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Some assembly required : decoding four billion years of life, from ancient fossils to DNA / Neil Shubin.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Pantheon Books, [2020]Edition: First editionDescription: xii, 267 pages : illustrations ; 22 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781101871331
  • 1101871334
Other title:
  • Decoding four billion years of life, from ancient fossils to DNA
  • Decoding 4 billion years of life, from ancient fossils to DNA
Subject(s):
Contents:
Five words -- Embryonic ideas -- Maestro in the genome -- Beautiful monsters -- Copycats -- Our inner battlefield -- Loaded dice -- Mergers and acquisitions.
Summary: "The author of the best-selling Your Inner Fish, now gives us a lively and accessible account of the great transformations in the history of life, that enable us to further understand whether our presence on this planet is an accident or inevitable. The great transformations in the history of life brought about whole scale shifts in how animals live and how their bodies are organized: the evolution of fish to land-living creature, the origin of birds, the beginnings of bodies in single-celled creatures. Shubin describes how over the last half-century, scientists have been able to explore how genetic recipes build bodies during embryological development--how these inventions and adaptations occur in a nonprogressive manner in different contexts, at different speeds. Paleontology has been transformed over the last 50 years by tools and techniques of molecular biology--and it is that revolution in our understanding of the evolution of life that Shubin traces here. Each of us is a mosaic of precursors that came about at different times and places, with deep rooted connections across species that Darwin, for all he understood, could never even have imagined"-- Provided by publisher.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Dr. James Carlson Library NonFiction 576.83 S562 Available 33111009815420
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 576.83 S562 Available 33111009629565
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

An exciting and accessible new view of the evolution of human and animal life on Earth. From the author of national bestseller, Your Inner Fish , this extraordinary journey of discovery spans centuries, as explorers and scientists seek to understand the origins of life's immense diversity.

"Fossils, DNA, scientists with a penchant for suits of armor--what's not to love?"-- BBC Wildlife Magazine

Over billions of years, ancient fish evolved to walk on land, reptiles transformed into birds that fly, and apelike primates evolved into humans that walk on two legs, talk, and write. For more than a century, paleontologists have traveled the globe to find fossils that show how such changes have happened.

We have now arrived at a remarkable moment--prehistoric fossils coupled with new DNA technology have given us the tools to answer some of the basic questions of our existence: How do big changes in evolution happen? Is our presence on Earth the product of mere chance? This new science reveals a multibillion-year evolutionary history filled with twists and turns, trial and error, accident and invention.

In Some Assembly Required, Neil Shubin takes readers on a journey of discovery spanning centuries, as explorers and scientists seek to understand the origins of life's immense diversity.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Five words -- Embryonic ideas -- Maestro in the genome -- Beautiful monsters -- Copycats -- Our inner battlefield -- Loaded dice -- Mergers and acquisitions.

"The author of the best-selling Your Inner Fish, now gives us a lively and accessible account of the great transformations in the history of life, that enable us to further understand whether our presence on this planet is an accident or inevitable. The great transformations in the history of life brought about whole scale shifts in how animals live and how their bodies are organized: the evolution of fish to land-living creature, the origin of birds, the beginnings of bodies in single-celled creatures. Shubin describes how over the last half-century, scientists have been able to explore how genetic recipes build bodies during embryological development--how these inventions and adaptations occur in a nonprogressive manner in different contexts, at different speeds. Paleontology has been transformed over the last 50 years by tools and techniques of molecular biology--and it is that revolution in our understanding of the evolution of life that Shubin traces here. Each of us is a mosaic of precursors that came about at different times and places, with deep rooted connections across species that Darwin, for all he understood, could never even have imagined"-- Provided by publisher.

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