Symbiotic Planet A New Look At Evolution

The Symbiotic Planet

Publisher : Hachette UK
Release Date : 2013-12-31
ISBN : 1780227736
Pages : 176 pages
Rating Book: 4.8/5 (78 users)

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Download or read book The Symbiotic Planet written by Lynn Margulis and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2013-12-31 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A distinguished microbiologist explains the importance of symbiosis - where different organisms contribute to each other's support - and how this is changing our view of life on Earth Lynn Margulis is an ardent supporter of the Gaia hypothesis: the idea that due to the finely balanced interdependence of all life forms, the planet functions as a single, giant cell. She argues that no organism is an island, and that all are linked to each other. Written with tremendous zest and authority The Symbiotic Planet traces the evolution of Earth from the origins of life and sex to the emergence of 'hyperseas' and an eerie future she describes for humanity.

Symbiotic Planet

by Lynn Margulis

Publisher : Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Release Date : 1998-11-30
ISBN : 9780297816966
Pages : pages
Rating Book: 4.1/5 (816 users)

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Download or read book Symbiotic Planet written by Lynn Margulis and published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. This book was released on 1998-11-30 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

One Plus One Equals One

by John Archibald

Publisher : OUP Oxford
Release Date : 2014-06-26
ISBN : 0191636282
Pages : 288 pages
Rating Book: 4.9/5 (191 users)

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Download or read book One Plus One Equals One written by John Archibald and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2014-06-26 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We are in the midst of a revolution. It is a scientific revolution built upon the tools of molecular biology, with which we probe and prod the living world in ways unimaginable a few decades ago. Need to track a bacterium at the root of a hospital outbreak? No problem: the offending germ's complete genetic profile can be obtained in 24 hours. We insert human DNA into E. coli bacteria to produce our insulin. It is natural to look at biotechnology in the 21st century with a mix of wonder and fear. But biotechnology is not as 'unnatural' as one might think. All living organisms use the same molecular processes to replicate their genetic material and the same basic code to 'read' their genes. The similarities can be seen in their DNA. Here, John Archibald shows how evolution has been 'plugging-and-playing' with the subcellular components of life from the very beginning and continues to do so today. For evidence, we need look no further than the inner workings of our own cells. Molecular biology has allowed us to gaze back more than three billion years, revealing the microbial mergers and acquisitions that underpin the development of complex life. One Plus One Equals One tells the story of how we have come to this realization and its implications.

Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Biology

Publisher : Academic Press
Release Date : 2016-04-14
ISBN : 0128004266
Pages : 2132 pages
Rating Book: 4.2/5 (128 users)

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Download or read book Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Biology written by and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2016-04-14 with total page 2132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Biology is the definitive go-to reference in the field of evolutionary biology. It provides a fully comprehensive review of the field in an easy to search structure. Under the collective leadership of fifteen distinguished section editors, it is comprised of articles written by leading experts in the field, providing a full review of the current status of each topic. The articles are up-to-date and fully illustrated with in-text references that allow readers to easily access primary literature. While all entries are authoritative and valuable to those with advanced understanding of evolutionary biology, they are also intended to be accessible to both advanced undergraduate and graduate students. Broad topics include the history of evolutionary biology, population genetics, quantitative genetics; speciation, life history evolution, evolution of sex and mating systems, evolutionary biogeography, evolutionary developmental biology, molecular and genome evolution, coevolution, phylogenetic methods, microbial evolution, diversification of plants and fungi, diversification of animals, and applied evolution. Presents fully comprehensive content, allowing easy access to fundamental information and links to primary research Contains concise articles by leading experts in the field that ensures current coverage of each topic Provides ancillary learning tools like tables, illustrations, and multimedia features to assist with the comprehension process

Learning From the Octopus

by Rafe Sagarin

Publisher : Hachette UK
Release Date : 2012-03-27
ISBN : 0465029817
Pages : 320 pages
Rating Book: 4.6/5 (465 users)

