1  Cover

      2  Title Page

      3  Copyright

      4  Introduction

      5  1 Possible Traces and Clues of Early Life Forms 1.1. Introduction 1.2. Have “things” always been as they are today? 1.3. Fossil traces? 1.4. Geochemical elements confirming these recent results 1.5. Compartmentalization of resources and primary biomass 1.6. Rebuilding a living cell: a wide range of possibilities explored, from the mineral to the organic 1.7. Conclusion 1.8. Acknowledgments 1.9. References

      6  2 The Nature of Life 2.1. Observations and assumptions 2.2. Descriptions and definitions 2.3. Exploration 2.4. Conclusion 2.5. References

      7  3 From Form to Function 3.1. Form: a concept for knowledge 3.2. Basic structural elements: from the molecule to the cell 3.3. The weight of the physical setting 3.4. Mesoderm: base material for architect genes 3.5. Appendices and laws of mechanics 3.6. “Appendicular” movement on land 3.7. The legless 3.8. And the head 3.9. References

      8  4 On Growth and Form: Context and Purpose 4.1. D’Arcy Thompson’s program 4.2. Application of mathematics to morphometry 4.3. References

      9  5 The Emergence of Form in the History of Epigenetics 5.1. Introduction 5.2. From epigenesis to epigenetics 5.3. The evolution of the epigenetic landscape 5.4. Modernizing the epigenetic landscape 5.5. From epigenetic landscape to chromosome conformation 5.6. Conclusion: from form to function 5.7. Acknowledgments 5.8. References

      10  6 The Many Shapes of Microbial Detection of Kin and Kind 6.1. From Darwin’s social-insects-puzzle to microbes 6.2. Handshakes of kinship or “kindship” in bacteria 6.3. The ameba world of clone discrimination/recognition 6.4. social microbes and multicellularity 6.5. Conclusion 6.6. References

      11  7 Development and Evolution of Plant Forms 7.1. Introduction 7.2. Diversity of plant forms and associated functions 7.3. Origin and evolution of plant forms 7.4. Origin and evolution of plant forms 7.5. Conclusion 7.6. Acknowledgements 7.7. References

      12  8 Forms of Memory 8.1. Introduction 8.2. The polymorphism of memory 8.3. Non-associative memories 8.4. Classical conditioning 8.5. Instrumental conditioning 8.6. Procedural memory as a “memory system” 8.7. Declarative memory 8.8. Short-term memory and working memory 8.9. Conclusion: organization and reconfiguration of the different forms of memory 8.10.