After tens of thousands of years, religion continues to be pervasive. A comprehensive cognitive theory of religion remains lacking as academics cannot agree if religion is an accidental byproduct or an evolved adaptation. Darwin's Apple proposes a new hypothesis for the origin and purpose of religion that finally explains how religion is adaptive and why it endures, even in our rational, modern society.
When Charles Darwin finished The Origin of Species, he thought that he had explained every clue, but one. Though his theory could explain many facts, Darwin knew that there was a significant event in the history of life that his theory did not explain. During this event, the “Cambrian explosion,” many animals suddenly appeared in the fossil record without apparent ancestors in earlier layers of rock. In Darwin’s Doubt, Stephen C. Meyer tells the story of the mystery surrounding this explosion of animal life—a mystery that has intensified, not only because the expected ancestors of these animals have not been found, but because scientists have learned more about what it takes to construct an animal. During the last half century, biologists have come to appreciate the central importance of biological information—stored in DNA and elsewhere in cells—to building animal forms. Expanding on the compelling case he presented in his last book, Signature in the Cell, Meyer argues that the origin of this information, as well as other mysterious features of the Cambrian event, are best explained by intelligent design, rather than purely undirected evolutionary processes.
The application of evolutionary biology addresses a wide range of practical problems in medicine, agriculture, the environment, and society. Such cutting-edge applications are emerging due to recent advances in DNA sequencing, new gene editing tools, and computational methods. This book is about applied evolution – the application of the principles of and information about evolutionary biology to diverse practical matters. Although applied evolution has existed, unrecognized, for a very long time, today’s version has a much wider scope. Evolutionary medicine has formed into its own discipline. Evolutionary approaches have long been employed in agriculture and in conservation biology. But Darwin’s reach now extends beyond just these three fields. It now also includes forensic biology and the law. Ideas from evolutionary biology can be used to inform policy regarding foreign affairs and national security. Applied evolution is not only interdisciplinary, but also multidisciplinary. Consequently, this book is for experts in one field who are interested in expanding their evolutionary horizons. It is also for students, at the undergraduate and graduate levels. One of the public relations challenges faced by evolutionary biology is that most people do not see it being all that relevant to their daily lives. Even many who accept evolution do not grasp how far Darwin’s reach extends. This book will change that perception. Key Features Emphasizes the expanding role evolutionary biology has in today’s world. Includes examples from medicine, law, agriculture, conservation, and even national security Summarizes new technologies and computational methods that originated as innovations based in part or whole on evolutionary theory. Current. Has extensive coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic and other recent topics. Documents the important role evolution plays in everyday life. Illustrates the broadly interdisciplinary nature of evolutionary theory. Resources The applications of evolutionary biology are far too numerous to include in just one book. Plus, new scientific findings emerge almost every day underscoring the central role evolution plays in our lives. The author has established a blog site to highlight these fascinating discoveries. Please visit https://darwinsreach.blog to be inspired by “... endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful [that] have been, and are being evolved.” (the last line of Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species).
Leading scholars take stock of Darwin's ideas about human evolution in the light of modern science In 1871, Charles Darwin published The Descent of Man, a companion to Origin of Species in which he attempted to explain human evolution, a topic he called "the highest and most interesting problem for the naturalist." A Most Interesting Problem brings together twelve world-class scholars and science communicators to investigate what Darwin got right—and what he got wrong—about the origin, history, and biological variation of humans. Edited by Jeremy DeSilva and with an introduction by acclaimed Darwin biographer Janet Browne, A Most Interesting Problem draws on the latest discoveries in fields such as genetics, paleontology, bioarchaeology, anthropology, and primatology. This compelling and accessible book tackles the very subjects Darwin explores in Descent, including the evidence for human evolution, our place in the family tree, the origins of civilization, human races, and sex differences. A Most Interesting Problem is a testament to how scientific ideas are tested and how evidence helps to structure our narratives about human origins, showing how some of Darwin's ideas have withstood more than a century of scrutiny while others have not. A Most Interesting Problem features contributions by Janet Browne, Jeremy DeSilva, Holly Dunsworth, Agustín Fuentes, Ann Gibbons, Yohannes Haile-Selassie, Brian Hare, John Hawks, Suzana Herculano-Houzel, Kristina Killgrove, Alice Roberts, and Michael J. Ryan.
