Download or read book Cultural Transmission and Evolution MPB 16 Volume 16 written by L L Cavalli-sforza and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-31 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A number of scholars have found that concepts such as mutation, selection, and random drift, which emerged from the theory of biological evolution, may also explain evolutionary phenomena in other disciplines as well. Drawing on these concepts, Professors Cavalli-Sforza and Feldman classify and systematize the various modes of transmitting "culture" and explore their consequences for cultural evolution. In the process, they develop a mathematical theory of the non-genetic transmission of cultural traits that provides a framework for future investigations in quantitative social and anthropological science. The authors use quantitative models that incorporate the various modes of transmission (for example, parent-child, peer-peer, and teacher-student), and evaluate data from sociology, archaeology, and epidemiology in terms of the models. They show that the various modes of transmission in conjunction with cultural and natural selection produce various rates of cultural evolution and various degrees of diversity within and between groups. The same framework can be used for explaining phenomena as apparently unrelated as linguistics, epidemics, social values and customs, and diffusion of innovations. The authors conclude that cultural transmission is an essential factor in the study of cultural change.

Download or read book The Altenberg 16 written by Suzan Mazur and published by North Atlantic Books. This book was released on 2010 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new theory of evolution begins to emerge in the pages of The Altenberg 16: An Expos of the Evolution Industry. Written by Suzan Mazur--a print and television journalist whose reports have appeared in the Financial Times, The Economist, Archaeology, Omni, and many other publications--the book is a front row seat to the thinking of the great evolutionary science minds of our time about the need to reformulate the neo-Darwinian theory of evolution. We hear from world renowned scientists such as Richard Lewontin, Lynn Margulis, Niles Eldredge, Richard Dawkins, the "evo-devo" revolutionaries, NASA astrobiologists, and others. The book grew out of a story Mazur broke online in March 2008--titled "Altenberg The Woodstock of Evolution?"--about the now famous meeting at Konrad Lorenz Institute in Altenberg, Austria in July 2008, where 16 scientists discussed expanding evolutionary thinking beyond outdated hypotheses. (MIT will publish the proceedings in April 2010.) Science magazine noted that Mazur's reporting "reverberated throughout the evolutionary biology community." Mazur says she was punished for getting out in front of the story and banned from the symposium but realized the story was bigger than Altenberg (which covered events beginning 500 million years ago) and spoke to scientists who were not invited, including those investigating pre-biotic evolution. She came to the conclusion that evolutionary science suffers because many in the scientific establishment refuse to acknowledge that the old science has served its purpose and there is disagreement about what the new evolution paradigm is. She thinks the dam is now breaking because the public (who funds science) has become a party to the discourse via the Internet and seeks answers to fundamental questions about evolution that scientists so far can't definitively answer.

Download or read book Evolution written by and published by PediaPress. This book was released on with total page 697 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Software Evolution written by Tom Mens and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2008-01-25 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on novel trends in software evolution research and its relations with other emerging disciplines. Mens and Demeyer, both authorities in the field of software evolution, do not restrict themselves to the evolution of source code but also address the evolution of other, equally important software artifacts. This book is the indispensable source for researchers and professionals looking for an introduction and comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art.

Download or read book Evolution of Microbial Life written by Society for General Microbiology. Symposium and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1996-11-13 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume considers the evolution and diversification of early unicellular life.

Download or read book Evolution s Wedge written by David W. Pfennig and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2012-10-25 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite Darwin's emphasis, competition's role in diversification remains controversial and largely underappreciated.

Download or read book Evolution in Perspective written by Rodger W. Bybee and published by NSTA Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 122 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If ever a subject could benefit from a strong dose of perspective, it's evolution. This important new book supplies the necessary insights by bringing together the views of leading scientists, professors, and teachers. Working from the premise that only those students whose schools teach them about the nature of science will truly understand evolution, the collection gathers 12 influential articles first published in the NSTA journal, The Science Teacher. The articles fall into three categories. The Scientific Perspective explores the evidence supporting evolution. It looks at evolution's place in the National Science Education Standards and at the thorny problem of calling evolution a "theory". The Science Teacher's Perspective moves into the classroom, discussing lesson plans that allow students to explore evolution and draw their own conclusions. Also included is the recently revised NSTA Position Statement on Evolution. This collection comes from, and is developed for, the people on the front lines, educators who deal with the controversy over evolution every day. From a practical standpoint, the book can help you address the subject in the classroom without being dragged into endless, ultimately unproductive debate. From a substantial standpoint, it provides a remarkable overview of the state of teaching evolution in America.

