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Much recent research in evolutionary developmental biology has focused on the origin of new body plans. However, most evolutionary change at the population and species level consists of tinkering: small-scale alterations in developmental pathways within a single body plan. Such microevolutionary events have been well studied on a population genetic level and from the perspective of adaptive phenotypic evolution, but their developmental mechanisms remain poorly studied. This book explores both theoretical and practical issues of tinkering. It features a wide range of perspectives to address several fundamental questions. How does tinkering occur developmentally, and how is it manifested phenotypically? Are the developmental mechanisms by which tinkering occur different from those that underlie larger evolutionary changes? What are the developmental constraints on tinkering? And how do we test hypotheses about microevolutionary shifts in development from the fossil record? With contributions from experts in a range of fields, this fascinating book makes exciting reading for anyone studying evolution, developmental biology or genetics.
A cutting-edge review of the biochemical, physiological, pharmacological, genetic, and molecular interactions involved in the development and homeostasis of the skeleton. Topics range from chondrogenesis, chondrocytes, and cartilage to skeletal dysmorphology, and include the control of skeletal development, osteoblastic cell differentiation, and bone induction, growth, remodeling, and mineralization. The authors' understanding of bone physiology-and how it is modified throughout all the stages of life-offers novel approaches for improving the endurance of load-bearing implants, achieving life-long optimal bone strength, overcoming microgravity situations (space flight), and hastening the healing of fractures, osteotomies, and antrodeses.
In this fascinating book, one of the world's most eminent developmental biologists discusses some of the exciting new insights into how genes control development. Walter Gehring describes in vivid detail his essential contributions to the landmark discovery of the homeobox, a characteristic DNA segment found in the genes of all higher organisms from the fruitfly to humans, and he explains how this has provided the key to our modern understanding of development and evolution. The book thus becomes not only a lucid discussion of genetics but also an engaging description of the art of scientific investigation. Gehring begins his story by looking at the work of the many researchers who laid the ...
A readable account of the history of natural disasters throughout history.
The year's finest writing on mathematics from around the world, with a foreword by Nobel Prize–winning physicist Roger Penrose This annual anthology brings together the year's finest mathematics writing from around the world. Featuring promising new voices alongside some of the foremost names in the field, The Best Writing on Mathematics 2013 makes available to a wide audience many articles not easily found anywhere else—and you don't need to be a mathematician to enjoy them. These writings offer surprising insights into the nature, meaning, and practice of mathematics today. They delve into the history, philosophy, teaching, and everyday occurrences of math, and take readers behind the ...
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Does evolution make faith superfluous? Part One of this book looks across the whole spectrum of biology—from molecules to ecosystems to human societies—and at the fossil history of life on earth, concluding that evolution is the only explanatory concept that makes sense of it all. Doesn’t this demolish the core Christian claim that God created the entire universe? Part Two explores whether God might instead embrace that universe with love and compassion, without micromanaging or interfering. Jesus bears witness to such a God in his kingdom teaching, calling Christians to follow his example of humility, serving others, and valuing what the world considers unimportant. This suggests paths of repentance and restraint that are urgently needed in a world facing rapid climate change and likely mass extinction.