The Cambridge Dictionary of Human Biology and Evolution


Book Description

The Dictionary of Human Biology and Evolution (DHBE) is an invaluable research and study tool for both professionals and students covering a broad range of subjects within human biology, physical anthropology, anatomy, auxology, primatology, physiology, genetics, paleontology and zoology. Packed with 13000 descriptions of terms, specimens, sites and names, DHBE also includes information on over 1000 word roots, taxonomies and reference tables for extinct, recent and extant primates, geological and oxygen isotope chronologies, illustrations of landmarks, bones and muscles and an illustration of current hominid phylogeny, making this a must-have volume for anyone with an interest in human biology or evolution. DHBE is especially complete in its inventory of archaeological sites and the best-known hominid specimens excavated from them, but also includes up-to-date information on terms such as in silico, and those relating to the rapidly developing fields of human genomics.




Human Evolution Beyond Biology and Culture


Book Description

A complete account of evolutionary thought in the social, environmental and policy sciences, creating bridges with biology.




Primate and Human Evolution


Book Description

Primate and Human Evolution provides a synthesis of the evolution and adaptive significance of human anatomical, physiological and behavioral traits. Using paleontology and modern human variation and biology, it compares hominid traits to those of other catarrhine primates both living and extinct, presenting a new hominization model that does not depend solely on global climate change, but on predictable trends observed in catarrhines. Dealing with the origins of hominid tool use and tool manufacture, it compares tool behavior in other animals and incorporates information from the earliest archaeological record. Examining the use of non-human primates and other mammals in modeling the origins of early human social behavior, Susan Cachel argues that human intelligence does not arise from complex social interactions, but from attentiveness to the natural world. This book will be a rich source of inspiration for all those interested in the evolution of all primates, including ourselves.




Evidence and Evolution


Book Description

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.




The Cambridge Companion to the Philosophy of Biology


Book Description

The philosophy of biology is one of the most exciting new areas in the field of philosophy and one that is attracting much attention from working scientists. This Companion, edited by two of the founders of the field, includes newly commissioned essays by senior scholars and up-and-coming younger scholars who collectively examine the main areas of the subject - the nature of evolutionary theory, classification, teleology and function, ecology, and the problematic relationship between biology and religion, among other topics. Up-to-date and comprehensive in its coverage, this unique volume will be of interest not only to professional philosophers but also to students in the humanities and researchers in the life sciences and related areas of inquiry.




Evolutionary History


Book Description

We tend to see history and evolution springing from separate roots, one grounded in the human world and the other in the natural world. Human beings have, however, become probably the most powerful species shaping evolution today, and human-caused evolution in other species has probably been the most important force shaping human history. This book introduces readers to evolutionary history, a new field that unites history and biology to create a fuller understanding of the past than either can produce on its own. Evolutionary history can stimulate surprising new hypotheses for any field of history and evolutionary biology. How many art historians would have guessed that sculpture encouraged the evolution of tuskless elephants? How many biologists would have predicted that human poverty would accelerate animal evolution? How many military historians would have suspected that plant evolution would convert a counter-insurgency strategy into a rebel subsidy? With examples from around the globe, this book will help readers see the broadest patterns of history and the details of their own life in a new light.




What Teeth Reveal about Human Evolution


Book Description

Explores the insights that fossil hominin teeth provide about human evolution, linking findings with current debates in palaeoanthropology.




Design in Nature


Book Description

In this groundbreaking book, Adrian Bejan takes the recurring patterns in nature—trees, tributaries, air passages, neural networks, and lightning bolts—and reveals how a single principle of physics, the constructal law, accounts for the evolution of these and many other designs in our world. Everything—from biological life to inanimate systems—generates shape and structure and evolves in a sequence of ever-improving designs in order to facilitate flow. River basins, cardiovascular systems, and bolts of lightning are very efficient flow systems to move a current—of water, blood, or electricity. Likewise, the more complex architecture of animals evolve to cover greater distance per unit of useful energy, or increase their flow across the land. Such designs also appear in human organizations, like the hierarchical “flowcharts” or reporting structures in corporations and political bodies. All are governed by the same principle, known as the constructal law, and configure and reconfigure themselves over time to flow more efficiently. Written in an easy style that achieves clarity without sacrificing complexity, Design in Nature is a paradigm-shifting book that will fundamentally transform our understanding of the world around us.




The Scented Ape


Book Description

Both men and women devote time and effort to removing natural body odour and replacing it with sexual attractant odours derived from plants and animals - we seem to need to smell of something other than people! Yet of all the apes, we are the most richly endowed with scent producing glands. This book examines the sense of smell in humans, comparing it with the known functions of the same sense in other animals. Odorous cues play a role in sexual physiology and behaviour in animals and there are claims that odour can play the same role in humans. The place of odours and scents in aesthetics and in psychoanalysis serves to illustrate the link between the emotional centres and the brain. The book presents arguments to explain the way in which our ancestral past has given rise to our modern day olfactory enigmas. The material is presented with as much explanation of the technical detail as possible to make the book accessible to a wide readership.




Elsevier's Dictionary of Medicine and Biology


Book Description

Dictionaries are didactic books used as consultation instruments for self-teaching. They are composed by an ordered set of linguistic units which reflects a double structure, the macrostructure which correspond to the word list and the microstructure that refers to the contents of each lemma. The great value of dictionaries nests in the fact that they establish a standard nomenclature and prevent in that way the appearance of new useless synonyms.This dictionary contains a total of about 27.500 main English entries, and over of 130.000 translations that should normally sufficiently cover all fields of life sciences. The basic criteria used to accept a word a part of the dictionary during the development period in order of importance were usage, up-to-dateness, specificity, simplicity and conceptual relationships. The dictionary meets the standards of higher education and covers all main fields of life sciences by setting its primary focus on the vastly developing fields of cell biology, biochemistry, molecular biology, immunology, developmental biology, microbiology, genetics and also the fields of human anatomy, histology, pathology, physiology, zoology and botany.The fields of ecology, paleontology, systematics, evolution, biostatistics, plant physiology, plant anatomy, plant histology, biometry and lab techniques have been sufficiently covered but in a more general manner. The latest Latin international anatomical terminology "Terminologia Anatomica" or "TA" has been fully incorporated and all anatomical entries have been given their international Latin TA synonym. This dictionary will be a valuable and helpful tool for all scientists, teachers, students and generally all those that work within the fields of life sciences.