Alien Eraser Reveals the Secrets of Evolution

At long last, an accessible little book that focuses on the teachings of Rumi’s teacher and inspiration, Shams of Tabriz. Included in this slim, charming volume is a biographical sketch of the great S

Modern fly-fishing is only the latest chapter in a two-millennia saga of technological creativity and passionate observation of the natural world. In Fly-Fishing Secrets of the Ancients, historian-nat

Classic science fiction author H. G. Wells's most memorable and compelling novel was arguably The War of the Worlds, made even more famous by the notorious Mercury Theater production starring Orson

Could your teacher be an alien? Do your research with this paperback edition of three adventures in the bestselling, hilarious sci-fi series from the author who inspired Christopher Paolini’s Eragon s

Does the U.S. government know more about UFO and alien life than it admits? Are eyewitnesses telling the truth? What does the historical record say? Former intelligence officer and retired U.S. Army l

Traces the history of religion and examines the explosion in religious violence in light of ongoing cultural transformation.

China and Russia, two giants dominating the Eurasian landmass, share a history of understanding and misunderstanding whose nuances are not well appreciated by outsiders. In his interpretation of this

Primarily utilizing newspaper articles and academic studies of China, Lukin (Moscow State Institute of International Relations) seeks to provide a "comprehensive analysis" of Russian perceptions of Ch

Tracing the evolution of one of the most ancient major branches of flowering plants, this is a wide-ranging survey of state-of-the-art research on the early clades of the monocot phylogenetic tree. It explores a series of broad but linked themes, providing for the first time a detailed and coherent view of the taxa of the early monocot lineages, how they diversified and their importance in monocots as a whole. Featuring contributions from leaders in the field, the chapters trace the evolution of the monocots from largely aquatic ancestors. Topics covered include the rapidly advancing field of monocot fossils, aquatic adaptations in pollen and anther structure and pollination strategies and floral developmental morphology. The book also presents a new plastid sequence analysis of early monocots and a review of monocot phylogeny as a whole, placing in an evolutionary context a plant group of major ecological, economic and horticultural importance.

Phylogenetic study is an important corner-stone of biology, for the evolutionary relationships between groups of animals bear heavily on the analysis of their physiology, behaviour and ecology. Despite this, there have been few books which analyse the diversity of animal life in terms of its origins, and the relationships between different groups. In this book Pat Willmer draws on her experience of teaching invertebrate zoology to produce a stimulating account of both the relationships between invertebrate phyla and of the phylogenetic pattern of the animal kingdom. After reviewing the current state of the subject, the author discusses the various sources of evidence - structural, chemical, genetic, embryological and fossil - which bear upon the question of how living animals are related to each other. Much of this evidence has accumulated over the last two decades, yet there has been surprisingly little appreciation of the implications it has on phylogenetic research. Dr Willmer goes

Cognitive Archaeology and Human Evolution presented new directions in the study of cognitive archaeology. Seeking to understand the conditions that led to the development of a variety of cognitive processes during evolution, it uses evidence from empirical studies and offers theoretical speculations about the evolution of modern thinking as well. The twelve essays, written by an international team of scholars, represent an eclectic array of interests, methods, and theories about evolutionary cognitive archaeology. Collectively, they consider whether the processes in the development of human cognition simply made a better use of anatomical and cerebral structures already in place at the beginning of hominization. They also consider the possibility of an active role of hominoids in their own development and query the impact of hominoid activity in the emergence of new cognitive abilities.

Cognitive Archaeology and Human Evolution presented new directions in the study of cognitive archaeology. Seeking to understand the conditions that led to the development of a variety of cognitive processes during evolution, it uses evidence from empirical studies and offers theoretical speculations about the evolution of modern thinking as well. The twelve essays, written by an international team of scholars, represent an eclectic array of interests, methods, and theories about evolutionary cognitive archaeology. Collectively, they consider whether the processes in the development of human cognition simply made a better use of anatomical and cerebral structures already in place at the beginning of hominization. They also consider the possibility of an active role of hominoids in their own development and query the impact of hominoid activity in the emergence of new cognitive abilities.

The populations of many species of animals and plants are age-structured, i.e. the individuals present at any one time were born over a range of different times, and their fertility and survival depend on age. The properties of such populations are important for interpreting experiments and observations on the genetics of populations for animal and plant breeding, and for understanding the evolution of features of life-histories such as senescence and time of reproduction. In this new edition Brian Charlesworth provides a comprehensive review of the basic mathematical theory of the demography and genetics of age-structured populations. The mathematical level of the book is such that it will be accessible to anyone with a knowledge of basic calculus and linear algebra.

The development of populations over time, and, on longer timescales, the evolution of species, are both influenced by a complex of interacting, underlying processes. Computer simulation provides a means of experimenting within an idealised framework to allow aspects of these processes and their interactions to be isolated, controlled, and understood. In this book, computer simulation is used to model migration, extinction, fossilisation, interbreeding, selection and non-hereditary effects in the context of human populations and the observed distribution of fossil and current hominoid species. The simulations described enable the visualisation and study of lineages, genetic diversity in populations, character diversity across species and the accuracy of reconstructions, allowing insights into human evolution and the origins of humankind for graduate students and researchers in the fields of physical anthropology, human evolution, and human genetics.

This engaging book explores the dynamic relationship between evolutionary science and musical culture in Victorian Britain, drawing upon a wealth of popular scientific and musical literature to contextualize evolutionary theories of the Darwinian and non-Darwinian revolutions. Bennett Zon uses musical culture to question the hegemonic role ascribed to Darwin by later thinkers, and interrogates the conceptual premise of modern debates in evolutionary musicology. Structured around the Great Chain of Being, chapters are organized by discipline in successively ascending order according to their object of study, from zoology and the study of animal music to theology and the music of God. Evolution and Victorian Musical Culture takes a non-Darwinian approach to the interpretation of Victorian scientific and musical interrelationships, debunking the idea that the arts had little influence on contemporary scientific ideas and, by probing the origins of musical interdisciplinarity, the volume s

This textbook acquaints the readers with the evolution of Indian administration through contextual analysis of the theoretical and practical aspects of the subject.Indian Administration: Evolution and

This is a study of how children acquire language and how this affects language change over generations. Written by an international team of experts, the volume proceeds from the basis that we can not only address the language faculty per se within the framework of evolutionary theory, but also the origins and subsequent development of languages themselves; languages evolve via cultural rather than biological transmission on a historical rather than genetic timescale. The book is distinctive in utilizing computational simulation and modelling to help ensure the theories constructed are complete and precise. Drawing on a wide range of examples, the book covers the why and how of specific syntactic universals; the nature of syntactic change; the language-learning mechanisms required to acquire an existing linguistic system accurately and to impose further structure on an emerging system; and the evolution of language(s) in relation to this learning mechanism.