Evolution: the Triumph of an Idea. (Books: a selection of new and notable books of scientific interest).CARL ZIMMER This sweeping text tracks the far-reaching effects of a single idea--Charles Darwin's notion of evolution--on our modern, everyday lives. Zimmer offers both a clear historical perspective on the 160-year legacy of Darwin's idea and a 4-billion-year retrospective of life on Earth. The author begins by describing Darwin's work on natural selection and then following various avenues of research on evolution pursued since then by geologists, biologists, and paleontologists. This account proceeds all the way to cutting-edge advances in areas such as evolutionary medicine Evolutionary medicine or Darwinian medicine is the field of knowledge that integrates medicine with evolutionary biology, more specifically with the adaptationist program. and genetics genetics, scientific study of the mechanism of heredity. While Gregor Mendel first presented his findings on the statistical laws governing the transmission of certain traits from generation to generation in 1856, it was not until the discovery and detailed study of . Zimmer concludes by examining the ways in which people have tried to reconcile evolutionary theory
in full Public Broadcasting Service Private, nonprofit U.S. corporation of public television stations. PBS provides its member stations, which are supported by public funds and private contributions rather than by commercials, with educational, cultural, . HarpC, 2001, 364 p., color photos/illus., hardcover, $40.00. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] |
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