Introduction: The patchwork human, old and new parts -- The human machine -- Cells, genes, and other small parts -- The embryo: construction and continuity -- Evolution: the process -- Evolution: the pattern -- Bigger is sometimes better -- Bilateral symmetry -- The sexy beast, part I -- Up the mammalian path -- Fur -- A warm-blooded animal -- Upright living -- The brain -- The sexy beast, part II -- On being social -- The truly musical animal -- The talkative ape -- Human races, real and imagined -- The future of the only remaining human species.
Summary:
"Life itself began about four billion years ago on our four-and-a-half-billion-year-old planet. Like an old patchwork quilt, evolution stitched the human being together from parts of ancient species now long extinct. Like any species, humans have hundreds or even thousands of traits that have been passed down through time. The evolutionary age of our different traits can be told from how widely distributed they are among today's living creatures. The book aims to explain some human traits and how we--as social, sexual, language-obsessed technological apes--evolved into our own modern species. Combining hard science with philosophical thought, this work aims to explain where humans have come from, and where we are going. Free of complicated jargon, it breaks down the concept of evolution starting with the human body's most basic component--our cells. Building from there, chapters explore which traits became inherited over evolutionary time, ultimately projecting what could be next for our species"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.