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Download or read book Learning From the Octopus written by Rafe Sagarin and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2012-03-27 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite the billions of dollars we've poured into foreign wars, homeland security, and disaster response, we are fundamentally no better prepared for the next terrorist attack or unprecedented flood than we were in 2001. Our response to catastrophe remains unchanged: add another step to airport security, another meter to the levee wall. This approach has proved totally ineffective: reacting to past threats and trying to predict future risks will only waste resources in our increasingly unpredictable world.In Learning from the Octopus, ecologist and security expert Rafe Sagarin rethinks the seemingly intractable problem of security by drawing inspiration from a surprising source: nature. Biological organisms have been living -- and thriving -- on a risk-filled planet for billions of years. Remarkably, they have done it without planning, predicting, or trying to perfect their responses to complex threats. Rather, they simply adapt to solve the challenges they continually face.Military leaders, public health officials, and business professionals would all like to be more adaptable, but few have figured out how. Sagarinargues that we can learn from observing how nature is organized, how organisms learn, how they create partnerships, and how life continually diversifies on this unpredictable planet.As soon as we dip our toes into a cold Pacific tidepool and watch what we thought was a rock turn into an octopus, jetting away in a cloud of ink, we can begin to see the how human adaptability can mimic natural adaptation. The same mechanisms that enabled the octopus's escape also allow our immune system to ward off new infectious diseases, helped soldiers in Iraq to recognize the threat of IEDs, and aided Google in developing faster ways to detect flu outbreaks. While we will never be able to predict the next earthquake, terrorist attack, or market fluctuation, nature can guide us in developing security systems that are not purely reactive but proactive, holistic, and adaptable. From the tidepools of Monterey to the mountains of Kazakhstan, Sagarin takes us on an eye-opening tour of the security challenges we face, and shows us how we might learn to respond more effectively to the unknown threats lurking in our future.

What's Left of the World

by David J. Blacker

Publisher : John Hunt Publishing
Release Date : 2019-05-31
ISBN : 1789040116
Pages : 264 pages
Rating Book: 4.8/5 (789 users)

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Download or read book What's Left of the World written by David J. Blacker and published by John Hunt Publishing. This book was released on 2019-05-31 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1960, Paul Goodman argued that the Fordist system that treated people as mere cogs in a machine had created a profound unhappiness in young people and in American society as a whole. More than half a century later, professor David Blacker recognizes that decades of neoliberalism have pushed young people beyond unhappiness and into a collective identity crisis. Overall, Americans no longer feel needed to do jobs that had previously anchored them in society and are becoming disconnected and purposeless. The proliferation of new identities, based not on work but on consumption, is symptomatic of neoliberalism and its hyper-commodification and deregulation of everyday life.

Routledge International Encyclopedia of Women

by Cheris Kramarae

Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Release Date : 2000
ISBN : 0415920884
Pages : 560 pages
Rating Book: 4.1/5 (415 users)

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Download or read book Routledge International Encyclopedia of Women written by Cheris Kramarae and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2000 with total page 560 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Articles examine women's issues and the state of feminism today, including topics such as arts and literature, culture and communication, economic issues, education, politics and the state, sexuality and health, and violence and peace.

Anarchafeminism

by Chiara Bottici

Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Release Date : 2021-11-18
ISBN : 1350095850
Pages : 360 pages
Rating Book: 4.5/5 (35 users)

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Download or read book Anarchafeminism written by Chiara Bottici and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-11-18 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How can we be sure the oppressed do not become oppressors in their turn? How can we create a feminism that doesn't turn into yet another tool for oppression? It has become commonplace to argue that, in order to fight the subjugation of women, we have to unpack the ways different forms of oppression intersect with one another: class, race, gender, sexuality, disability, and ecology, to name only a few. By arguing that there is no single factor, or arche, explaining the oppression of women, Chiara Bottici proposes a radical anarchafeminist philosophy inspired by two major claims: that there is something specific to the oppression of women, and that, in order to fight that, we need to untangle all other forms of oppression and the anthropocentrism they inhabit. Anarchism needs feminism to address the continued subordination of all femina, but feminism needs anarchism if it does not want to become the privilege of a few. Anarchafeminism calls for a decolonial and deimperial position and for a renewed awareness of the somatic communism connecting all different life forms on the planet. In this new revolutionary vision, feminism does not mean the liberation of the lucky few, but liberation for all living creatures from both capitalist exploitation and an androcentric politics of domination. Either all or none of us will be free.

