More than 99 percent of all life that has ever existed on this planet is extinct. Moreover, human acceleration of the extinction of species has created a crisis in biodiversity. How can the history of
Looking for the first time at the cut-price anatomy schools rather than genteel Oxbridge, Desmond winkles out pre-Darwinian evolutionary ideas in reform-minded and politically charged early nineteenth
Have you ever asked yourself: Are spliced genes the same as mended Levis? Watson and Crick? Aren't they a team of British detectives? Plant sex? Can they do that? Is Genetic Mutation the name of one of those heavy metal bands? Asparagine? Which of the four food groups is that in? Then you need The Cartoon Guide to Genetics to explain the important concepts of classical and modern genetics?it's not only educational, it's funny too!
From Darwin onward, it has been second nature for evolutionary biologists to think comparatively, because comparisons establish the generality of evolutionary phenomena. Do large genomes slow down dev
By studying evolution across geological time, paleontologists gain a perspective that sometimes complements and sometimes conflicts with views based solely on studies of extant species. The contributo
Evolutionary innovations—the bony skeleton of vertebrates, avian flight, or the insect pollination system of angiosperms, for example—have in recent years become the focus of much fertile new research
J.B.S. Haldane (1892-1964), one of the founders of the science of population genetics, was also one of the greatest practitioners of the art of explaining science to the layperson. Haldane was a super
Drawing on his investigation of over one hundred mid-Victorian British newspapers and periodicals, Alvar Ellegard describes and analyzes the impact of Darwin's theory of evolution during the first doz
"By combining recent advances in the physical sciences with some of the novel ideas, techniques, and data of modern biology, this book attempts to achieve a new and different kind of evolutionary synt
"This book is well worth buying for its detailed summaries of the 25 studies, many of which are classic long-term projects, and for its insights into the factors determining reproductive success."—Wil
The scope and significance of cytoplasmic inheritance has been the subject of one of the longest controversies in the history of genetics. In the first major book on the history of this subject, Jan S
This is the second volume of the complete edition of The Correspondence of Charles Darwin. For the first time full authoritative texts of Darwin's letters are available, edited according to modern textual editorial principles and practice. The letters in this volume were written during the seven years following Darwin's return to England from the Beagle voyage. It was a period of extraordinary activity and productivity in which he became recognised as a naturalist of outstanding ability, as an author and editor, and as a professional man with official responsibilities in several scientific organisations. During these years he published two books and fifteen papers and also organised and superintended the publication of the Zoology of the Voyage of HMS Beagle, for which he described the locations of the fossils and the habitats and behaviour of the living species he had collected. Busy as he was with scientific activities, Darwin found time to re-establish family ties and friendships, a
Natural selection is an immense and important subject, yet there have been few attempts to summarize its effects on natural populations, and fewer still which discuss the problems of working with natu
This collection of twelve essays by biologists, historians, and philosophers examines the growth and conceptual structure of the modern evolutionary synthesis, or 'neo-Darwinism'. Taken as a whole, it
Motoo Kimura, as founder of the neutral theory, is uniquely placed to write this book. He first proposed the theory in 1968 to explain the unexpectedly high rate of evolutionary change and very large amount of intraspecific variability at the molecular level that had been uncovered by new techniques in molecular biology. The theory - which asserts that the great majority of evolutionary changes at the molecular level are caused not by Darwinian selection but by random drift of selectively neutral mutants - has caused controversy ever since. This book is the first comprehensive treatment of this subject and the author synthesises a wealth of material - ranging from a historical perspective, through recent molecular discoveries, to sophisticated mathematical arguments - all presented in a most lucid manner.
The ongoing revolution in genetic research and cell biology promises to change the way we look at life itself. Over the last decade hysterical predictions of genetic accidents and of misdirected gene
Essays discuss creationism, conflicts between religion and science, fundamentalist views on science, paleontology, and court decisions concerning the teaching of evolution
