Deep Homology?

Deep Homology? PDF Author: Lewis I. Held, Jr
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316982718
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 291

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Book Description
Humans and flies look nothing alike, yet their genetic circuits are remarkably similar. Here, Lewis I. Held, Jr compares the genetics and development of the two to review the evidence for deep homology, the biggest discovery from the emerging field of evolutionary developmental biology. Remnants of the operating system of our hypothetical common ancestor 600 million years ago are compared in chapters arranged by region of the body, from the nervous system, limbs and heart, to vision, hearing and smell. Concept maps provide a clear understanding of the complex subjects addressed, while encyclopaedic tables offer comprehensive inventories of genetic information. Written in an engaging style with a reference section listing thousands of relevant publications, this is a vital resource for scientific researchers, and graduate and undergraduate students.

Deep Homology?

Deep Homology? PDF Author: Lewis I. Held, Jr
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316982718
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 291

Get Book Here

Book Description
Humans and flies look nothing alike, yet their genetic circuits are remarkably similar. Here, Lewis I. Held, Jr compares the genetics and development of the two to review the evidence for deep homology, the biggest discovery from the emerging field of evolutionary developmental biology. Remnants of the operating system of our hypothetical common ancestor 600 million years ago are compared in chapters arranged by region of the body, from the nervous system, limbs and heart, to vision, hearing and smell. Concept maps provide a clear understanding of the complex subjects addressed, while encyclopaedic tables offer comprehensive inventories of genetic information. Written in an engaging style with a reference section listing thousands of relevant publications, this is a vital resource for scientific researchers, and graduate and undergraduate students.

Deep Homology?

Deep Homology? PDF Author: Lewis I. Held, Jr
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107147182
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 291

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Book Description
A comparison of the genetic circuits of Homo sapiens and Drosophila reveals the evidence for deep homology.

Homology

Homology PDF Author: Brian K. Hall
Publisher: Academic Press
ISBN: 0323139345
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 500

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Book Description
Homology, the similarity between organisms that is due to common ancestry, is the central concept of all comparative biology. However, the application of this concept varies depending on the data being examined. This volume represents a state-of-the-art treatment of the different applications of this unifying concept. Chapters deal with homology on all levels, from molecules to behavior, and are authored by leading contributors to systematics, natural history, and evolutionary, developmental, and comparative biology. Commemoration of the 150th anniverary of Sir Richard Owen's seminal paper distinguishing homology from analogy Contributors who are renowned leaders in compative biology Coverage that is both comprehensive and interdisciplinary

Behaving

Behaving PDF Author: Kenneth F. Schaffner
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195171403
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
This book analyses the nature-nurture controversy and recent history and methodology of behavioral and psychiatric genetics. It discusses genetic reductionism, determinism, heritability, "free will," and quantitative and molecular genetics. New genome-wide association studies (GWAS) that produced a "paradigm shift" in the subject are reviewed, as are genetics of personality and schizophrenia.

The Biolinguistic Enterprise

The Biolinguistic Enterprise PDF Author: Anna Maria Di Sciullo
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199553270
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 576

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Book Description
This book, by leading scholars, represents some of the main work in progress in biolinguistics. It offers fresh perspectives on language evolution and variation, new developments in theoretical linguistics, and insights on the relations between variation in language and variation in biology. The authors address the Darwinian questions on the origin and evolution of language from a minimalist perspective, and provide elegant solutions to the evolutionary gap between human language and communication in all other organisms. They consider language variation in the context of current biological approaches to species diversity - the 'evo-devo revolution' - which bring to light deep homologies between organisms. In dispensing with the classical notion of syntactic parameters, the authors argue that language variation, like biodiversity, is the result of experience and thus not a part of the language faculty in the narrow sense. They also examine the nature of this core language faculty, the primary categories with which it is concerned, the operations it performs, the syntactic constraints it poses on semantic interpretation and the role of phases in bridging the gap between brain and syntax. Written in language accessible to a wide audience, The Biolinguistic Enterprise will appeal to scholars and students of linguistics, cognitive science, biology, and natural language processing.

Neurobiology of Motor Control

Neurobiology of Motor Control PDF Author: Scott L. Hooper
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118873343
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 512

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Book Description
A multi-disciplinary look at the current state of knowledge regarding motor control and movement—from molecular biology to robotics The last two decades have seen a dramatic increase in the number of sophisticated tools and methodologies for exploring motor control and movement. Multi-unit recordings, molecular neurogenetics, computer simulation, and new scientific approaches for studying how muscles and body anatomy transform motor neuron activity into movement have helped revolutionize the field. Neurobiology of Motor Control brings together contributions from an interdisciplinary group of experts to provide a review of the current state of knowledge about the initiation and execution of movement, as well as the latest methods and tools for investigating them. The book ranges from the findings of basic scientists studying model organisms such as mollusks and Drosophila, to biomedical researchers investigating vertebrate motor production to neuroengineers working to develop robotic and smart prostheses technologies. Following foundational chapters on current molecular biological techniques, neuronal ensemble recording, and computer simulation, it explores a broad range of related topics, including the evolution of motor systems, directed targeted movements, plasticity and learning, and robotics. Explores motor control and movement in a wide variety of organisms, from simple invertebrates to human beings Offers concise summaries of motor control systems across a variety of animals and movement types Explores an array of tools and methodologies, including electrophysiological techniques, neurogenic and molecular techniques, large ensemble recordings, and computational methods Considers unresolved questions and how current scientific advances may be used to solve them going forward Written specifically to encourage interdisciplinary understanding and collaboration, and offering the most wide-ranging, timely, and comprehensive look at the science of motor control and movement currently available, Neurobiology of Motor Control is a must-read for all who study movement production and the neurobiological basis of movement—from molecular biologists to roboticists.

