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Please join the University Libraries!
Why: In celebration of Charles Darwin's 217th birthday.
When: Thursday, February 12, 2026 from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Where: The Science Library Atrium
How: Cake, games, and prizes
Science Library, QH365.O25 P434 2023
Darwin's The Origin of Species is one of the most influential books ever written. It is essential reading for anyone interested in biology, evolution, the natural world, or the history of scientific thought. The Readable Darwin translates the sixth and final edition of Darwin's The Origin of Species (1872) into clear, engaging prose, and features over 100 illustrations.
Adaptation and Environment
By focusing on the crucial role of environment in the process of adaptation, Robert Brandon clarifies definitions and principles so as to help make the argument of evolution by natural selection empirically testable. He proposes that natural selection is the process of differential reproduction resulting from differential adaptedness to a common selective environment. Originally published in 1990. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
Adaptation and Natural Selection
Biological evolution is a fact--but the many conflicting theories of evolution remain controversial even today. When Adaptation and Natural Selection was first published in 1966, it struck a powerful blow against those who argued for the concept of group selection--the idea that evolution acts to select entire species rather than individuals. Williams's famous work in favor of simple Darwinism over group selection has become a classic of science literature, valued for its thorough and convincing argument and its relevance to many fields outside of biology. Now with a new foreword by Richard Dawkins, Adaptation and Natural Selection is an essential text for understanding the nature of scientific debate.
Ancestors in Our Genome
In 2001, scientists were finally able to determine the full human genome sequence, and with the discovery began a genomic voyage back in time. Since then, we have sequenced the full genomes of a number of mankind's primate relatives at a remarkable rate. The genomes of the common chimpanzee (2005) and bonobo (2012), orangutan (2011), gorilla (2012), and macaque monkey (2007) have already been identified, and the determination of other primate genomes is well underway. Researchers are beginning to unravel our full genomic history, comparing it with closely related species to answer age-old questions about how and when we evolved. For the first time, we are finding our own ancestors in our genome and are thereby gleaning new information about our evolutionary past. In Ancestors in Our Genome, molecular anthropologist Eugene E. Harris presents us with a complete and up-to-date account of the evolution of the human genome and our species. Written from the perspective of population genetics, and in simple terms, the book traces human origins back to their source among our earliest human ancestors, and explains many of the most intriguing questions that genome scientists are currently working to answer. For example, what does the high level of discordance among the gene trees of humans and the African great apes tell us about our respective separations from our common ancestor? Was our separation from the apes fast or slow, and when and why did it occur? Where, when, and how did our modern species evolve? How do we search across genomes to find the genomic underpinnings of our large and complex brains and language abilities? How can we find the genomic bases for life at high altitudes, for lactose tolerance, resistance to disease, and for our different skin pigmentations? How and when did we interbreed with Neandertals and the recently discovered ancient Denisovans of Asia? Harris draws upon extensive experience researching primate evolution in order to deliver a lively and thorough history of human evolution. Ancestors in Our Genome is the most complete discussion of our current understanding of the human genome available.
Antibiotic Resistance
Antibiotic Resistance: Origins, Evolution, Selection and Spread Chairman: Stuart B. Levy, 1997 Over the last 50 years, the rapid increase in the use of antibiotics, not only in people, but also in animal husbandry and agriculture, has delivered a selection unprecedented in the history of evolution. Consequently, society is facing one of its gravest public health problems-the emergence of infectious bacteria with resistance to many, and in some cases all, available antibiotics. This book brings together a multidisciplinary group of experts to discuss this problem. It begins by examining the origins of resistance and goes on to look at how the use of antibiotics in human medicine and farming/agriculture has selected for resistant bacteria. Separate chapters describe the evolution of resistance determinants and how these are spread both within and between bacterial species. Finally, the book contains discussions on strategies for countering the threat of antibiotic resistance. A major re-thinking of our approach to the treatment of infectious diseases is proposed-that antibiotic resistance should be seen as a problem created by the disruption of normal microbial ecology. To restore efficacy to earlier antibiotics, and to maintain the success of new antibiotics that are introduced, we need to use these drugs in a way that ensures an ecological balance that favours the predominance of susceptible bacteria.
Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistance
One of the greatest medical accomplishments of the past century was the introduction of antibiotics into the clinic. However, the use of these lifesaving drugs rapidly led to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant pathogens, which have become increasingly difficult and expensive to eradicate. Antibiotic resistance now severely limits our ability to curb infectious diseases and is therefore a major global health concern. Written and edited by experts in the field, this collection from Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Medicine examines the major classes of antibiotics, together with their modes of action and mechanisms of resistance. Well-established antibiotics (e.g., ß-lactams) are covered, as are lesser-used drugs that have garnered recent interest (e.g., polymyxins) and new compounds in the development pipeline. The contributors describe the mechanisms by which the agents disrupt cell wall assembly and maintenance, membrane synthesis and integrity, DNA and RNA metabolism, protein synthesis, and the folate cycle. They also examine how bacteria evolve ways to resist these disruptions by modifying the drug or drug target or by controlling access of the drug to the cell. The authors also explore the environmental origins of antibiotic resistance and provide guidance on the rational development and therapeutic application of new antibiotics. This volume is therefore an essential reference for microbiologists, pharmacologists, infectious disease biologists, and all concerned with this medical crisis.
