A unique chronology with entries describing the key events in the 3,000-year conflict between religion and science over the explanation and definition of life on Earth. Exhaustively researched and authoritative, Chronology of the Evolution-Creationism Controversy does what no other work does: it examines the conflict between the religious and scientific views of life on Earth in its full 3,000-year historical context, showing readers how this roiling debate has played out over the centuries. With hundreds of entries, Chronology of the Evolution-Creationism Controversy describes specific cultural, religious, and scientific events relevant to the evolution-creationism controversy from the first notions of creationism in ancient Egypt to the present. Within this historical approach, it identifies a number of recurring themes that have shaped the debate through the ages, including famous court cases, the recurrence of the "intelligent design" argument, disagreements over the age of the Earth, and the impact of technological advances on both the scientific and faith-based viewpoints. While approaching the subject globally throughout, the book's second half focuses on tensions between science and religious thought in the United States since the early 1900s. Comprises over 1,400 chronologically arranged entries on important political, legal, and social events in the ongoing controversy between science- and faith-based views of the Earth and life Offers a thorough bibliography spanning historical aspects of the controversy, creationist literature, and resources from evolutionary biology Includes a one-of-a-kind glossary for easy access to definitions of relevant terms used by both anti-evolutionists and scientists Provides an extensive index serving as a reference tool and as a way to explore recurring themes Presents detailed appendices on estimating Earth's age, the geologic timescale, major species of known Hominines, and key legal decisions involving the teaching of evolution and creationism

Fritz Muller (1821-1897), though not as well known as his colleague Charles Darwin, belongs in the cohort of great nineteenthcentury naturalists. In Darwin's Man in Brazil, David A. West recovers Muller's legacy. He describes the close intellectual kinship between Muller and Darwin, detailing a lively correspondence spanning seventeen years, in which the two men often discussed new research topics and exchanged ideas. Darwin frequently praised Muller's powers of observation and interpretation, counting him among those scientists whose opinions he valued most. A free thinker who refused to sign the Christian oaths required of teachers in Prussia, Muller emigrated to Brazil in 1852 to become a pioneer farmer researching tropical biology. In the 1860s he reorganized his biological research in order to test Darwin's theory of evolution. Conducting field studies to answer questions generated from a Darwinian perspective, Muller was unique among naturalists testing Darwin's theory of natural selection because he investigated an enormous diversity of plants and animals rather than a relatively narrow range of taxa. Despite the importance and scope of his work, however, Muller is known for relatively few of his discoveries. West remedies this oversight, chronicling the life and work of this remarkable and overlooked man of science.

It is widely acknowledged that life has adapted to its environment, but the precise mechanism remains unknown since Natural Selection, Descent with Modification and Survival of the Fittest are metaphors that cannot be scientifically tested. In this unique text, invertebrate and vertebrate biologists illuminate the effects of physiologic stress on epigenetic responses in the process of evolutionary adaptation from unicellular organisms to invertebrates and vertebrates, respectively. This book offers a novel perspective on the mechanisms underlying evolution. Capacities for morphologic alterations and epigenetic adaptations subject to environmental stresses are demonstrated in both unicellular and multicellular organisms. Furthermore, the underlying cellular-molecular mechanisms that mediate stress for adaptation will be elucidated wherever possible. These include examples of 'reverse evolution' by Professor Guex for Ammonites and for mammals by Professor Torday and Dr. Miller. This provides empiric evidence that the conventional way of thinking about evolution as unidirectional is incorrect, leaving open the possibility that it is determined by cell-cell interactions, not sexual selection and reproductive strategy. Rather, the process of evolution can be productively traced through the conservation of an identifiable set of First Principles of Physiology that began with the unicellular form and have been consistently maintained, as reflected by the return to the unicellular state over the course of the life cycle.

Why do minds exist? How did mud and stone develop into beings that can experience longing, regret, love and compassion-beings that are aware of their own experience? Until recently, science offered few answers to these existential questions. Journey of the Mind is the first book to offer a unified account of the mind that explains how consciousness, language, the Self and civilisation emerged incrementally out of chaos. The journey begins three billion years ago with the emergence of the simplest possible mind, a nanoscopic archeon, then ascends through amoebas, worms, frogs, birds, monkeys and AI, examining successively smarter ways of thinking. The authors explain the mathematical principles generating conscious experience and show how these principles led cities and democratic nations to develop new forms of consciousness-the self-aware "superminds". Journey of the Mind concludes by contemplating a higher stage of consciousness already emerging-and the ultimate fate of all minds in the universe.

What should we teach our children about where we come from? Is evolution a lie or good science? Is it incompatible with faith? Have scientists really detected evidence of a creator in nature?

From bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edward Humes comes a dramatic story of faith, science, and courage unlike any since the famous Scopes Monkey Trial. Monkey Girl takes you behind the scenes of the recent war on evolution in Dover, Pennsylvania, when the town's school board decision to confront the controversy head-on thrust its students, then the entire community, onto the front lines of America's culture wars. Told from the perspectives of all sides of the battle, it is a riveting true story about an epic court case on the teaching of "intelligent design," and what happens when science and religion collide.