Thinking Like a Planet

by J. Baird Callicott

Publisher : Oxford University Press
Release Date : 2014
ISBN : 0199324891
Pages : 402 pages
Rating Book: 4.9/5 (199 users)

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Download or read book Thinking Like a Planet written by J. Baird Callicott and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2014 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bringing together ecology, evolutionary moral psychology, and environmental ethics, J. Baird Callicott counters the narrative of blame and despair that prevails in contemporary discussions of climate ethics and offers a fresh, more optimistic approach. Whereas other environmental ethicists limit themselves to what Callicott calls Rational Individualism in discussing the problem of climate change only to conclude that, essentially, there is little hope that anything will be done in the face of its "perfect moral storm" (in Stephen Gardiner's words), Callicott refuses to accept this view. Instead, he encourages us to look to the Earth itself, and consider the crisis on grander spatial and temporal scales, as we have failed to in the past. Callicott supports this theory by exploring and enhancing Aldo Leopold's faint sketch of an Earth ethic in "Some Fundamentals of Conservation in the Southwest," a seldom-studied text from the early days of environmental ethics that was written in 1923 but not published until 1979 after the environmental movement gathered strength.

God and Gaia

by Michael S Northcott

Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Release Date : 2022-12-22
ISBN : 1000816931
Pages : 208 pages
Rating Book: 4.0/5 ( users)

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Download or read book God and Gaia written by Michael S Northcott and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2022-12-22 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: God and Gaia explores the overlap between traditional religious cosmologies and the scientific Gaia theory of James Lovelock. It argues that a Gaian approach to the ecological crisis involves rebalancing human and more-than-human influences on Earth by reviving the ecological agency of local and indigenous human communities, and of nonhuman beings. Present-day human ecological influences on Earth have been growing at pace since the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions, when modern humans adopted a machine cosmology in which humans are the sole intelligent agency. The resultant imbalance between human and Earthly agencies is degrading the species diversity of ecosystems, causing local climate changes, and threatens to destabilise the Earth as a System. Across eight chapters this ambitious text engages with traditional cosmologies from the Indian Vedas and classical Greece to Medieval Christianity, with case material from Southeast Asia, Southern Africa and Great Britain. It discusses concepts such as deep time and ancestral time, the ethics of genetic engineering of foods and viruses, and holistic ecological management. Northcott argues that an ontological turn that honours the differential agency of indigenous humans and other kind, and that draws on sacred traditions, will make it is possible to repair the destabilising impacts of contemporary human activities on the Earth System and its constituent ecosystems. This book will be of considerable interest to students and scholars of the environmental humanities, history, and cultural and religious studies.

Encyclopedia of Evolution

by Stanley A. Rice

Publisher : Infobase Publishing
Release Date : 2009
ISBN : 1438110057
Pages : 497 pages
Rating Book: 4.3/5 (438 users)

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Download or read book Encyclopedia of Evolution written by Stanley A. Rice and published by Infobase Publishing. This book was released on 2009 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Evolutionary science is not only one of the greatest breakthroughs of modern science, but also one of the most controversial. Perhaps more than any other scientific area, evolutionary science has caused us all to question what we are, where we came from, and how we relate to the rest of the universe. Encyclopedia of Evolution contains more than 200 entries that span modern evolutionary science and the history of its development. This comprehensive volume clarifies many common misconceptions about evolution. For example, many people have grown up being told that the fossil record does not demonstrate an evolutionary pattern, and that there are many missing links. In fact, most of these missing links have been found, and their modern representatives are often still alive today. The biographical entries represent evolutionary scientists within the United States who have had and continue to have a major impact on the broad outline of evolutionary science. The biographies chosen reflect the viewpoints of scientists working within the United States. Five essays that explore interesting questions resulting from studies in evolutionary science are included as well. The appendix consists of a summary of Charles Darwin's Origin of Species, which is widely considered to be the foundational work of evolutionary science and one of the most important books in human history. The five essays include: How much do genes control human behavior?What are the ghosts of evolution?Can an evolutionary scientist be religious?Why do humans die?Are humans alone in the universe

The Earth's Biosphere

by Vaclav Smil

Publisher : MIT Press
Release Date : 2003-08-11
ISBN : 9780262692984
Pages : 362 pages
Rating Book: 4.9/5 (692 users)

