Where Do We Come From?
Subtitle: The Molecular Evidence for Human Descent
Edition: 1 edition
Publisher: Springer
Published: January 10, 2002
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 462
ISBN-13: 9783540425649
Subjects: Evolution; Genetics (non-medical); Human biology & related topics; Organic Evolution; Life Sciences - Biology - Molecular Biology; Life (Biology); Science; Molecular evolution; Science/Mathematics; Life Sciences - Genetics & Genomics; Life Sciences - Evolution; Life Sciences - Evolution - Human; Science / Biology; Genetics; Origin; Life Sciences - Biology - General; Evolution, Molecular; Human beings
First sentence: The present life of men on earth, O king, as compared with the whole length of time which is unknowable to us, seems to me to be like this: as if, when you are sitting at dinner with your chiefs and ministers in wintertime,... one of the sparrows from outside flew very quickly through the hall; as if it came in one door and soon went out through another.
Description: Publisher description: From the moment it first began to contemplate the world, three questions have occupied the human mind: Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going? Artists (notably Paul Gauguin), religious thinkers, philosophers, and most recently scientists have all searched for answers. Here, the authors describe how scientists decipher human origin from the record encrypted in the DNA and protein molecules. After explaining the nature of descent and the methods available for studying genealogical relationships, they summarize the information revealed by the molecular archives about the Tree of Life and our location on one of its branches. The knowledge thus gleaned allows them to draw conclusions about our identity, our place in the living world, our future, and the ethical implications of the changed perspective.