The Story of Evolution in 25 Discoveries

Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Part I: In the Beginning: Everything Evolves, and Earth Is Very Old
1. Everything Evolves and Changes: Discovery of the Evolving Universe
2. The Abyss of Time: The Immense Age of the Earth
Part II: Darwin’s Evidence for Evolution
3. Evolution in Action: Transformation in Real Time
4. Our Common Body Plan: Homology
5. Ontogeny Recapitulates Phylogeny: Evidence in Embryos
6. The Sinking of Noah’s Ark: Biogeography
7. The Branching Tree of Life: Phylogeny
8. The Case of the Cruel Wasps: Nature Is Not Moral
9. Jury-Rigged Contrivances: Nature Is Not Optimally Designed
Part III: Great Transitions in the History of Life
10. A Whale of a Tale: Vestigial Organs and Walking Whales
11. Invasion of the Land: Amphibians Crawl Out of the Water
12. Missing Links Found: Macroevolution and Transitional Fossils
13. Birds with Teeth: The Dinosaurs Among Us
14. A Horse! A Horse! My Kingdom for a Horse! The Evolution of Equines
15. How the Giraffe Got Its Neck: Lamarck, Darwin, and the Left Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve
16. How the Elephant Got Its Trunk: The Evolution of the Proboscideans
Part IV: Eyes and Genes
17. A Warm Little Pond: How Did Life Originate?
18. Genetic Junkyard: Most of Our DNA Is Useless
19. Legs on Their Heads: Homeotic Mutants and Evo-Devo
20. The Eyes Have It: The Evolution of Photoreception
Part V: Humans and Evolution
21. A Tinkerer, Not an Engineer: Are Humans Well Designed?
22. The Third Chimpanzee: Are We Really 99 Percent the Same?
23. The Ape’s Reflection: Are Humans Really That Different from Other Animals?
24. Bones of Our Ancestors: The Human Fossil Record
25. The Once and Future Human: Are Humans Still Evolving?
Index