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Download or read book The Earth's Biosphere written by Vaclav Smil and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2003-08-11 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive overview of Earth's biosphere, written with scientific rigor and essay-like flair. In his latest book, Vaclav Smil tells the story of the Earth's biosphere from its origins to its near and long-term future. He explains the workings of its parts and what is known about their interactions. With essay-like flair, he examines the biosphere's physics, chemistry, biology, geology, oceanography, energy, climatology, and ecology, as well as the changes caused by human activity. He provides both the basics of the story and surprising asides illustrating critical but often neglected aspects of biospheric complexity. Smil begins with a history of the modern idea of the biosphere, focusing on the development of the concept by Russian scientist Vladimir Vernadsky. He explores the probability of life elsewhere in the universe, life's evolution and metabolism, and the biosphere's extent, mass, productivity, and grand-scale organization. Smil offers fresh approaches to such well-known phenomena as solar radiation and plate tectonics and introduces lesser-known topics such as the quarter-power scaling of animal and plant metabolism across body sizes and metabolic pathways. He also examines two sets of fundamental relationships that have profoundly influenced the evolution of life and the persistence of the biosphere: symbiosis and the role of life's complexity as a determinant of biomass productivity and resilience. And he voices concern about the future course of human-caused global environmental change, which could compromise the biosphere's integrity and threaten the survival of modern civilization.

Evolutionary Faith

by Diarmuid î Murch

Publisher : Orbis Books
Release Date : 2002-01-01
ISBN : 1570754519
Pages : 241 pages
Rating Book: 4.7/5 (57 users)

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Download or read book Evolutionary Faith written by Diarmuid î Murch and published by Orbis Books. This book was released on 2002-01-01 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author of Quantum Theology presents a synthesis of science, theology, and spirituality while exploring the meaning of evolution and the spiritual underpinnings of the new sciences. Original.

Human Migration to Space

by Elizabeth Song Lockard

Publisher : Springer
Release Date : 2014-05-13
ISBN : 3319059300
Pages : 205 pages
Rating Book: 4.1/5 (319 users)

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Download or read book Human Migration to Space written by Elizabeth Song Lockard and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-05-13 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Human migration to space will be the most profound catalyst for evolution in the history of humankind, yet this has had little impact on determining our strategies for this next phase of exploration. Habitation in space will require extensive technological interfaces between humans and their alien surroundings and how they are deployed will critically inform the processes of adaptation. As humans begin to spend longer durations in space—eventually establishing permanent outposts on other planets—the scope of technological design considerations must expand beyond the meager requirements for survival to include issues not only of comfort and well‐being, but also of engagement and negotiation with the new planetary environment that will be crucial to our longevity beyond Earth. Approaching this question from an interdisciplinary approach, this dissertation explores how the impact of interior space architecture can meet both the physical and psychological needs of future space colonists and set the stage for humankind to thrive and grow while setting down new roots beyond Earth.

Principles of Abundance for the Cosmic Citizen

by Dorothy I. Riddle

Publisher : AuthorHouse
Release Date : 2010
ISBN : 1449079261
Pages : 258 pages
Rating Book: 4.4/5 (449 users)

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Download or read book Principles of Abundance for the Cosmic Citizen written by Dorothy I. Riddle and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2010 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Principles of Abundance for the Cosmic Citizen translates the principles of quantum physics into practical tools that we can use to transform ourselves and our communities. Dr. Riddle brings together insights from physics, cosmology, biology, economics, psychology, and metaphysics to confirm our cosmic interconnectedness and our basic motivation to cooperate rather than to compete. She weaves a compelling portrayal of ourselves as part of an ever-evolving and abundant (though not unlimited) universe.

Synergistic Selection: How Cooperation Has Shaped Evolution And The Rise Of Humankind

by Corning Peter A

Publisher : World Scientific
Release Date : 2017-12-28
ISBN : 9813230959
Pages : 304 pages
Rating Book: 4.1/5 (813 users)

