Evolution History

The scuba-diving philosopher and best-selling author of Other Minds explores the origins of animal consciousness. Dip below the ocean’s surface and you are soon confronted by forms of life that could not seem more foreign to our own: sea sponges, soft corals and flower-like worms, whose rooted bodies and intricate geometry are more reminiscent of plant life than anything recognisably animal. Yet these creatures are our cousins.

In 2010, scientists led by J. Craig Venter became the first to successfully create "synthetic life" - putting humankind at the threshold of the most important and exciting phase of biological research, one that will enable us to actually write the genetic code for designing new species to help us adapt and evolve for long-term survival. The science of synthetic genomics will have a profound impact on human existence, including chemical and energy generation, health, clean water and food production, environmental control, and possibly even our evolution.

Discover the captivating journey of pickleball in 'From Backyards to Glory: The Rise and Evolution of Pickleball.' This comprehensive guide delves into the history and evolution of one of America's fastest-growing sports. From its humble beginnings in a family backyard to its rise as a globally recognized sport, 'From Backyards to Glory' charts the growth of pickleball over the years. It celebrates the sport's unique spirit, while shining a light on the rules, strategies, and personalities that have shaped it. 🔸 Learn about the intriguing origins and growth of pickleball. 🔸 Explore ...

Our understanding of the ‘tree of life’, with powerful implications for human genetics, human health and our own human nature, has recently completely changed. This book is about a new method of telling the story of life on earth - through molecular phylogenetics. It involves a fairly simple method - the reading of the deep history of life by looking at the variation in protein molecules found in living organisms. For instance, we now know that roughly eight percent of the human genome arrived not through traditional inheritance from directly ancestral forms, but sideways by viral infection.

This lively history traces the evolution of the idea of evolution, showing how it has changed and been changed by different societies over time. It will put 'Darwin’s Dangerous Idea' into its proper context, showing how it built on what went before and how it was developed in the 20th century, through an understanding of genetics and the biochemical basis evolution. None of this diminishes the achievement of Darwin himself, but his contribution was one link in a chain that extends back into antiquity and is still being forged today.

Cosmologist Brian Thomas Swimme places the human psyche within the 15-billion-year cosmic process in order to highlight the directions in which human consciousness is evolving today and into the future. With a remarkable ability to make contemporary scientific findings accessible and engaging, Dr. Brian Thomas Swimme relates the history of the universe to the modern human. If you are even slightly interested in understanding evolution and a scientifically based philosophical orientation to the meaning of life, you will find this program highly valuable.

But the quest to unravel life's genesis is not just a story of big ideas. It is also a compelling human story, rich in personalities, conflicts, and surprising twists and turns. Along the way the journey takes in some of the greatest discoveries in modern biology, from evolution and cells to DNA and life's family tree. It is also a search whose end may finally be in sight. In The Genesis Quest, Michael Marshall shows how the quest to understand life's beginning is also a journey to discover the true nature of life, and by extension our place in the universe.

From the big bang to the origin and evolution of intelligent life in a search for the meaning of human existence, Why Are We Here?, by author Bruce Brodie, offers a look at evolution and the future of life on the planet.

Unravelling the Double Helix covers the most colourful period in the history of DNA, from the discovery of 'nuclein' in the late 1860s to the publication of Watson's The Double Helix in 1968. This is a saga packed with awful mistakes as well as brilliant science, with a wonderful cast of heroes and villains. Surprisingly, much of it is unfamiliar because the early history is largely neglected by books which focus on the episode of the double helix.

The Well-Dressed Ape, aka Homo sapiens, is a strange mammal. It thinks of itself as complex, intelligent, and in every way superior to other animals - but is it, really? With wit, humility, and penetrating insight, science journalist Hannah Holmes casts the inquisitive eye of a trained researcher and reporter on...herself. And not just on herself, but on our whole species - what Shakespeare called "the paragon of animals."

Champions of synthetic biology believe that turning genetic code into Lego-like blocks to build never-before-seen organisms could solve the thorniest challenges in medicine, energy, and environmental protection. But as the hackers who cracked open the potential of the personal computer and the Internet proved, the most revolutionary discoveries often emerge from out-of-the-way places, forged by brilliant outsiders with few resources besides boundless energy and great ideas.

From the Siberian permafrost to balmy California, scientists across the globe are working to resurrect all kinds of extinct animals, from ones that just left us to those that have been gone for many thousands of years. Their tools in this hunt are both fossils and cutting-edge genetic technologies. Some of these scientists are driven by sheer curiosity; others view the lost species as a powerful weapon in the fight to preserve rapidly changing ecosystems. It seems certain that these animals will walk the earth again, but what world will that give us? And is any of this a good idea?

The Majestic Draght reaches a planet that could be a younger sibling of Earth’s sun. The Grosnops are looking for a second home, while the small human crew plans an experiment: How quickly does terrestrial life adapt to this alien environment? The experiment seems to fail - but then a crew member is kidnapped by strangers, and the intriguing exploration turns into a dramatic rescue mission. "The Proxima Logfiles" is a multi-part series based on the "Proxima Trilogy", but can be listened to independently.

History is full of strange animal stories, invented by the brightest and most influential, from Aristotle to Disney, and they reveal as much about us and the things we believe as they do about the animals they misrepresent. We once thought that eels were born from sand, that swallows migrated to the moon, and that bears gave birth to formless lumps that were licked into shape by their mothers.

The first all-new collection of poems since 2011’s Snowflake/different streets - and following the critically acclaimed Afterglow (a dog memoir), as well as the volume of selected poems, I Must Be Living Twice - here, in Evolution, we find the eminent, exuberant writer at the forefront of American literature, upending genre in a new vernacular that enacts - like nobody else - the way we speak (inside and out) today. Evolution, with its channeling of Quakers, Fresca, and cell phones, radiates vital insight, purpose, and risk.

Conspiracy theories have always been around. Some are benign, while others are more sinister and seek to create rampant social disorder and chaos. QAnon is the latter. Gaining a foothold in recent years, it is said to have infiltrated the highest political offices. What has accelerated its pervasiveness is the effectiveness of modern communication methods, including social media.

Among all life on Earth, we alone experience rich moral emotions, follow complex rules governing how we treat one another, and engage in moral dialogue. But how did human morality evolve? And can humans become morally evolved? In A Better Ape, Victor Kumar and Richmond Campbell draw on the latest research in the biological and social sciences to explain the key role that morality has played in human evolution.

The Mesozoic Era, which lasted from about 252 to 66 million years ago, is divided into three periods, the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous. During this era, one type of life came to dominate the planet more completely and for a longer period than had been seen before or since; this was the Age of Reptiles. Beginning in the Triassic but especially in the Jurassic period, reptiles came to dominate the oceans, the land and even the skies.

Adam Decoded involves the listener to participate in solving the age-long question of man's origin. Who are we? Where are we from? Who really were Adam and Eve, and where is the Garden of Eden? This book, the long-awaited sequel to Adam = Alien, helps to decode the past using credible photographic and written texts.

Volume two is based on the Jungian interpretation of the 12 steps for the initiation of a capacity the two-hemisphere brain achieved 100,000 years ago, leaping to a new qualium level of consciousness by integrating its subjective and objective cognitive modes (gnosis and science). A critical mass of humanity is already inventing and building a new self-reflective, living system that can meet the challenge of the environment to turn vision into action - though time is running short.