Where Do We Come From?

The Molecular Evidence for Human Descent

Jan Klein, Naoyuki Takahata

462 pages, parution le 21/01/2002

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Résumé

From the moment it first began to contemplate the world, three questions have occupied the human mind: Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going? Artists (notably Paul Gauguin), religious thinkers, philosophers, and most recently scientists have all searched for answers. Here, the authors describe how scientists decipher human origin from the record encrypted in the DNA and protein molecules. After explaining the nature of descent and the methods available for studying genealogical relationships, they summarize the information revealed by the molecular archives about the Tree of Life and our location on one of its branches. The knowledge thus gleaned allows them to draw conclusions about our identity, our place in the living world, our future, and the ethical implications of the changed perspective.

Contents

A Tahitian Prelude: Art, Myth, and Science.
Bridging the Generation Gap: The Physical Basis of Ancestor
Descendent Relationship.
Crane's Foot: Biological Meaning of Descent.
Klados and Phyl: The Molecular Nature of Evolution.
The Painted Tree: Methods of Phylogenetic Reconstruction.
The Tree of Life: From the Root to the Crown.
The Rise of the Metazoan Tribes: The New Phylogeny of the Animal Kingdom.
Our Place in Nature: The Closest Living Relative.
Of Time and the Tree: The Time Scale of Evolution.
The Narrow Road to the Deep North: Hominids and the Origin of Homo sapiens.
Through the Neck of a Bottle: The Genesis and the Genetic Nature of Homo sapiens.
Who Are We? Where are We Going?: The Present Condition and the Future of Our Species.
Sources and Further Reading.
Appendices One to Five.
Illustration and Quotation Credits.

Caractéristiques techniques

	PAPIER
Éditeur(s)	Springer
Auteur(s)	Jan Klein, Naoyuki Takahata
Parution	21/01/2002
Nb. de pages	462
Format	16 x 24
Couverture	Relié
Poids	900g
Intérieur	2 couleurs
EAN13	9783540425649