For among the finches of Daphne Major, natural selection is neither rare nor slow: it is taking place by the hour, and we can watch.In this dramatic story of groundbreaking scientific research, Jonathan Weiner follows these scientists as they watch Darwin's finches and come up with a new understanding of life itself. The Beak of the Finch is an elegantly written and compelling masterpiece of theory and explication in the tradition of Stephen Jay Gould.With a new preface.

    Based on the most massive study of human mating ever undertaken, encompassing more than 10,000 people of all ages from thirty-seven cultures worldwide, The Evolution of Desire is the first book to present a unified theory of human mating behavior.Now in an updated edition with two new chapters by the author, The Evolution of Desire presents the latest research in the field, including starting new discoveries about the evolutionary advantages of infidelity, orgasm, and physical attractiveness.

    Why We Get Sick compels readers to reexamine the age-old attitudes toward sickness. Line drawings.

    Wright unveils the genetic strategies behind everything from our sexual preferences to our office politics--as well as their implications for our moral codes and public policies. Illustrations.

    By mapping the worldwide geographic distribution of genes for over 110 traits in over 1800 primarily aboriginal populations, the authors charted migrations and devised a clock by which to date evolutionary history. This monumental work is now available in a more affordable paperback edition without the myriad illustrations and maps, but containing the full text and partial appendices of the authors' pathbreaking endeavor.

    In its own way it has inspired many people to take a new look at the fossil record and imagine creatures and things as they might have been—a blend of word and image unlike any other.From the Trade Paperback edition.

    Main Selection of the Natural Science Book Club. This book provides the first comprehensive set of illustrations of the life forms revealed in the Burgess Shale. This century's most significant invertebrate fossil discovery, the Burgess Shale provides an unprecendented window ito the explosive evolution during the Cambrian Period.

    John Postgate's fascinating exploration of these outer reaches of life shows how understanding microbes can provide new clues to the origin and evolution of terrestrial life, and offers glimpses of how life might have established itself elsewhere in the Universe. In the process, it raises profound questions about death, sensation and individuality, and insights into the nature of scientific progress. The feats of modern biotechnology are just one manifestation of the astonishing resources of microbes illuminated in John Postgate's lucid and intriguing account.

    But in recent years, there is one creature whose decline could have a monumental impact on the world - the humble frog. In 1990, a group of scientists sounded an unusual alarm that was literally heard around the earth. Frogs and their cousin amphibians, the researchers warned, are declining in number and facing extinction at an unusually fast pace. And, some suggested, this decline could be a signal that human-caused environmental degradation has reached a new and potentially lethal level. Kathryn Phillips heard the alarm and followed the scientists as they responded to the possible catastrophe. Some headed straight into the wetlands and woodlands, with Phillips tagging along, to search for and study the disappearing amphibians. Others turned to their laboratories and experiments to seek the answer. One straddled the boundary between scientist and conservationist and took on a badly managed U.S. Forest Service to save a rare toad. Phillips tells a riveting story of these scientists' efforts to comprehend why their beloved frogs are dying. She draws a fascinating real-world picture of how scientists and science works, and she explores and clearly explains the environmental problems that threaten frogs - and people. And she entertains with some of the quirkier characteristics of frogs and the humans who study them. Both enlightening and entertaining, Ms. Phillips brilliantly explores the mystery of the extinction of this biological "barometer" of the planet's environment in a book that is paradoxically and simultaneously terrifying and delightful.

    In The Coevolutionary Process, John N. Thompson advances a new conceptual approach to the evolution of species interactions—the geographic mosaic theory of coevolution. Thompson demonstrates how an integrated study of life histories, genetics, and the geographic structure of populations yields a broader understanding of coevolution, or the development of reciprocal adaptations and specializations in interdependent species.Using examples of species interactions from an enormous range of taxa, Thompson examines how and when extreme specialization evolves in interdependent species and how geographic differences in specialization, adaptation, and the outcomes of interactions shape coevolution. Through the geographic mosaic theory, Thompson bridges the gap between the study of specialization and coevolution in local communities and the study of broader patterns seen in comparisons of the phylogenies of interacting species.

    -- An enlightened and scientific look at the black bear.-- Over 150 captivating color photos.

    But Allman also reveals how morality, rather than being the result of arbitrary convention, is deeply rooted in our need to cooperate, which has been essential to the survival of our species through its evolution.

    

    It develops an understanding of function and evolution into the discussion of anatomy of the various systems.

    In Chimpanzee Cultures, the world's leading authorities on chimpanzees and bonobos chronicle the animals' behaviors from one study site to the next, in both captive and wild groups, in laboratory and field settings.