Book Review: Endless Forms Most Beautiful
Sean Carrol's recent "Endless Forms Most Beautiful: The New Science of Evo Devo" (Amazon.com) adds depth to the lay understanding of evolution by describing precisely how mutations change the forms of organisms over time. The title cribs a famous quote from Darwin's "Origin of Species," and references to Darwin, Huxley, Stephen Jay Gould, and others are strewn throughout.
Dr. Carroll describes how a synthesis of embryology (the process of development from embryo to adult form), molecular biology, and paleontology -- known as Evolutionary Development -- leads to understanding the process of evolution. The chapters on molecular biology are dense enough to bottom out the non-biologist, but reading even without complete understanding helps to fill in the picture.
The blueprints contained in the DNA of all living things on Earth, from earthworms to butterflies to zebras to humans, are shockingly similar: they describe how to "build" modular structures like limbs, organs, and tissues that are similar in all species, and differences in form are mostly the result of how these blueprints are applied. Genetic "switches" control how "toolkit genes" are activated (or not!) to make stripes or spots, gills or wings, and fingers or hooves.
Dr. Carroll gives us a glimpse of the breathtakingly beautiful processes of life that deepens rather than dispells the mystery of how we came to be human.
Dr. Carroll describes how a synthesis of embryology (the process of development from embryo to adult form), molecular biology, and paleontology -- known as Evolutionary Development -- leads to understanding the process of evolution. The chapters on molecular biology are dense enough to bottom out the non-biologist, but reading even without complete understanding helps to fill in the picture.
The blueprints contained in the DNA of all living things on Earth, from earthworms to butterflies to zebras to humans, are shockingly similar: they describe how to "build" modular structures like limbs, organs, and tissues that are similar in all species, and differences in form are mostly the result of how these blueprints are applied. Genetic "switches" control how "toolkit genes" are activated (or not!) to make stripes or spots, gills or wings, and fingers or hooves.
Dr. Carroll gives us a glimpse of the breathtakingly beautiful processes of life that deepens rather than dispells the mystery of how we came to be human.
posted by Charles Ames at 1:18 PM
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