Covering everything from fossilised dinosaurs to intelligent apes, this is an accessible guide to one of the most important scientific theories of all time. Burt Guttman assumes no prior scientific knowledge on the part of the reader, and explains each of the key ideas and concepts, including natural selection, genetics and the evolution of animal behaviour, in a lively and informative way. Looking ahead to the future of evolutionary theory, and assessing its possible implications for the ...

In this lively and illuminating discussion of his landmark research, esteemed primatologist Frans de Waal argues that human morality is not imposed from above but instead comes from within. Moral behavior does not begin and end with religion but is in fact a product of evolution.For many years, de Waal has observed chimpanzees soothe distressed neighbors and bonobos share their food. Now he delivers fascinating fresh evidence for the seeds of ethical behavior in primate societies t...

Ten thousand years ago, our species made a radical shift in its way of life: We became farmers rather than hunter-gatherers. Although this decision propelled us into the modern world, renowned geneticist and anthropologist Spencer Wells demonstrates that such a dramatic change in lifestyle had a downside that we’re only now beginning to recognize. Growing grain crops ultimately made humans more sedentary and unhealthy and made the planet more crowded. The expanding population and the need ...

A fascinating account of the latest thinking on human evolution, by 'one of the most respected evolutionary psychologists in Britain'.For scientists studying evolution, the past decade has seen astonishing advances across many disciplines - discoveries which have revolutionised scientific thinking and turned upside down our understanding of who we are. The Human Story brings together these threads of research in genetics, behaviour and psychology to provide an unde...

A fully updated edition of one of the most original accounts of evolution ever written.'Extraordinarily detailed, serious and engaging' Daily Mail'One of the richest accounts of evolution ever' Financial Times'Dizzying . . . fresh, exhilarating' Daily TelegraphThe Ancestor's Tale is a dazzling, four-billion-year pilgrimage to the origins of us all. Richard...

Examines the application of genetic algorithms in order to solve technical problems. Provides a working case study of a robotic spider and how it can learn to walk without being instructed in physics or explicitly programmed to perform that function.

The scientific evidence behind why maintaining a lifestyle more like that of our ancestors will restore our health and well-being.In Go Wild, Harvard Medical School Professor John Ratey, MD, and journalist Richard Manning reveal that although civilization has rapidly evolved, our bodies have not kept pace. This mismatch affects every area of our lives, from our general physical health to our emotional wellbeing. Investigating the power of living according ...

How our collective intelligence has helped us to evolve and prosperHumans are a puzzling species. On the one hand, we struggle to survive on our own in the wild, often failing to overcome even basic challenges, like obtaining food, building shelters, or avoiding predators. On the other hand, human groups have produced ingenious technologies, sophisticated languages, and complex institutions that have permitted us to successfully expand into a vast range of diverse ...

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 all 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...

Award-winning, international bestselling science writer Stefan Klein explores the benefits of altruism on humanity in Survival of the Nicest.The phrase "survival of the fittest" conjures an image of the most cutthroat individuals rising to the top. But Stefan Klein, author of The Science of Happiness, makes the startling assertion that altruism is the key to lasting personal and societal success. In fact, altruism defines us: Natural selection favo...

Applying his controversial theory of evolution to the origins of the human species, Charles Darwin's The Descent of Man was the culmination of his life's work.In The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin refused to discuss human evolution, believing the subject too 'surrounded with prejudices'. He had been reworking his notes since the 1830s, but only with trepidation did he finally publish The Descent of Man in 1871. The book notoriously put...

The themes discussed in this book form part of a revolutionary discipline known under the name of evolutionary psychology, a discipline that has become the most powerful tool discovered to date for man to understand himself. Much of the knowledge revealed by human science is explained as a result of the evolutionary process, using as a premise the theory that the majority of modern mans desires, impulses, interests and inclinations, and mental faculties were designed by the evolutionary proce...