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Download or read book Synergistic Selection: How Cooperation Has Shaped Evolution And The Rise Of Humankind written by Corning Peter A and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2017-12-28 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Nothing about the evolution of biological complexity makes sense except in the light of synergy." Peter Corning's new book is being hailed as a major contribution to what is perhaps the greatest shift in our understanding of evolution since The Origin of Species. It's a tour de force that takes us on a synergy-guided tour of the history of life. As Corning puts it, "life on Earth has been a synergistic phenomenon from the get go." Corning also shows how synergy has been a key to human evolution, including the rise of complex modern societies. "Cooperation may have been the vehicle, but synergy was the driver." As we now face a tipping point and another major transition in evolution, Corning offers us a synergy-based road-map to the future. "One of the great take-home lessons from the epic of evolution is that cooperation produces synergy, and synergy is the way forward. The arc of evolution bends toward synergy." Contents: Explaining Complexity A New View of Evolution How Cooperation Trumps Competition Evolution as a "Combination of Labor" A Tale of Two Theories The Major Transitions in Evolution The Self-Made Man I: Australopithecine Entrepreneurs The Self-Made Man II: From erectus to Homo sapiens The Rise of Complex Societies The Next Major Transition Readership: Undergraduate, graduate students and the general public interested in general science, general life sciences, evolutionary biology, human biology/anthropology/primatology, and public policy. Keywords: Synergy;Cooperation;Complexity;Evolution;Natural Selection;Human Evolution;Major Transitions in Evolution;Cultural Evolution;Multi-Level SelectionReview: "This magnificent book reveals the critical role of synergy in evolution and in all of biology, including especially in humankind. Synergy is fundamental in so many areas of science and knowledge. And in his final chapter, on how to change our current dysfunctional course as a species and avoid the destruction of our planet, Peter Corning offers us a unique and hopeful new vision." Anthony Trewavas, FRS Emeritus Professor, Institute of Molecular Plant Science, University of Edinburgh and author of Plant Behaviour and Intelligence "Peter Corning's approach is wise and he is astonishingly well read. The scope of his excellent book is broad and ambitious, running from the origins of life to modern economics in human societies. Many of his examples are described in clear and fascinating detail ... He writes extremely well and I read every word with great pleasure and interest ... I am full of admiration and strongly recommend it." Sir Patrick Bateson, FRS Emeritus Professor of Biology, Cambridge University president of the Zoological Society of London and the author of (among others) Behaviour, Development and Evolution "This is an important book. It offers a solution to a problem that has been central to evolutionary biology for half a century, with implications that reach down to the foundations of evolutionary theory. Corning argues that the huge and disproportionate advantages that arise when labor is combined could account for the rise of ever higher levels of organization in the history of life. The book is also well written, a pleasure to read." Daniel W McShea Professor of Biology, Duke University and co-author of Biology's First Law "Peter Corning's book is a marvelous addition to the growing literature about the emerging alternative to gene-centric neo-Darwinism in evolutionary biology. We would not exist were it not for the cooperative behaviour of livin

Sustainability and Evolution, or why life becomes increasingly complex: The Interaction Theory

by Michael J. Ruf

Publisher : BoD – Books on Demand
Release Date : 2018-12-14
ISBN : 3868881336
Pages : 193 pages
Rating Book: 4.6/5 (868 users)

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Download or read book Sustainability and Evolution, or why life becomes increasingly complex: The Interaction Theory written by Michael J. Ruf and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2018-12-14 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thanks to new, improving experimental techniques, modern biology is discovering a steadily growing body of new facts and data about the living nature. A good example of this advancement is the decryption of the complete genome of a rapidly increasing number of organisms, including humans. Regardless of these impressive results, however, there are still no satisfying answers to very basic questions of biology, such as "What is life?" and "Why does matter organize into biological forms that become more complex in the course of evolution?". The Interaction Theory by Michael J. Ruf assumes that this unsatisfying situation is not simply the consequence that certain experimental data are still missing. The lack of explanation of what life is actually and why simple molecules evolve into complex organisms rather reflects an existing conceptual problem that can only be solved with a radically new conceptual approach. Interaction Theory is the result of such a radically new approach to life and evolution. In contrast to conventional evolutionary theory, the generation sequences of living forms are considered to be the decisive quality of life. By clarifying how the continuation of these generation sequences can be sustainable over billions of years, new fundamental principles become obvious and the phenomenon of an increasing biological complexity understandable. As a result, a law-like process of biological complexity increase can be derived as immanent part of the evolution of life. This allows Interaction Theory to provide new answers to key questions such as why sexual reproduction, what species are and what life is. The theory is, however, not limited to cells and organisms and their evolution. It addresses the self-organization to higher complexity of all kinds of structures that are subject to an evolution through multiplication processes. This means that Interaction Theory also provides an understanding of why and how molecular networks, social communities and even societies become more complex over time.