Alien Eraser Reveals the Secrets of Evolution

Countering evolution deniers, Smith (anthropology, Portland State U., OR) argues that evolution is the inevitable consequence of the facts of replication, variation, and selection. With examples focus

Darwin identified the existence of separate male and female gametes as one of the central mysteries of evolutionary biology. 150 years later, the question of why male gametes exist remains an intriguing puzzle. In this, the first book solely devoted to the evolution of anisogamy, top theorists in the field explore why gamete dimorphism characterizes nearly all plants and animals. Did separate male and female gametes evolve as a result of competition, or does anisogamy instead represent selection for cooperation? If disruptive selection drove the evolution of anisogamy, with male gametes focused on search and fusion, and female gametes provisioning the new zygote, why do some algal species continue to produce gametes of a single size? Does sperm limitation, or escape from infection, better explain the need for extremely small, highly mobile sperm? Written by leaders in the field, this volume offers an authoritative and cutting-edge overview of evolutionary theory.

The Evolution of OMBA former senior official of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) commented that: “One of the interesting things about OMB is that it is unexplainable to everyone who lives out

Examines the relations between logic and philosophy over the last 150 years. Logic underwent a major renaissance beginning in the nineteenth century. Cantor almost tamed the infinite, and Frege aimed to undercut Kant by reducing mathematics to logic. These achievements were threatened by the paradoxes, like Russell's. This ferment generated excellent philosophy (and mathematics) by excellent philosophers (and mathematicians) up to World War II. This book provides a selective, critical history of the collaboration between logic and philosophy during this period. After World War II, mathematical logic became a recognized subdiscipline in mathematics departments, and consequently but unfortunately philosophers have lost touch with its monuments. This book aims to make four of them (consistency and independence of the continuum hypothesis, Post's problem, and Morley's theorem) more accessible to philosophers, making available the tools necessary for modern scholars of philosophy to renew a

Examines the relations between logic and philosophy over the last 150 years. Logic underwent a major renaissance beginning in the nineteenth century. Cantor almost tamed the infinite, and Frege aimed to undercut Kant by reducing mathematics to logic. These achievements were threatened by the paradoxes, like Russell's. This ferment generated excellent philosophy (and mathematics) by excellent philosophers (and mathematicians) up to World War II. This book provides a selective, critical history of the collaboration between logic and philosophy during this period. After World War II, mathematical logic became a recognized subdiscipline in mathematics departments, and consequently but unfortunately philosophers have lost touch with its monuments. This book aims to make four of them (consistency and independence of the continuum hypothesis, Post's problem, and Morley's theorem) more accessible to philosophers, making available the tools necessary for modern scholars of philosophy to renew a

Recent years have seen a transformation in thinking about the nature of culture. Rather than viewing culture in opposition to biology, a growing number of researchers now regard culture as subject to

This book is an intellectual tour de force: a comprehensive Darwinian interpretation of human development. Looking at the entire range of human evolutionary history, Melvin Konner tells the compelling

Language, more than anything else, is what makes us human. It appears that no communication system of equivalent power exists elsewhere in the animal kingdom. Any normal human child will learn a language based on rather sparse data in the surrounding world, while even the brightest chimpanzee, exposed to the same environment, will not. Why not? How, and why, did language evolve in our species and not in others? Since Darwin's theory of evolution, questions about the origin of language have generated a rapidly-growing scientific literature, stretched across a number of disciplines, much of it directed at specialist audiences. The diversity of perspectives - from linguistics, anthropology, speech science, genetics, neuroscience and evolutionary biology - can be bewildering. Tecumseh Fitch cuts through this vast literature, bringing together its most important insights to explore one of the biggest unsolved puzzles of human history.

