Acta

Evolving Concepts of Nature

Proceedings of the Plenary Session | 24-28 October 2014
Acta 23 | Vatican City, 2015
E-Pub ahead of print

Contents

Address on the Occasion of the Inauguration of the Bust in Honour of Pope Benedict XVI

Pope Francis

Word of Welcome President and Chair

Werner Arber

The Concept of Nature – from Plato’s World to Einstein’s World

Jürgen Mittelstraß

Aristotle’s Concept of Nature: Traditional Interpretation and Results of Recent Studies

Enrico Berti

Loi naturelle et théorie de la évolution

Jean-Michel Maldamé

Session I - Changing Concepts in Physics

Changing Concepts of Light and Matter

Theodor W. Hänsch

Some Key Cosmological Numbers: Contingency or Necessity?

Martin J. Rees

The Evolution of the Concept of Atomic Constitution and its Relevance for the Improvement of Life

Vanderlei Bagnato

Is Nature Beautiful

Yves Quéré

Evolution in the Study of Fundamental Laws and the Basic Constituents

Antonino Zichichi

Session II - Changing Concepts in Earth Sciences

Nature and Agriculture – the Evolving Relationships

Joachim von Braun

Session III - Changing Concepts in Biology

Evolving Insights into the Laws of Nature for Biological Evolution

Werner Arber

Evolving Concepts of Genetic Diversity in Natural Population of Organisms

Takashi Gojobori

The Role of Gene Loss in Animal Evolution from an Ancestral Genetic Toolkit

Edward M. De Robertis

Genome, Epigenome Relationships: A Novel Paradigm to Account for Cell Differentiation During the Development of Multicellular Organisms

Nicole M. Le Douarin

Surprises with the Concept of ‘Totipotency of Plant Cells’

Ingo Potrykus

Caring for Creation: The Special Role of Agriculture

Peter H. Raven

mmunotherapy as an Evolving Concept in Autoimmunity and Cancer

Michael Sela

Word of Welcome to Pope Francis

Werner Arber

Session IV - Changing Concepts in Biochemistry

From Basic Science to Advanced Medicine

Ada E. Yonath

The Origin of Life on Earth: Nature’s Agency and/or Divine Intervention?

Rafael Vicuña

Genes in the Garden

Maxine F. Singer

Session V - Changing Concepts in Neurosciences

Culture, a Bridge Between Brain and Mind?

Wolf J. Singer

New Views about the Neurocognitive Processes in Education

Antonio M. Battro

A New Era of Medicine with iPS Cells

Shinya Yamanaka

De Natura Rerum: Exoplanets and ExoEarths

Pierre Léna

A Cosmic End: from the Earth to the Universe

José G. Funes

Session VII - Changing Concepts in Mathematics

Mathematical Modeling in the Sciences

Luís A. Caffarelli

The Big Bang Cosmology and its Mathematical Description

Yuri I. Manin

Rotating Strings and Branes as Basic Primeval Objects of Nature

Rudolf Muradyan