Description

These nine short tales vividly depict key discoveries in evolutionary biology and the excitement of the scientific process. 

Features

• The Storytelling approach not only intrigues students by taking them to exotic places and into dangerous situations, but it also teaches students about the rich history of evolutionary biology, including groundbreaking ecological, paleontological, geological, and genetic discoveries. 
• Highlighted discoverers include Charles Darwin, Alfred Wallace, Henry Bates, Eugène Dubois, Roy Andrews, Walter and Luis Alvarez, Marjorie Countenay-Latimer, Tony Allison, Ditlef Rustad, and Arthur DeVries.
• Chapter Questions are included at the end of each chapter to help instructors motivate students to participate in scientific dialogue.
• General Review and Discussion questions involving the overarching themes of the book are featured at the end of text.
• References and Further Reading are provided at the end of the book for students’ independent or instructor-assigned research.
• A Companion Website includes electronic files of original journal articles reporting key discoveries described in the book, questions to aid the analysis and discussion of these articles, additional photos, hyperlinks to websites of additional sources, and PowerPoint^® lecture slides.

Table of Contents

Preface

I. INTO THE JUNGLE

1. Reverend Darwin’s Detour

2. Drawing a Line between Monkeys and Kangaroos

3. Life Imitates Life

II. ON THE TRAIL OF ANCIENT HUMANS

4. Java Man

5. Where the Dragon Laid Her Eggs

III. ALWAYS EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED

6. The Day the Mesozoic Died

7. Miss Latimer’s Extraordinary Fish

IV. EVOLUTION IN ACTION

8. A Sickle-Cell Safari

9. In Cold Blood: The Tale of the Icefish

General Review and Discussion

Sources and Further Reading

Acknowledgments

Index

Author

Sean B. Carroll is Professor of Molecular Biology and Genetics and an Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. Among the most prominent biologists working in the world today, Carroll is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, an award-winning author of two highly acclaimed books on science for the general public (Endless Forms Most Beautiful and The Making of the Fittest), a widely known charismatic public speaker, an ardent advocate for science education, and a frequent guest on NOVA and other popular television and radio programs. He is the author or co-author of more than 100 scientific papers on animal development and evolution and of two textbooks.