Language, more than anything else, is what makes us human. It appears that no communication system of equivalent power exists elsewhere in the animal kingdom. Any normal human child will learn a language based on rather sparse data in the surrounding world, while even the brightest chimpanzee, exposed to the same environment, will not. Why not? How, and why, did language evolve in our species and not in others? Since Darwin's theory of evolution, questions about the origin of language have generated a rapidly-growing scientific literature, stretched across a number of disciplines, much of it directed at specialist audiences. The diversity of perspectives - from linguistics, anthropology, speech science, genetics, neuroscience and evolutionary biology - can be bewildering. Tecumseh Fitch cuts through this vast literature, bringing together its most important insights to explore one of the biggest unsolved puzzles of human history.

In this sweeping, dazzling journey through history, Robert Wright unveils a discovery of crucial importance to the present moment: there is a pattern in the evolution Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and a "hidden code" in their scriptures. Through the prisms of archeology, theology, anthropology, and evolutionary psychology, Wright repeatedly overturns conventional wisdom to show how and why religion can strengthen the social order-even in an age of globalization-and explains why modern science is not only compatible with religion, but actively affirms the validity of the religious quest. Vast in scope and thrilling in ambition, The Evolution of God brilliantly alters our understanding of God and where He came from-and where He and we are going next.

Professor Carstairs-McCarthy offers a powerful challenge to conventional views of the relationship between syntax and morphology, to the adaptationist view of language evolution, and to the notion tha

This book considers the evolution of the grammatical structure of words in the more general contexts of human evolution and the origins of language. The consensus in many fields is that language is we

Evolution of the Earth focuses on the formation of Earth. Topics include?the differention of the core, mantle and crust; the?formation of the ocean basins?and continents; outgassing and volcanism; the

Today the theory of evolution by natural selection and the science of genetics are the twin keys to our understanding of how life on earth came about. Yet when an English naturalist called Charles Dar

In July of 1995, the news photographer Gray Banick disappeared into the Bosnian war zone and doing so took away pieces of the hearts of three people who loved him: Emil Todorovic, his interpreter and

What conclusions do the facts of cosmic and organic evolution require or permit on the origin and destiny of the world and the individual? From 1881 to 1925 Thomas Whittaker, an Oxford-trained scientist turned philosopher, grappled with this question, which he tried to answer by metaphysical interpretation of the sciences. The majority of the essays in this volume first appeared in Mind, and a few in other journals, while three had not been previously published. Whittaker ranges widely over some of the most daring theories of the past, from the early centuries of the common era (including Apollonius of Tyana and Origen), to the middle ages (including John Scotus Erigena and Nicholas of Cusa), the renaissance (Giordano Bruno, Shakespeare) and the early modern period. Whittaker's own view is that hypothesis and imagination are legitimate aids in the search for truth in both science and philosophy in a new synthesis.

The International Biological Programme took the form of an evolving process which occupied some five years of preliminary planning, followed by a decade of work. Just how it was conceived, initiated, conducted and completed is set down in this volume. The programme's successes and shortcomings are discussed, as it its relevance to future coordinated research. Much useful background data on the organisation of IBP, its publications, meetings and other relevant information are presented in the appendices. An IBP booklet on recommended quantities, units and symbols is reprinted in its entirety. Dr Worthington has incorporated a number of contributions from leading personalities of the IBP, so that this overall account, first published in 1975, will be of great value to those concerned with science policy, planning and administration. It will be of great benefit also to anyone going on to read the other volumes in the series.

Tracing the evolution of Polo from its origins in Central Asia to its current manifestation as a professional sport that attracts wealthy sponsors and patrons, this sociological study examines how po

In this sweeping narrative that takes us from the Stone Age to the Information Age, Robert Wright unveils an astonishing discovery: there is a hidden pattern that the great monotheistic faiths have f

The Evolution of Matter explains how all matter in the Universe developed following the Big Bang and through subsequent stellar processes. It describes the evolution of interstellar matter and its differentiation during the accretion of the planets and the history of the Earth. Unlike many books on geochemistry, this volume follows the chemical history of matter from the very beginning to the present, demonstrating connections in space and time. It provides also solid links from cosmochemistry to the geochemistry of Earth. The book presents comprehensive descriptions of the various isotope systematics and fractionation processes occurring naturally in the Universe, using simple equations and helpful tables of data. With a glossary of terms and over 900 references, this volume is a valuable reference for researchers and advanced students studying the chemical evolution of the Earth, the Solar System and the wider Universe.