Biological Extinctions
The rapidly increasing human pressure on the biosphere is pushing biodiversity into the sixth mass extinction event in the history of life on Earth. The organisms being exterminated are integral working parts of our planet's life support system, and their loss is permanent. Like climate change, this irreversible loss has potentially devastating consequences for humanity. As we come to recognise the many ways in which we depend on nature, this can pave the way for a new ethic that acknowledges the importance of co-existence between humans and other species. Biological Extinction features chapters contributed by leading thinkers in diverse fields of knowledge and practice, including biology, economics, geology, archaeology, demography, architecture and intermediate technology. Drawing on examples from various socio-ecological systems, the book offers new perspectives on the urgent issue of biological extinction, proposing novel solutions to the problems that we face.
Eco-Evolutionary Dynamics
In recent years, scientists have realized that evolution can occur on timescales much shorter than the "long lapse of ages" emphasized by Darwin--in fact, evolutionary change is occurring all around us all the time. This book provides an authoritative and accessible introduction to eco-evolutionary dynamics, a cutting-edge new field that seeks to unify evolution and ecology into a common conceptual framework focusing on rapid and dynamic environmental and evolutionary change. Andrew Hendry covers key aspects of evolution, ecology, and their interactions. Topics range from natural selection, adaptive divergence, ecological speciation, and gene flow to population and community dynamics, ecosystem function, plasticity, and genomics. Hendry evaluates conceptual and methodological approaches, and draws on empirical data from natural populations--including those in human-disturbed environments--to tackle a number of classic and emerging research questions. He also discusses exciting new directions for future research at the intersection of ecology and evolution. An invaluable guide for students and researchers alike, Eco-evolutionary Dynamics reveals how evolution and ecology interact strongly on short timescales to shape the world we see around us.
The Evolution and Function of Cognition
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Appropriate as a textbook for graduate courses, The Evolution and Function of Cognition provides a systematic and progressively inclusive integration of the facts and principles of cognitive psychology. It includes contributions of information processing and reaction, and emphasizes historical continuity. In addition, the book shows how evolutionary psychology fits in with the mainstream of thought in psychological theory. The Evolution and Function of Cognition will benefit scholars and researchers interested in the general topics of evolutionary psychology and cognitive science.
Evolutionary Psychology
This book considers the complexities of human nature from a biological, psychological, and evolutionary standpoint and demonstrates how common modern behaviors can be traced back to early man. From common phobias to our interactions with the opposite sex, the traits and behaviors that helped us to survive and thrive tens of thousands of years ago continue to have an impact on our thought processes, tendencies, and actions today. This fascinating reference examines the history, major themes and findings, and future direction of evolutionary psychology, a theory defined by a human being's ability to adapt and change in confluence with its environment. The work highlights contemporary debates and enduring questions in the field. Filled with fascinating insights into the mind/body connection, the book addresses the evolutionary traits that can answer questions such as "Why do people crave cheeseburgers, chips, and chocolate?", "How do men and women think about problems differently?", and "Why do people cheat?" Each chapter has thematic headings, and topics include survival, mating, parenting, culture, and religion, among others. A list of references and suggested readings after each chapter points readers toward additional sources of information.
Evolution since Coding
Evolution since Coding: Cradles, Halos, Barrels, and Wings describes genesis of metabolism, transcription, translation, cell structure, eukaryotic complexity, LUCA (the last universal common (cellular) ancestor), the great divergence of archaea and bacteria, LECA (the last eukaryotic common ancestor), extinction, and cancer in very simple ways. The work (almost) "synthesizes life from scratch" (since coding) and describes the tools for readers to check the author's work. As a result, readers understand living systems and their evolution in a conceptual way and are empowered to utilize powerful but accessible tools in computer-based biology. The work serves as foundational reading for a variety of researchers, academics, and students in life sciences, for example in evolution/evolutionary biology, biochemistry, genetics/molecular genetics, molecular biology, cell biology, and microbiology, as well as disciplines beyond biological science. Its approachable style makes the book accessible for introductory students and educated laypersons. Evolution since Coding is suitable to supplement college courses that mix computers, evolution, and biology from freshman to senior level.
