How Life Began
Subtitle: Evolution's Three Geneses
Contributors: Daniel Simberloff (Translator)
Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; University of Chicago Press
Published: April 15, 2008
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 272
ISBN-13: 9780226519319
Subjects: Life Sciences - Biology - General; Life Sciences - Evolution; Science / Evolution; Science; Life; Origin; Science/Mathematics
Description: "The Bible states that God created the heavens and the Earth, all in about seven days roughly six thousand years ago. This episode in Genesis departs markedly from scientific theories developed over the last two centuries that hold that life appeared on Earth over 3 billion years ago in the form of bacteria, followed by unicellular organisms less than a billion years later. It is this version of genesis that Alexandre Meinesz explores in this tale of life's origin and evolution." "How Life Began elucidates three origins, or geneses, of life - bacteria, cells, and multicellular organisms - and shows how evolution has sculpted life to its current biodiversity through four main phenomena - mutations, recombination, natural selection, and geological cataclysms. A biologist who specializes in algae, Meinesz brings a novel voice to the history of biodiversity and emphasizes here the role of unions in organizing life."--Jacket.