce it?
- Consciousness. What is it? Can we create artificial life that has human-like consciousness?
- Sleep: Why is it necessary for mammals to sleep? Or dream, come to that?
- Viruses. What are the signs of current or past infection to discover where Ebola hides between human outbreaks?
- Where is memory/information stored in brain? How are other animals different than humans in regard to brain function?