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This accessible and entertaining book explores the fundamental connections between life and information and how they emerged inextricably linked, taking the reader on a journey through all the major evolutionary transitions. It records the entire path of how life's information has evolved, starting from the growing polymers of prelife leading to the first replicators, through RNA and DNA to neural networks and animal brains, continuing through the major transition of human language and writing, into computer clouds, and finally heading towards an unknown future.All currently known life is based on three classes of molecules: proteins - life's main structural and functional building blocks; DNA - life's information molecule; and RNA - a molecule that provides the link between these two. Despite the existence of language and the new means of information recording and processing it enabled, at the current stage of life's evolution, the information stored in the natural repository of our planet's DNA archive remains indispensable. If the DNA on Earth were to become seriously corrupted, all cultural information and life itself would soon disappear. However, does future life have to be reliant on these molecules or could a living organism be made of e.g. steel, rubber, copper, and silicon? What was life like when it first emerged on Earth billions of years ago? What will life be like millions or billions of years from now, if it still exists? Could future civilisations, including the possible heirs of the present one, persist without proteins, DNA, and RNA? The author arms the reader with the knowledge required to speculate about such questions in an informed and reasoned way. Living Computers is aimed at students and scholars in a wide range of disciplines, from physics, computing, and biology to social sciences and philosophy. The fascinating idea of life as a computational phenomenon will also appeal to a more general readership interested in our origins and future existence.

This accessible and entertaining book explores the fundamental connections between life and information and how they emerged inextricably linked, taking the reader on a journey through all the major evolutionary transitions. It records the entire path of how life''s information has evolved, starting from the growing polymers of prelife leading to the first replicators, through RNA and DNA to neural networks and animal brains, continuing through the major transition of human language and writing, into computer clouds, and finally heading towards an unknown future.All currently known life is based on three classes of molecules: proteins - life''s main structural and functional building blocks; DNA - life''s information molecule; and RNA - a molecule that provides the link between these two. Despite the existence of language and the new means of information recording and processing it enabled, at the current stage of life''s evolution, the information stored in the natural repository of our planet''s DNA archive remains indispensable. If the DNA on Earth were to become seriously corrupted, all cultural information and life itself would soon disappear. However, does future life have to be reliant on these molecules or could a living organism be made of e.g. steel, rubber, copper, and silicon? What was life like when it first emerged on Earth billions of years ago? What will life be like millions or billions of years from now, if it still exists? Could future civilisations, including the possible heirs of the present one, persist without proteins, DNA, and RNA? The author arms the reader with the knowledge required to speculate about such questions in an informed and reasoned way. Living Computers is aimed at students and scholars in a wide range of disciplines, from physics, computing, and biology to social sciences and philosophy. The fascinating idea of life as a computational phenomenon will also appeal to a more general readership interested in our origins and future existence.

This guide covers aspects of designing microarray experiments and analysing the data generated, including information on some of the tools that are available from non-commercial sources. Concepts and principles underpinning gene expression analysis are emphasised and wherever possible, the mathematics has been simplified. The guide is intended for use by graduates and researchers in bioinformatics and the life sciences and is also suitable for statisticians who are interested in the approaches currently used to study gene expression. Microarrays are an automated way of carrying out thousands of experiments at once, and allows scientists to obtain huge amounts of information very quicklyShort, concise text on this difficult topic areaClear illustrations throughoutWritten by well-known teachers in the subjectProvides insight into how to analyse the data produced from microarrays

This guide covers aspects of designing microarray experiments and analysing the data generated, including information on some of the tools that are available from non-commercial sources. Concepts and principles underpinning gene expression analysis are emphasised and wherever possible, the mathematics has been simplified. The guide is intended for use by graduates and researchers in bioinformatics and the life sciences and is also suitable for statisticians who are interested in the approaches currently used to study gene expression. Microarrays are an automated way of carrying out thousands of experiments at once, and allows scientists to obtain huge amounts of information very quickly Short, concise text on this difficult topic area Clear illustrations throughout Written by well-known teachers in the subject Provides insight into how to analyse the data produced from microarrays