East Baton Rouge Parish Library

Endless forms most beautiful, the new science of evo devo and the making of the animal kingdom, Sean B. Carroll ; with illustrations by Jamie W. Carroll, Josh P. Klaiss, Leanne M. Olds

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages [307]-328) and index

index present

non fiction

Endless forms most beautiful

bibliography

57316841

Sean B. Carroll ; with illustrations by Jamie W. Carroll, Josh P. Klaiss, Leanne M. Olds

the new science of evo devo and the making of the animal kingdom

"The greatest spectacle of life is how a single cell - the fertilized egg - develops into a billion- or trillion-celled animal. In the case of humans, that single cell becomes the most complex machine in existence. Scientists have long known that if they could figure out how form and pattern emerge in embryos, they could begin to understand how today's incredibly diverse animal kingdom evolved from primitive forms over 600 million years ago. For over a century, then, opening the black box of the embryo has been the Holy Grail of biology.""The box has finally been unbolted. And Evo Devo - evolutionary developmental biology - is the new scientific crowbar that accomplished the feat. In the pages of Endless Forms Most Beautiful, Sean B. Carroll, one of the pioneers of Evo Devo, explains this astounding scientific revolution." "Researchers now know that life's building materials are few, and they were "invented" near the dawn of animals. More specifically, a surprisingly small number of genes - "tool kit genes" - are the primary components for building all animals, and these genes emerged at a time before the Cambrian Explosion, some 600 million years ago. Thus the amazing diversity of the animal kingdom is the result of the flexibility of a small number of building blocks that have existed for eons."--BOOK JACKET

Preface: revolution #3 -- Introduction: butterflies, zebras, and embryos -- pt. I: The making of animals. Animal architecture: modern forms, ancient designs -- Monsters, mutants, and master genes -- From E. coli to elephants -- Making babies: 25,000 genes, some assembly required -- The dark matter of the genome: operating instructions for the tool kit -- pt. II: Fossils, genes, and the making of animal diversity. The big bang of animal evolution -- Little bangs: wings and other revolutionary inventions -- How the butterfly got its spots -- Paint it black -- A beautiful mind: the making of homo sapiens -- Endless forms most beautiful