Roland Frey – författare

Life on earth arose through the creative interplay of prebiotic conditions on earth and the everlasting reliable macrocosmic changes of light and darkness. The first life molecules were confronted with the Earth''s two-faced environment manifesting itself as a rhythm of a damaging light phase (day) and a harmless low light dark phase (night) produced by the apparent celestial movements within the earth-moon-sun system. It required two mutually complementing molecule types: ribonucleic acids and peptides, which had to adapt jointly to that fundamental duality in order to achieve a ''duration across change''. Both combined into a helically intertwined ribonucleopeptide filament as the initial molecular structure of life on earth. The predictable alternation of a damaging (UV irradiation, high-energy sun light) and a non-damaging (low-energy moon light) phase lead to the inclusion of rhythmic repair and timing in molecular life from begin on. The ribonucleopeptide filament responded to the dual qualities of its environment by behaving like an ''oscilloid''. Rhythmically alternating contraction to prevent damage during daytime and expansion to allow self-sustained repair during nighttime initiated the oscillation of the primordial biological timer as a molecular reflection of the macrocosmic time on Earth impacted by the light/dark rhythm.Macrocosmic time is both circular, because days, months and years consist of recurring cycles of light and darkness, and linear, because successive days, months and years are not identical repeats of the preceding ones and follow each other in a row. Corresponding to this yin/yang structure of macrocosmic time, biological time is also cyclical and linear at the same time. Under this perspective, life arose as an earth-bound molecular pattern instructed by celestial rhythms.Interestingly, there exists a correspondence to the dual, mutually complementing molecular basis of life in ancient Chinese mythology. A helically intertwined ribonuclopeptide filament represents an equivalent, a living reflection, of the T''ai chi symbol with its mutually complementing, inseparable black and white components that illustrate the fundamental duality of darkness and light or night and day on Earth. Yang and Yin, and Ch''ien and K''un, constitute the basic duality of the yin/yang philosophy and the ancient Chinese Book of Changes, the I Ging, respectively. Fu-hsi and Nü-kua, the personified versions of this basic duality, are characterised by their helically intertwining snake- or dragon-like lower bodies. Together, they are linking Earth to Heaven.

Das Buch beschreibt eine Hypothese zur Entstehung des Lebens auf der Erde. Sie geht davon aus, daß die mikrokosmische molekulare Basis des Lebens durch Anpassung an die makrokosmischen astronomischen Rhythmen entstand, welche auf die Erde einwirken. Von der Erde aus gesehen, erscheinen diese Rhythmen als "Lauf" der Sonne, des Mondes und des Sternenhimmels. Sie erzeugen die Zeitzyklen des 24h-Tages, des Monats und des Jahres und werden durch einen vierten Rhythmus, den 19 Jahre dauernden Lunisolarzyklus (Meton-Zyklus) zu einem "gemeinsamen Rhythmuskreis" vereint. Die Grundstruktur des chinesischen Buchs der Wandlungen (I Ging) beruht ebenfalls auf den makrokosmischen astronomischen Rhythmen, welche auf die Erde einwirken. Diese Rhythmen und die daraus resultierende "zyklische Zeit" der Erde wurden von frühen Chinesen beobachtet und dazu verwendet, das Buch der Wandlungen als ein symbolisches mikrokosmisches Modell der makrokosmischen Rhythmen zu konstruieren. Daher sind die molekulare Basis des Lebens und die Grundstruktur des I Ging einander ähnlich. Nach dem hier vorgestellten Ansatz ist die Basis des Lebens ein mikrokosmisches "Abbild" der makrokosmischen Rhythmen. Dies liefert eine einfache Erklärung für die Einheit von Makro- und Mikrokosmos in dem Sinne, daß der Mikrokosmos das makrokosmische Ordnungsmuster in sich trägt.

The book describes a hypothesis on the origin of life on earth. It assumes that the microcosmic molecular basis of life arose by adaptation to the overlaying macrocosmic astronomical rhythms impacting on the earth. Viewed from the earth these rhythms appear as the ''course'' of the sun, the moon and the starry sky. They generate the time cycles of the 24 hour day, of the month and the year and, together, are united in a ''joint rhythm circle'' by a fourth rhythm, the 19 years lasting lunisolar cycle (Meton cycle). The basic structure of the Chinese Book of Changes (I Ging) was also derived from the macrocosmic astronomical rhythms impacting on the earth. These rhythms and the resulting ''cyclical time'' of the earth were observed by early Chinese and used for creating the Book of Changes as a symbolical microcosmic representation of the macrocosmic rhythms. Therefore, the molecular basis of life and the basic structure of the I Ging resemble each other. According to the presented approach, the basis of life is a microcosmic ''copy'' of the macrocosmic rhythms. This provides a simple explanation for the unity of macro- and microcosm in the sense that the microcosm includes the macrocosmic pattern of order in itself.

This book presents selected works of contemporary evolutionary morphologists and includes such topics as broad scale reconstructions of the brain and ear of dinosaurs, inference of locomotor habits from cancellous bone architecture in fossil primates, and a comparison of the independently evolved manipulating apparatuses in the lesser and giant pandas. Insight is provided into the application of modern noninvasive technologies, including digital imaging techniques and virtual 3D reconstruction, to the investigation of complex anatomical features and coherences. In combination with traditional methods, this allows for the formulation of improved hypotheses on coordinated function and evolution. The creation of virtual translucent specimens makes it possible to realize the age-old dream of the classical anatomists: looking through the skin into the inner organization of an organism. On full display here is the dramatic and promising impact that modern imaging techniques have on scientific progress in evolutionary morphology.