A compelling portrait of a unique moment in American history when the ideas of Charles Darwin reshaped American notions about nature, religion, science and race “A lively and informative history.” – The New York Times Book Review Throughout its history America has been torn in two by debates over ideals and beliefs. Randall Fuller takes us back to one of those turning points, in 1860, with the story of the influence of Charles Darwin’s just-published On the Origin of Species on five American intellectuals, including Bronson Alcott, Henry David Thoreau, the child welfare reformer Charles Loring Brace, and the abolitionist Franklin Sanborn. Each of these figures seized on the book’s assertion of a common ancestry for all creatures as a powerful argument against slavery, one that helped provide scientific credibility to the cause of abolition. Darwin’s depiction of constant struggle and endless competition described America on the brink of civil war. But some had difficulty aligning the new theory to their religious convictions and their faith in a higher power. Thoreau, perhaps the most profoundly affected all, absorbed Darwin’s views into his mysterious final work on species migration and the interconnectedness of all living things. Creating a rich tableau of nineteenth-century American intellectual culture, as well as providing a fascinating biography of perhaps the single most important idea of that time, The Book That Changed America is also an account of issues and concerns still with us today, including racism and the enduring conflict between science and religion.
Patrick Matthew, in 1831, originated the complete theory of evolution by natural selection in his book On Naval Timber and Arboriculture, and did so before Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace claimed to independently replicate it in 1858. Unjustly, and against the Arago convention on priority (a ruling that gives origination of any science theory to the first to publish), Matthew has been illicitly denied his priority on the grounds he never influenced anyone with his breakthrough. Today, Big Data research has uncovered Darwin’s science fraud by plagiarism, revealing evidence which proves beyond all reasonable doubt that he and Alfred Wallace both independently plagiarised the theory of evolution by natural selection from Patrick Matthew. Books have been newly unearthed in the publication record to show that at least 30 people cited Matthew’s work in published literature before 1858 and that several were known influencers of Darwin’s and Wallace’s work in the field. Additionally, several people in Darwin’s and Wallace’s social circles were first to be second into print using original terms coined by Matthew in his bombshell breakthrough book. This book reveals all the newly unearthed data and essentially explains it, alongside the deplorable treatment of Patrick Matthew, in scholarly historical context. Dr Mike Sutton further reveals, using social science participatory observation methods and experimental results, how members of the so-called Darwin Industry, enabled and facilitated by the deliberate publication of falsehoods and other grossly misleading editing on Wikipedia, have disgracefully worked to re-bury these newly unearthed facts by means of knee-jerk blind-sight ignorant rejection, blatant and deliberate fact-denial censorship, persistent and serious workplace harassment, obscene social media abuse, poison pen emails, lies, mischievous misrepresentation, and repeat research plagiarism.
This entertaining combination of history, biography, and travel adventure is “a bracingly fresh portrait [of] Darwin . . . Nothing less than exhilarating” (Michael Pollan, New York Times–bestselling author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma). One snowy day in Ushuaia, Argentina, Eric Simons picked up a copy of Charles Darwin’s The Voyage of the Beagle. Simons had just hiked the mountains overlooking Beagle Channel, and found himself engrossed in Darwin’s surprisingly relatable account. Like Simons, Darwin had been in his mid-twenties when he traveled to South America in search of adventure. Inspired, Simons went further into South America, exploring the histories, legends, and people that had fascinated Darwin himself two centuries before. In Darwin Slept Here, Simons journeys in the footsteps of one of the fathers of modern science, introducing readers to “a refreshingly different Darwin: a twenty-something traveler fond of hurling iguanas into the sea and charging up any tall peak he could find” (Outside Magazine). “Hard to put Simons’ book down—lighthearted adventures that keep a reader wanting more.” —San Francisco Chronicle
If you're one of the many Unix developers drawn to Mac OS X for its BSD core, you'll find yourself in surprisingly unfamiliar territory. Even if you're an experienced Mac user, Mac OS X is unlike earlier Macs, and it's radically different from the Unix you've used before, too.Enter "Mac OS X for Unix Geeks" by Brian Jepson and Ernest E. Rothman, two Unix geeks who found themselves in the same place you are. Their new book is your guide to figuring out the BSD Unix system and Mac-specific components that are making your life difficult and to help ease you into the Unix inside Mac OS X. This concise book includes such topics as: A quick overview of the Terminal application Understanding Open Directory (LDAP) and NetInfo Issues related to using the GNU C Compiler 9GCC Library linking and porting Unix software An overview of Mac OS X?s filesystem and startup processes Creating and installing packages using Fink Building the Darwin kernel Running X Windows on top of Mac OS X The book wraps up with a quick manpage-style reference to the "Missing Manual Pages"--commands that come with Mac OS X although there are no manpages.If you find yourself disoriented by the new Mac environment, Mac OS X for Unix Geeks can help you acclimate yourself quickly to the familiar, yet foreign, Unix landscape.
Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species is unquestionably one of the chief landmarks in biology. The Origin (as it is widely known) was literally only an abstract of the manuscript Darwin had originally intended to complete and publish as the formal presentation of his views on evolution. Compared with the Origin, his original long manuscript work on Natural Selection, which is presented here and made available for the first time in printed form, has more abundant examples and illustrations of Darwin's argument, plus an extensive citation of sources.
The author addresses key scientific questions previously explained by rich mythologies, from the evolution of the first humans and the life cycle of stars to the principles of a rainbow and the origins of the universe.