Download or read book Microbial Phylogeny and Evolution written by Jan Sapp and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2005-03-03 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The birth of bacterial genomics since the mid-1990s brought withit several conceptual modifications and wholly new controversies. Working beyond the scope of the neo-Darwinian evolutionary synthesis, a group of leading microbial evolutionists addresses the following and related issues, often with markedly varied viewpoints: · Did the eukaryotic nucleus, cytoskeleton and cilia also orginate from symbiosis? · Do the current scenarios about he origin of mitochondria and plastids require revision? · What is the extent of lateral gene transfer (between "species") among bacteria? · Does the rDNA phylogenetic tree still stand in the age of genomics? · Is the course of the first 3 billion years of evolution even knowable?

Download or read book Big Questions in Ecology and Evolution written by Thomas N. Sherratt and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2009-02-19 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why do we age? Why cooperate? Why do so many species engage in sex? Why do the tropics have so many species? When did humans start to affect world climate? This book provides an introduction to a range of fundamental questions that have taxed evolutionary biologists and ecologists for decades. Some of the phenomena discussed are, on first reflection, simply puzzling to understand from an evolutionary perspective, whilst others have direct implications for the future of the planet. All of the questions posed have at least a partial solution, all have seen exciting breakthroughs in recent years, yet many of the explanations continue to be hotly debated. Big Questions in Ecology and Evolution is a curiosity-driven book, written in an accessible way so as to appeal to a broad audience. It is very deliberately not a formal text book, but something designed to transmit the excitement and breadth of the field by discussing a number of major questions in ecology and evolution and how they have been answered. This is a book aimed at informing and inspiring anybody with an interest in ecology and evolution. It reveals to the reader the immense scope of the field, its fundamental importance, and the exciting breakthroughs that have been made in recent years.

Download or read book Inside Evolution written by Rosie Banks and published by 'The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc'. This book was released on 2021-12-15 with total page 82 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Evolution is one of the most misunderstood scientific theories. Simply put, it’s the change in the characteristics of a species over several generations. Yet, people still argue over the idea that humans share an ancestor with an orangutan, for example. This valuable volume explains evolution, natural selection, and basic genetic concepts through accessible language, instructive examples, and enlightening images. While the critical work of Charles Darwin is a focus, the text also highlights the contributions of many other scientists whose work predated the famous expedition to the Galapagos Islands as well as those whose discoveries have since helped bolster the theory of evolution by natural selection.

Download or read book Artificial Evolution written by Jin-Kao Hao and published by Springer. This book was released on 2012-11-28 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book constitutes selected best papers from the 10th International Conference on Artificial Evolution, EA 2011, held in Angers, France, in October 2011. Initially, 33 full papers and 10 post papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 64 submissions. This book presents the 19 best papers selected from these contributions. The papers are organized in topical sections on ant colony optimization; multi-objective optimization; analysis; implementation and robotics; combinatorial optimization; learning and parameter tuning; new nature inspired models; probabilistic algorithms; theory and evolutionary search; and applications.

Download or read book Understanding Evolution written by Kostas Kampourakis and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2014-04-03 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Current books on evolutionary theory all seem to take for granted the fact that students find evolution easy to understand when actually, from a psychological perspective, it is a rather counterintuitive idea. Evolutionary theory, like all scientific theories, is a means to understanding the natural world. Understanding Evolution is intended for undergraduate students in the life sciences, biology teachers or anyone wanting a basic introduction to evolutionary theory. Covering core concepts and the structure of evolutionary explanations, it clarifies both what evolution is about and why so many people find it difficult to grasp. The book provides an introduction to the major concepts and conceptual obstacles to understanding evolution, including the development of Darwin's theory, and a detailed presentation of the most important evolutionary concepts. Bridging the gap between the concepts and conceptual obstacles, Understanding Evolution presents evolutionary theory with a clarity and vision students will quickly appreciate.

