Shaping Life

Shaping Life

Author: John Maynard Smith

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 1999-01-01

Total Pages: 68

ISBN-13: 9780300080223

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During the past ten years, there has been a revolution in our understanding of developmental biology, as scientists apply the ideas and techniques of genetics and embryology to the processes of development. In this book, John Maynard Smith gives an account of the progress that has been made in this field -- in our knowledge of both the development of individuals and the evolution of the species. Maynard Smith points out that there is a parallel between the developmental changes that convert an egg into an adult and the evolutionary changes converted simple single-celled ancestors into the existing array of multicellular animals and plants. Genetic studies provide the necessary link between development and evolution: natural selection explains how information is incorporated in the genome, and development shows what use is made of it during the development of each individual. Traditionally, two very different views have been held about development. Maynard Smith argues that the differences between them are not so much scientific as ideological -- one can be considered reductionist and the other holistic. But because of advances in the science underpinning both viewpoints, he says, the possibility of a dialogue between them is great, which will be beneficial to the entire discipline.


Haeckel's Embryos

Haeckel's Embryos

Author: Nick Hopwood

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2015-05-11

Total Pages: 397

ISBN-13: 022604694X

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Emphasizing the changes worked by circulation and copying, interpretation and debate, this book uses the case to explore how pictures succeed and fail, gain acceptance and spark controversy. It reveals how embryonic development was made a process that we can see, compare, and discuss, and how copying - usually dismissed as unoriginal


Understanding Evolution

Understanding Evolution

Author: Kostas Kampourakis

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2014-04-03

Total Pages: 275

ISBN-13: 1107034914

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Bringing together conceptual obstacles and core concepts of evolutionary theory, this book presents evolution as straightforward and intuitive.


The Ancestor's Tale

The Ancestor's Tale

Author: Richard Dawkins

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 696

ISBN-13: 9780618619160

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A renowned biologist provides a sweeping chronicle of more than four billion years of life on Earth, shedding new light on evolutionary theory and history, sexual selection, speciation, extinction, and genetics.


Understanding DNA Ancestry

Understanding DNA Ancestry

Author: Sheldon Krimsky

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2021-11-04

Total Pages: 171

ISBN-13: 1108841988

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An accessible introduction to how DNA ancestry tests work, what they can be used for, and the associated ethical issues.


Your Inner Fish

Your Inner Fish

Author: Neil Shubin

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2008-01-15

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 0307377164

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The paleontologist and professor of anatomy who co-discovered Tiktaalik, the “fish with hands,” tells a “compelling scientific adventure story that will change forever how you understand what it means to be human” (Oliver Sacks). By examining fossils and DNA, he shows us that our hands actually resemble fish fins, our heads are organized like long-extinct jawless fish, and major parts of our genomes look and function like those of worms and bacteria. Your Inner Fish makes us look at ourselves and our world in an illuminating new light. This is science writing at its finest—enlightening, accessible and told with irresistible enthusiasm.


Embryos in Deep Time

Embryos in Deep Time

Author: Marcelo Sánchez-Villagra

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2012-04-03

Total Pages: 271

ISBN-13: 0520952308

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How can we bring together the study of genes, embryos and fossils? Embryos in Deep Time is a critical synthesis of the study of individual development in fossils. It brings together an up-to-date review of concepts from comparative anatomy, ecology and developmental genetics, and examples of different kinds of animals from diverse geological epochs and geographic areas. Can fossil embryos demonstrate evolutionary changes in reproductive modes? How have changes in ocean chemistry in the past affected the development of marine organisms? What can the microstructure of fossil bone and teeth reveal about maturation time, longevity and changes in growth phases? This book addresses these and other issues and documents with numerous examples and illustrations how fossils provide evidence not only of adult anatomy but also of the life history of individuals at different growth stages. The central topic of Biology today—the transformations occurring during the life of an organism and the mechanisms behind them—is addressed in an integrative manner for extinct animals.


Heritable Human Genome Editing

Heritable Human Genome Editing

Author: The Royal Society

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2021-01-16

Total Pages: 239

ISBN-13: 0309671132

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Heritable human genome editing - making changes to the genetic material of eggs, sperm, or any cells that lead to their development, including the cells of early embryos, and establishing a pregnancy - raises not only scientific and medical considerations but also a host of ethical, moral, and societal issues. Human embryos whose genomes have been edited should not be used to create a pregnancy until it is established that precise genomic changes can be made reliably and without introducing undesired changes - criteria that have not yet been met, says Heritable Human Genome Editing. From an international commission of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine, U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and the U.K.'s Royal Society, the report considers potential benefits, harms, and uncertainties associated with genome editing technologies and defines a translational pathway from rigorous preclinical research to initial clinical uses, should a country decide to permit such uses. The report specifies stringent preclinical and clinical requirements for establishing safety and efficacy, and for undertaking long-term monitoring of outcomes. Extensive national and international dialogue is needed before any country decides whether to permit clinical use of this technology, according to the report, which identifies essential elements of national and international scientific governance and oversight.


Icons of Evolution

Icons of Evolution

Author: Jonathan Wells

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2002-01-01

Total Pages: 251

ISBN-13: 159698533X

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Everything you were taught about evolution is wrong.