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Description edit
Why evolution is more than just a theory: it is a fact In all the current highly publicized debates about creationism and its descendant “intelligent design,” there is an element of the controversy that is rarely mentioned—the evidence , the empirical truth of evolution by natural... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
First Sentence edit
Why Evolution Is True: Among the wonders that science has uncovered about the universe in which we dwell, no subject has caused more fascination and fury evolution.
Table of Contents edit
Preface..........xi
Introduction....xv
1. What is Evolution?......................................1
2. Written in the Rocks...................................20
3. Remnants: Vestiges, Embryos, and Bad Design...55
4. The Geography.........................................86
5. The Engine of Evolution..............................111
6. How Sex Drives Evolution............................144
7. The Origin of Species.................................168
8. What About Us?.......................................190
9. Evolution Redux.......................................221
Notes...................................235
Glossary................................247
Suggestions for Further Reading...251
References............................257
Illustration Credits....................271
Index...................................273
Glossary edit
- adaption: A feature of an organism that evolved by natural selection because it oerformed a certain function better than its antecenedents. The flowers of plants, for example, are adaptions to attract pollinators.
- adaptive radiation: The production if several or many new soecies from a common ancestor, usually when the ancestor invades a new and empty habitat such as an archipelago. The radiation is "adaptive" because the genetic barriers between species arise as by-products of natural selection adapting populations to their environments. An example is the profusespeciation of honeycreepers in Hawaii.
- allele: A particular form of a given gene produced by mutation. For example, there are three alleles at the protein-coding gene that produces our blood type: the A, B, and O alleles. All are mutant forms of a single gene that differ only slightly in their DNA sequence.
- allopolyploid speciation: The origin of a new species of plant beginning with the hybridization of two deifferent species, followed by a doubling of the chromosome number of that hybrid.
- atavism: The occasional expression in a living species of a trait that was once present in an ancestral species but has since disappeared. An example is the sporadic appearance of a tall in human infants.
- autopolyploid speciation: The origin of a new species of plant that occurs when the entire set chromosomes of an ancestral species is doubled.
Authors & Contributors edit
- Jerry A. Coyne (Author)
Other Contributors:
- Kalliope Monoyios (Illustrator)
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: Viking Penguin
Country: United States of America
Publication Date: 2009
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 282
Publisher: Viking Penguin
Country: United States of America
Publication Date: 2009
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 282
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
- Dewey: 576.8
Subjects edit
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