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Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 April 2022

Andrew S. Reynolds
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Cape Breton University
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References

Primary Sources

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For a very clear and accessible exposition of evolutionary biology, I recommend: Kampourakis, K. (2020). Understanding Evolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
A pioneering analysis of Darwin’s use of metaphor is found in Young, R. M. (1985). Darwin’s Metaphor: Nature’s Place in Victorian Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Quotation from Ruse “starting with the key notions of selection and struggle …”: Ruse, M. and Richards, R. J. (2016). Debating Darwin. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, p. 48.Google Scholar
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Especially relevant for the themes of this chapter and the last is: Olson, M. E., Arroyo-Santos, A., and Vergara-Silva, F. (2019). A user’s guide to metaphors in ecology and evolution. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 34(7): 605615.Google Scholar
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Developmental landscape and reprogramming illustration from: Takahashi, K. (2012). Cellular reprogramming: lowering gravity on Waddington’s epigenetic landscape. Journal of Cell Science 125(11): 25532560.Google ScholarPubMed
CRISPR used to create “programmable artificial transcription factors”: Lo, A. and Qi, L. (2017). Genetic and epigenetic control of gene expression by CRISPR-Cas systems. F1000Research 6: DOI: 10.12688/f1000research.11113.1.Google Scholar
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For films depicting subcellular molecules as agents, see: Journey Inside the Cell, produced by the Discovery Institute, a creationist think tank that promotes “intelligent design” theory as a religion-friendly alternative to evolutionary accounts of cellular and organismal origins; Cell Signals, created by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and Interactive Knowledge, Inc.; and Genome Editing with CRISP-Cas9, created by the McGovern Institute. All are easily found on YouTube.Google Scholar
On the impact of editing, engineering, and agency metaphors on medicine and society: Nelson, S. C., Yu, J.-H., and Ceccarelli, L. (2015). How metaphors about the genome constrain CRISPR metaphors: separating the “text” from its “editor.The American Journal of Bioethics 15(12): 6062. Ceccarelli, L. (2018). CRISPR as agent: a metaphor that rhetorically inhibits the prospects for responsible research. Life Sciences, Society and Policy 14: 24. McLeod, C. and Nerlich, B. (2017). Synthetic biology, metaphors and responsibility. Life Sciences, Society and Policy 13(13); and all the articles in McLeod, C., and Nerlich, B. (eds.) (2018). Synthetic biology: how the use of metaphors impacts on science, policy and responsible research. Special Issue of Life Sciences, Society and Policy 14.Google Scholar
On the influence of environmental factors (and their interaction with genetics): Kampourakis, K. (2020). Understanding Genes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Quotations from Ball: Ball, P. (2011). A metaphor too far. Nature: DOI: 10.1038/news.2011.115.Google Scholar
Ball, P. (2019). How to Grow a Human: Adventures in Who We Are and How We Are Made. London: William Collins, p. xi.Google Scholar
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Quotation from Larson “Diverse metaphors … act as a prophylactic against reification”: Larson, B. M. H. (2009). Optimizing friction between alternative genomic metaphors: how much plurality is enough? Genomics Society and Policy 5(3): 2028, 22.Google Scholar
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Quotation from Nerlich “public understanding of science is …”: Nerlich, B., Dingwell, R., and Clarke, D. D. (2002). The book of life: how the completion of the Human Genome Project was revealed to the public. Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine 6(4): 445469, 465.Google Scholar

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