The value of being random (and dinosaurs migrating)

Apropos of our recent discussions of random processes and gene expression, here is an accessible (and free!) article on how noisy systems can be selected for.

At the same time, here is a piece on how looking at the composition of fossil teeth can lead to a hypothesis of dinosaur migration.  

The origins of new genes.......

HERE (LINK) is a nature education article on the topic of how new gene originate (in case you want to go beyond biofundamentals).

Then there is a molecular evolution article on the identification of new genes in the primate/human lineage associated with brain function (link HERE).  The surprising observations: i) there are lots of new genes and ii) that are expressed early in neural development.

Here is a nice review of the major mechanisms responsible for Gene Duplication and their subsequent evolution or elimination (link HERE).