The making of the fittest : DNA and the ultimate forensic record of evolution
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Bibliographic Information
The making of the fittest : DNA and the ultimate forensic record of evolution
Quercus, 2009, c2006
- : pbk
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Note
Originally published: New York : W.W. Norton , 2006
"First published in Great Britain in 2008, this paperback edition published in 2009''--T.p verso
Includes bibliographical references (p. [293]-310) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
For more than a century, we were restricted to studying evolution from the outside, observing its progress only through the fossil record. No longer. We can now also read the DNA record. As well as containing the operating instructions for everyday existence and for making the next generation, DNA contains a vast and detailed history of the three-billion-year development of life on Earth. It is a living chronicle
of evolution, pinpointing the precise changes that have enabled Earth's marvelous creatures to inhabit the planet's shifting environments, from the freezing waters of the Antarctic to the lush canopy of the rainforest.
Captivating and lucid, The Making of the Fittest delves deep into the DNA record to reveal not just how the fittest survive but also how they are made.
Table of Contents
Preface Beyond Any Reasonable Doubt. Chapter 1 Introduction: The Bloodless Fish of Bouvet Island. Chapter 2 The Everyday Math of Evolution: Chance, Selection, and Time. Chapter 3 Immortal Genes: Running in Place for Eons. Chapter 4 Making the New from the Old. Chapter 5 Fossil Genes: Broken Pieces of Yesterday's Life. Chapter 6 Deja Vu: How and Why Evolution Repeats Itself. Chapter 7 Our Flesh and Blood: Arms Races, the Human Race, and Natural Selection. Chapter 8 The Making and Evolution of Complexity. Chapter 9 Seeing and Believing. Chapter 10 The Palm Trees of Wyoming. Sources and Further Reading. Acknowledgements. Index.
by "Nielsen BookData"