Making your way in the world
An individual’s life story is a dance to the music of time
THE ORGANS of a body are a spatial division of labour, one created by different genes being turned on in different cells. The same process serves to give individual lives a division of labour over time. Complex algae, animals, fungi and plants all have predictable life histories which separate out three basic aspects of development—the creation of an autonomous individual, growth and reproduction—and run them sequentially.
This article appeared in the Schools brief section of the print edition under the headline “A dance to the music of time”
From the August 19th 2021 edition
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