The Vanishing of a Species? is a serious treatise exploring the past evolution, present predicament and possible future extinction of a particular species on planet Earth. The species is Homo sapiens. The threat to the species is Homo sapiens. The author, a former professor of geology and geophysics, starts his exploration by putting man in context, both in terms of space and time. We find that in either case, man is not as pre-eminent as he may believe. While man is the most accomplished toolmaker this planet has ever seen, his technical progress is overpowering his social progress-an imbalance that sets the stage for his vanishing act, absent quick, corrective action. The author makes a compelling case that society's unrestricted material growth is the challenge of our times. Modern man's predicament refers broadly to man's collision course with nature-his attitude of ruthless exploitation leading to depletion of non-renewable resources, pollution of the environment, overpopulation, with its accompanying increase in human aggression, and other effects. After the agricultural and industrial-scientific revolutions, it is now time for the Human Revolution-a more realistic attitude on the part of man towards the universe, the earth and other forms of terrestrial life. Vanishing covers a wide spectrum from man's early beginnings to the modern problems of population increase, resource depletion, pollution, crime, and many more. The book addresses the roles that heredity (nature) and environment (nurture) play in shaping man's nature, and in particular, his current high level of aggression-a trait that stands in the way of the Human Revolution. The author calls for the humanists to communicate with the technologists through an interdisciplinary dialogue that may pave the way to the Human Revolution. Major works discussed in Vanishing include the Club of Rome's much reviewed 1972 work The Limits to Growth and updates thereto, as well as C.P. Snow's seminal 1959 lecture on The Two Cultures. Vanishing concludes that without the Human Revolution in short order, Homo sapiens may well turn out to be an evolutionary flash in the pan-occupying a dominating but fleeting position in earth history. Vanishing should appeal to all audiences. Recent economic turmoil around the globe, and increasing evidence of the serious strain placed on the earth by the demands of humankind, make the observations and recommendations raised within Vanishing deserving of the sober attention of all Homo sapiens interested in the survival and prosperity of their species.

This writing is called: Scientific Creation, Our Life - Beginning To End. As stated, all facts are not pragmatic or seen by human eye. Where did all nature and life start ? What is the beginning ? Was it by The Big Bang Theory, or Beginning by God ? or some Intelligent Designer ? The miraculous human body is investigated in time. In Catastrophic development of life and all nature, there was an Earth Canopy of translucent, crystalline, ice and a Great Global Flood, a deluge, scientifically verified. Then, all life and nature is discussed as always coming in a trinity, which is the characteristic of and mode of the great I.D.

How should the concept of evidence be understood? And how does the concept of evidence apply to the controversy about creationism as well as to work in evolutionary biology about natural selection and common ancestry? In this rich and wide-ranging book, Elliott Sober investigates general questions about probability and evidence and shows how the answers he develops to those questions apply to the specifics of evolutionary biology. Drawing on a set of fascinating examples, he analyzes whether claims about intelligent design are untestable; whether they are discredited by the fact that many adaptations are imperfect; how evidence bears on whether present species trace back to common ancestors; how hypotheses about natural selection can be tested, and many other issues. His book will interest all readers who want to understand philosophical questions about evidence and evolution, as they arise both in Darwin's work and in contemporary biological research.

Biodiversity of Pantepui: The Pristine "Lost World" of the Neotropical Guiana Highlands provides the most updated and comprehensive knowledge on the biota, origin, and evolution of the Pantepui biogeographical province. It synthesizes historical information and recent discoveries, covering the main biogeographic patterns, evolutionary trends, and conservational efforts. Written by international experts on the biodiversity of this pristine land, this book explores what makes Pantepui a unique natural laboratory to study the origin and evolution of Neotropical biodiversity under the influence of only natural drivers. It discusses the organisms living in Pentepui, including algae, plants, several groups of invertebrates, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals. The latter portion of the book delves into the effects of human activity and global warming on Pantepui, and current conservational efforts to combat these threats. Biodiversity of Pantepui is an important resource for researchers in ecology, biogeography, evolution, and conservation, who want to understand the biodiversity and natural history of this region, and how to help conserve and protect the Guiana Highlands from environmental and human damages.

In this scientifically authoritative essay collection, Salzman, a seasoned and provocative environmentalist, demonstrates how evolutionary theory penetrates nearly all aspects of human society. She faults social justice movements for their short-sighted focus on human needs to the exclusion of nonhuman nature and stresses the potential of evolutionary thought for replacing religious and secular ideologies with an ecological paradigm for broad social change.

Salzman's special concern is the resurgence of irrationality, anti-intellectualism and anti-science attitudes.. She explodes the myth of genetic determinism promoted in popular media, discrediting the belief that natural selection involves violence. In place of the arbitrary "economism" of socialists and the free marketeers' faith in untrammeled economic growth, she envisions a human society modeled on interdependent self-regulating natural systems.