Life Out of Balance
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Traces historical developments in scientific conceptions of physiology, ecology, behavior, and evolutionary biology during the mid-twentieth century Life Out of Balance focuses on a period in history when new ideas of self-regulation, adaptation, and fitness became central to a variety of biological disciplines. During the decades surrounding World War II, these ideas developed in several quite different contexts and led to greater debates about the merits of such models as applied to larger systems, including society at large. Particularly in its later cybernetic form, homeostasis seemed to provide new ways of discussing balance and regulation that avoided discredited approaches of earlier champions of vitalism and mechanism. It provided a common perspective and terminology for discussing self-regulating "systems," whether biological, mechanical, or social. Although enormously fruitful and influential, homeostatic perspectives also generated numerous controversies when critics questioned the degree to which biological systems are characterized by balance and self-regulation. Resolving these controversies continues to be a challenge in modern biology. If natural selection constitutes the first law of biology, scientists who champion homeostasis as a theoretical model claim that it is a second law, equally important and closely related to the first. Such claims notwithstanding, homeostasis has generated a series of controversies since it was formalized by Walter Cannon in the late 1920s. Critics contended that Cannon took a too-optimistic view of life, not only ignoring pathological deviations from normality but also failing to adequately explain the ability of living things to respond adaptively to environmental challenges. Underlying these controversies was the unresolved problem of integrating physiology and other areas of functional biology with the emerging evolutionary synthesis of Mendelian genetics and Darwinian natural selection. The physiological idea of homeostasis as the adaptive "fit" between the organism and its environment and the Darwinian idea of adaptation and fitness in terms of reproductive success might seem to be complementary in an unproblematic way, but historically they have had an uneasy relationship.
Nature Strange and Beautiful
A beautifully written exploration of how cooperation shaped life on earth, from its single-celled beginnings to complex human societies
On Our Minds
There is no question more fundamental to human existence than that posed by the nature-versus-nurture debate. For much of the past century, it was widely believed that there was no essential human nature and that people could be educated or socialized to thrive in almost any imaginable culture. Today, that orthodoxy is being directly and forcefully challenged by a new science of the mind: evolutionary psychology. Like the theory of evolution itself, the implications of evolutionary psychology are provocative and unsettling. Rather than viewing the human mind as a mysterious black box or a blank slate, evolutionary psychologists see it as a physical organ that has evolved to process certain types of information in certain ways that enables us to thrive only in certain types of cultures. In On Our Minds, Eric M. Gander examines all sides of the public debate between evolutionary psychologists and their critics. Paying particularly close attention to the popular science writings of Steven Pinker, Edward O. Wilson, Richard Dawkins, and Stephen Jay Gould, Gander traces the history of the controversy, succinctly summarizes the claims and theories of the evolutionary psychologists, dissects the various arguments deployed by each side, and considers in detail the far-reaching ramifications--social, cultural, and political--of this debate. Gander's lucid and highly readable account concludes that evolutionary psychology now holds the potential to answer our oldest and most profound moral and philosophical questions, fundamentally changing our self-perception as a species.
Principles of Epigenetics
Principles of Epigenetics examines various dimensions of epigenetics and its relationship with the human diseases. It includes three different parts, where part 1 deals with Epigenetics in Human diseases, part II talks about Yeast Epigenetics and part III highlights plant epigenetics. Provide the reader with the insights into the development of epigenetics, so as to understand the importance and role of epigenetics in various human and fatal disorders or diseases.
Rethinking Evolutionary Psychology
Rethinking Evolutionary Psychology identifies, champions and vindicates a streamlined evolutionary psychology. It offers a new way of thinking that moves decisively away from theoretical and critical excess. Where standard accounts often obscure and distort, this book emphasizes and develops evolutionary psychology's heuristic credentials.
Viruses
While viruses--the world's most abundant biological entities--are not technically alive, they invade, replicate, and evolve within living cells. Michael Cordingley goes beyond our familiarity with infections to show how viruses spur evolutionary change in their hosts and shape global ecosystems, from ocean photosynthesis to drug-resistant bacteria.
What Is Adaptive about Adaptive Memory?
Human memory, like other biological systems, has been subject to natural selection over the course of evolution. However, cognitive systems do not fossilize, which means that current researchers must infer evolutionary influences on human memory from current human behavior rather than from fossils or artifacts. Examining the potential for cognition as adaptation has often been ignored by cognitive psychology. Recently, a number of researchers have identified variables that affect human memory that may reflect these ancestral influences. These include survival processing, future-oriented processing, spatial memory, cheater detection, face memory and a variety of social influences on memory. The current volume grew out of discussion at the symposium on survival processing at the SARMAC conference in June 2011, in New York City. The goal of this volume will be to present the best theoretical and empirical work on the adaptive nature of memory. It features the most current work of a number of cognitive psychologists, developmental psychologists, comparative psychologists and cognitive neuroscientists, who have focused on this issue. This is important because much this work is necessarily interdisciplinary and is therefore spread out across a range of journals and conferences.
