Lamarck's Revenge

How Epigenetics Is Revolutionizing Our Understanding of Evolution's Past and Present

Nonfiction, Science & Nature, Science, Biological Sciences, Biology, Evolution, Other Sciences, History
Cover of the book Lamarck's Revenge by Peter Ward, Bloomsbury Publishing
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Peter Ward ISBN: 9781632866172
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Publication: August 14, 2018
Imprint: Bloomsbury Publishing Language: English
Author: Peter Ward
ISBN: 9781632866172
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication: August 14, 2018
Imprint: Bloomsbury Publishing
Language: English

Epigenetics upends natural selection and genetic mutation as the sole engines of evolution, and offers startling insights into our future heritable traits.

In the 1700s, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck first described epigenetics to explain the inheritance of acquired characteristics; however, his theory was supplanted in the 1800s by Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection through heritable genetic mutations. But natural selection could not adequately explain how rapidly species re-diversified and repopulated after mass extinctions. Now advances in the study of DNA and RNA have resurrected epigenetics, which can create radical physical and physiological changes in subsequent generations by the simple addition of a single small molecule, thus passing along a propensity for molecules to attach in the same places in the next generation!

Epigenetics is a complex process, but paleontologist and astrobiologist Peter Ward breaks it down for general readers, using the epigenetic paradigm to reexamine how the history of our species--from deep time to the outbreak of the Black Plague and into the present--has left its mark on our physiology, behavior, and intelligence. Most alarming are chapters about epigenetic changes we are undergoing now triggered by toxins, environmental pollutants, famine, poor nutrition, and overexposure to violence.

Lamarck's Revenge is an eye-opening and controversial exploration of how traits are inherited, and how outside influences drive what we pass along to our progeny.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Epigenetics upends natural selection and genetic mutation as the sole engines of evolution, and offers startling insights into our future heritable traits.

In the 1700s, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck first described epigenetics to explain the inheritance of acquired characteristics; however, his theory was supplanted in the 1800s by Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection through heritable genetic mutations. But natural selection could not adequately explain how rapidly species re-diversified and repopulated after mass extinctions. Now advances in the study of DNA and RNA have resurrected epigenetics, which can create radical physical and physiological changes in subsequent generations by the simple addition of a single small molecule, thus passing along a propensity for molecules to attach in the same places in the next generation!

Epigenetics is a complex process, but paleontologist and astrobiologist Peter Ward breaks it down for general readers, using the epigenetic paradigm to reexamine how the history of our species--from deep time to the outbreak of the Black Plague and into the present--has left its mark on our physiology, behavior, and intelligence. Most alarming are chapters about epigenetic changes we are undergoing now triggered by toxins, environmental pollutants, famine, poor nutrition, and overexposure to violence.

Lamarck's Revenge is an eye-opening and controversial exploration of how traits are inherited, and how outside influences drive what we pass along to our progeny.

More books from Bloomsbury Publishing

Cover of the book Administrative Law and Judicial Deference by Peter Ward
Cover of the book Soviet Lend-Lease Tanks of World War II by Peter Ward
Cover of the book Special Operations Forces in Iraq by Peter Ward
Cover of the book The Journalist in British Fiction and Film by Peter Ward
Cover of the book Edgar Plays: 1 by Peter Ward
Cover of the book Horse of Fire by Peter Ward
Cover of the book Why Sailors Can't Swim and Other Marvellous Maritime Curiosities by Peter Ward
Cover of the book Surpassing Modernity by Peter Ward
Cover of the book Language and Being by Peter Ward
Cover of the book Tudor Tales: The Actor, the Rebel and the Wrinkled Queen by Peter Ward
Cover of the book Elliott Smith's XO by Peter Ward
Cover of the book Facing the Catastrophe by Peter Ward
Cover of the book Modern South Africa in World History by Peter Ward
Cover of the book Voices in the Garden by Peter Ward
Cover of the book Captain Amazing by Peter Ward
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy