All living cells are cognitive.

All living cells sense and respond to changes in external or internal conditions. Without that cognitive capacity, they could not obtain nutrition essential for growth, survive inevitable ecological changes, or correct accidents in the complex processes of reproduction. Wherever examined, even the smallest living cells (prokaryotes) display sophisticated regulatory networks establishing appropriate adaptations to stress conditions that maximize the probability of survival.

Rethinking the (im)possible in evolution.

This paper will discuss the philosophical background to evolutionary theory and present multiple counterfactuals to each of the following seven empirically unsustainable but nonetheless widespread assumptions about genomic (DNA-based) evolution: 1. "All heredity transmission occurs from parent to progeny" 2. "Mutations are the result of inevitable replication errors" 3.

Mobile DNA and evolution in the 21st century.

Scientific history has had a profound effect on the theories of evolution. At the beginning of the 21st century, molecular cell biology has revealed a dense structure of information-processing networks that use the genome as an interactive read-write (RW) memory system rather than an organism blueprint. Genome sequencing has documented the importance of mobile DNA activities and major genome restructuring events at key junctures in evolution: exon shuffling, changes in cis-regulatory sites, horizontal transfer, cell fusions and whole genome doublings (WGDs).