From Clone to Bone

From Clone to Bone PDF Author: Robert J. Asher
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139789147
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 399

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Book Description
Since the 1980s, a renewed understanding of molecular development has afforded an unprecedented level of knowledge of the mechanisms by which phenotype in animals and plants has evolved. In this volume, top scientists in these fields provide perspectives on how molecular data in biology help to elucidate key questions in estimating paleontological divergence and in understanding the mechanisms behind phenotypic evolution. Paleobiological questions such as genome size, digit homologies, genetic control cascades behind phenotype, estimates of vertebrate divergence dates, and rates of morphological evolution are addressed, with a special emphasis on how molecular biology can inform paleontology, directly and indirectly, to better understand life's past. Highlighting a significant shift towards interdisciplinary collaboration, this is a valuable resource for students and researchers interested in the integration of organismal and molecular biology.

Adam's Tongue

Adam's Tongue PDF Author: Derek Bickerton
Publisher: Hill and Wang
ISBN: 1429930292
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
How language evolved has been called "the hardest problem in science." In Adam's Tongue, Derek Bickerton—long a leading authority in this field—shows how and why previous attempts to solve that problem have fallen short. Taking cues from topics as diverse as the foraging strategies of ants, the distribution of large prehistoric herbivores, and the construction of ecological niches, Bickerton produces a dazzling new alternative to the conventional wisdom. Language is unique to humans, but it isn't the only thing that sets us apart from other species—our cognitive powers are qualitatively different. So could there be two separate discontinuities between humans and the rest of nature? No, says Bickerton; he shows how the mere possession of symbolic units—words—automatically opened a new and different cognitive universe, one that yielded novel innovations ranging from barbed arrowheads to the Apollo spacecraft. Written in Bickerton's lucid and irreverent style, this book is the first that thoroughly integrates the story of how language evolved with the story of how humans evolved. Sure to be controversial, it will make indispensable reading both for experts in the field and for every reader who has ever wondered how a species as remarkable as ours could have come into existence.

Convergent Evolution in Stone-Tool Technology

Convergent Evolution in Stone-Tool Technology PDF Author: Michael J. O'Brien
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262346176
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
Scholars from a variety of disciplines consider cases of convergence in lithic technology, when functional or developmental constraints result in similar forms in independent lineages. Hominins began using stone tools at least 2.6 million years ago, perhaps even 3.4 million years ago. Given the nearly ubiquitous use of stone tools by humans and their ancestors, the study of lithic technology offers an important line of inquiry into questions of evolution and behavior. This book examines convergence in stone tool-making, cases in which functional or developmental constraints result in similar forms in independent lineages. Identifying examples of convergence, and distinguishing convergence from divergence, refutes hypotheses that suggest physical or cultural connection between far-flung prehistoric toolmakers. Employing phylogenetic analysis and stone-tool replication, the contributors show that similarity of tools can be caused by such common constraints as the fracture properties of stone or adaptive challenges rather than such unlikely phenomena as migration of toolmakers over an Arctic ice shelf. Contributors R. Alexander Bentley, Briggs Buchanan, Marcelo Cardillo, Mathieu Charbonneau, Judith Charlin, Chris Clarkson, Loren G. Davis, Metin I. Eren, Peter Hiscock, Thomas A. Jennings, Steven L. Kuhn, Daniel E. Lieberman, George R. McGhee, Alex Mackay, Michael J. O'Brien, Charlotte D. Pevny, Ceri Shipton, Ashley M. Smallwood, Heather Smith, Jayne Wilkins, Samuel C. Willis, Nicolas Zayns

The Structure of Evolutionary Theory

The Structure of Evolutionary Theory PDF Author: Stephen Jay Gould
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674417925
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1460

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Book Description
The world’s most revered and eloquent interpreter of evolutionary ideas offers here a work of explanatory force unprecedented in our time—a landmark publication, both for its historical sweep and for its scientific vision. With characteristic attention to detail, Stephen Jay Gould first describes the content and discusses the history and origins of the three core commitments of classical Darwinism: that natural selection works on organisms, not genes or species; that it is almost exclusively the mechanism of adaptive evolutionary change; and that these changes are incremental, not drastic. Next, he examines the three critiques that currently challenge this classic Darwinian edifice: that selection operates on multiple levels, from the gene to the group; that evolution proceeds by a variety of mechanisms, not just natural selection; and that causes operating at broader scales, including catastrophes, have figured prominently in the course of evolution. Then, in a stunning tour de force that will likely stimulate discussion and debate for decades, Gould proposes his own system for integrating these classical commitments and contemporary critiques into a new structure of evolutionary thought. In 2001 the Library of Congress named Stephen Jay Gould one of America’s eighty-three Living Legends—people who embody the “quintessentially American ideal of individual creativity, conviction, dedication, and exuberance.” Each of these qualities finds full expression in this peerless work, the likes of which the scientific world has not seen—and may not see again—for well over a century.