Noted biologist and philosopher Sahotra Sarkar exposes the frauds and fallacies of Intelligent Design Theory, and its claim to be 'good science'.
A scientific and philosophical exploration of the debate between evolutionary theory and Intelligent Design in the classroom
Puts the debate into its scientific and historical context
Looks at a variety of topics, including the relation between Darwinism and modern evolutionary theory, the use of computer science and information theory by the creationists, and the idea of metaphysical naturalism
Rejects Intelligent Design's claim to legitimacy, showing clearly how and why it is an unsuitable alternative to evolutionary biology in the classroom
A thought-provoking book for those seeking to understand an intellectual debate that is shaping our education policies
Forms part of the provocative and timely "Blackwell Public Philosophy" series

This book addresses multiple aspects of biological clocks in prokaryotes. The first part of the book deals with the circadian clock system in cyanobacteria, i.e. the pioneer of bacterial clocks. Starting with the history and background of cyanobacteria and circadian rhythms in microorganisms, the topics range from the molecular basis, structure and evolution of the circadian clock to modelling approaches, Kai systems in cyanobacteria and biotechnological applications. In the second part, emergent timekeeping properties of bacteria in microbiomes and bacteria other than cyanobacteria are discussed. Since the discovery of circadian rhythms in cyanobacteria in the late 1980s, the field has exploded with new information. The cyanobacterial model system for studying circadian rhythms (Synechococcus elongatus), has allowed a detailed genetic dissection of the bacterial clock due to state-of-the-art methods in molecular, structural, and evolutionary biology. Cutting-edge research spanning from cyanobacteria and circadian phenomena in other kinds of bacteria, to microbiomes has now given the field another major boost. This book is aimed at junior and senior researchers alike. Students or researchers new to the field of biological clocks in prokaryotes will get a comprehensive overview, while more experienced researchers will get an update on the latest developments.

"Genes, Culture, and Human Evolution: A Synthesis"is a textbook on human evolution that offers students a unique combination of cultural anthropology and genetics.
Written by two geneticists---including a world-renowned scientist and founder of the Human Genome Diversity Project---and a socio-cultural anthropologist.
Based on recent findings in genetics and anthropology that indicate the analysis of human culture and evolution demands an integration of these fields of study.
Focuses on evolution---or, rather, co-evolution---viewed from the standpoint of genes and culture, and their inescapable interactions.
Unifies cultural and genetic concepts rather than rehashing nonempirical sociobiological musings.
Demonstrates that empirical genetic evidence, based on modern DNA analysis and population studies, provides an excellent foundation for understanding human cultural diversity.

Lucretius' account of the origin of life, the origin of species, and human prehistory (first century BC) is the longest and most detailed account extant from the ancient world. It is a mechanistic theory that does away with the need for any divine design, and has been seen as a forerunner of Darwin's theory of evolution. This commentary seeks to locate Lucretius in both the ancient and modern contexts. The recent revival of creationism makes this study particularly relevant to contemporary debate, and indeed, many of the central questions posed by creationists are those Lucretius attempts to answer.

This book takes a fresh look at the work, thoughts, and life of 1956 Nobel Prize winner William B. Shockley. It reconstructs Shockley's upbringing, his patriotic achievements during World War II, his contribution to semiconductor physics - culminating with the epoch-making invention of the transistor - and his views on the social issues of his time. The author's unparalleled access to Shockley's personal documents provides insight into a colorful, yet controversial, man, and also sheds light on the attitudes of other prominent scientists of that era. Shockley was not only an outstanding scientist in his own right but also a fiercely independent thinker in perpetual search of the truth. His contributions to the field known today as microelectronics are enormous and unmatched. This book explores the critical facets of Shockley's life, replete with never-before-published photos and excerpts from his private correspondence and personal notebooks. The book also delves into Shockley's views on genetics and human intelligence. It tells the story of a man beset by an unrelenting rationality, slandered by the popular media, and ultimately alienated by his peers. It discusses his controversial, although sometimes prescient, ideas regarding human genetics, putting these into the context of modern research findings. Today, William Shockley is perhaps just as enigmatic as his work and accomplishments. The author presents a convincing argument that Shockley still has much to say about the issues of our age, and many of his ideas deserve evaluation in the public forum.

This book is a collection of essays exploring adaptive systems from many perspectives, ranging from computational applications to models of adaptation in living and social systems. The essays on computation discuss history, theory, applications, and possible threats of adaptive and evolving computations systems. The modeling chapters cover topics such as evolution in microbial populations, the evolution of cooperation, and how ideas about evolution relate to economics.
The title Perspectives on Adaptation in Natural and Artificial Systems honors John Holland, whose 1975 Book, Adaptation in Natural and Artificial Systems has become a classic text for many disciplines in which adaptation play a central role. The essays brought together here were originally written to honor John Holland, and span most of the different areas touched by his wide-ranging and influential research career. The authors include some of the most prominent scientists in the fields of artificial intelligence evolutionary computation, and complex adaptive systems. Taken together, these essays present a broad modern picture of current research on adaptation as it relates to computers, living systems, society, and their complex interactions.