Artiodactyls are diverse and successful hoofed mammals, represented by nearly two hundred living species of pigs, peccaries, hippos, camels, deer, sheep, cattle, giraffes, and other even-toed ungulat

A compelling journey of discovery uncovering some of the mysteries of evolution.

Moral thinking pervades our practical lives, but where did this way of thinking come from, and what purpose does it serve? Is it to be explained by environmental pressures on our ancestors a million

This book traces the evolution of biotechnology from prehistoric organismal manipulation by our first settled ancestors through to speculation about future directions for the technology as it increasi

A concise introduction to the evolution of communication media, The Evolution of Media is unique in that it treats both mass media and interpersonal media. The first part of the book describes the his

A concise introduction to the evolution of communication media, The Evolution of Media is unique in that it treats both mass media and interpersonal media. The first part of the book describes the his

Examines the conditions necessary for cooperation in social interactions and discusses the role of cooperation in winning a strategy game tournament

Mr. Johnston confesses that he used to be a believer in Evolution. But reading a book on the subject opened his eyes, and after much study he wrote this present book. He gives both scientific findings

A wide-ranging and in-depth analysis of the human psyche from an evolutionary perspective.

Lampert presents the story of love: when, why, and how love became a central experience of humans. Assuming that our world is built of matter, she states that evolution is the change of this matter, a

All living plants and animals, including man, are the modified descendants of one or a few simple living things. A hundred years ago Darwin and Wallace in their theory of natural selection, or the survival of the fittest, explained how evolution could have happened in terms of processes known to take place today. In this book John Maynard Smith describes how their theory has been confirmed, but at the same time transformed, by recent research, and in particular by the discovery of the laws of inheritance. This reissue reprints the third edition of John Maynard Smith's classic account, adding a substantial new introduction covering recent developments. A new foreword, by the author of The Selfish Gene and The Blind Watchmaker, commends the book to a fresh generation of readers.

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

Presents an evolutionary theory of technological change based on recent scholarship in the history of technology and on relevant material drawn from economic history and anthropology. Challenges the

This book presents an evolutionary theory of technological change based upon recent scholarship in the history of technology and upon relevant material drawn from economic history and anthropology. It challenges the popular notion that technology advances by the efforts of a few heroic individuals who produce a series of revolutionary inventions owing little or nothing to the technological past. Therefore, the book's argument is shaped by analogies taken selectively from the theory of organic evolution, and not from the theory and practice of political revolution. Three themes appear, and reappear with variations, throughout the study. The first is diversity: an acknowledgment of the vast numbers of different kinds of made things (artifacts) that have long been available to humanity; the second is necessity: the belief that humans are driven to invent new artifacts in order to meet basic biological requirements such as food, shelter, and defense; and the third is technological evolutio

Carroll Quigley was a legendary teacher at the Georgetown School of Foreign Service. His course on the history of civilization was extraordinary in its scope and in its impact on his students.Like the

The question of why organisms reproduce sexually is still a matter of controversy. In this account, Professor Maynard Smith considers the selective forces responsible for the origin and evolution of sexual reproduction and genetic recombination, using quantitative population genetics arguments to support his ideas. The relative importance of individual and group selection processes are also considered. the aim is to give a clear statement of the theoretical issues, and present enough of the evidence to show what kinds of facts are relevant. It is hoped that where crucial evidence is missing, experimentalists and field workers may be encouraged to collect the relevant data. The author does not claim to solve all the problems he raises, but this clear and well-argued account should provide stimulating reading for advanced undergraduate students and research workers in evolutionary theory.