Download or read book The Evolution of Intelligence written by Robert J. Sternberg and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2013-06-17 with total page 439 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How is one to understand the nature of intelligence? One approach is through psychometric testing, but such an approach often puts the "cart before the horse"--the test before the theory. Another approach is to use evolutionary theory. This criterion has been suggested by a number of individuals in the past, from Charles Darwin in the more distant past to Howard Gardner, Stephen Gould, Steven Pinker, Carl Sagan, David Stenhouse, and many others. The chapters in this book address three major questions: 1. Does evolutionary theory help us understand the nature of human intelligence? 2. If so, what does it tell us about the nature of human intelligence? 3. And if so, how has intelligence evolved? The goal of this book is to present diverse points of view on the evolution of intelligence as offered by leading experts in the field. In particular, it may be possible to better understand the nature and societal implications of intelligence by understanding how and why it has evolved as it has. This book is unique in offering a diversity of points of view on the topic of the evolution of human intelligence.

Download or read book Human Evolution Source Book written by Russell L. Ciochon and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-12-05 with total page 1626 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For Junior, Senior, and Graduate courses in Human Evolution taught in anthropology and biology departments. This book is the most comprehensive collection of cutting edge articles on human evolution. Designed for use by students in anthropology, paleontology, and evolutionary biology, this edited volume brings together the major ideas and publications on human evolution of the past three decades. The book spans the entire scope of human evolution with particular emphasis on the fossil record, including archaeological studies.

Download or read book Human Evolution written by John L. Bradshaw and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2014-01-02 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The last decade has seen an explosive burst of new information about human origins and our evolutionary status with respect to other species. We have long been considered unique as upright, bipedal creatures endowed with language, the ability to use tools, to think and introspect. We now know that other creatures may be more or less capable of similar behaviour, and that these human capacities in many cases have long evolutionary trajectories. Our information about such matters comes from a diverse variety of disciplines, including experimental and neuropsychology, primatology, ethology, archaeology, palaeontology, comparative linguistics and molecular biology. It is the interdisciplinary nature of the newly-emerging information which bears upon one of the profoundest scientific human questions - our origin and place in the animal kingdom, whether unique or otherwise - which makes the general topic so fascinating to layperson, student, and expert alike. The book attempts to integrate across a wide range of disciplines an evolutionary view of human psychology, with particular reference to language, praxis and aesthetics. A chapter on evolution, from the appearance of life to the earliest mammals, is followed by one which examines the appearance of primates, hominids and the advent of bipedalism. There follows a more detailed account of the various species of Homo, the morphology and origin of modern H. sapiens sapiens as seen from the archaeological/palaeontological and molecular-biological perspectives. The origins of art and an aesthetic sense in the Acheulian and Mousterian through to the Upper Palaeolithic are seen in the context of the psychology of art. Two chapters on language address its nature and realization centrally and peripherally, the prehistory and neuropsychology of speech, and evidence for speech and/or language in our hominid ancestors. A chapter on tool use and praxis examines such behaviour in other species, primate and non-primate, the neurology of praxis and its possible relation to language. Encephalization and the growth of the brain, phylogenetically and ontogenetically, and its relationship to intellectual capacity leads on finally to a consideration of intelligence, social intelligence, consciousness and self awareness. A final chapter reviews the issues covered. The book, of around 70.000 words of text, includes over 500 references over half of which date from 1994 or later.

Download or read book The Evolution of the Human Head written by Daniel Lieberman and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2011-01-03 with total page 769 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Exhaustively researched and years in the making, this innovative book documents how the many components of the head function, how they evolved since we diverged from the apes, and how they interact in diverse ways both functionally and developmentally, causing them to be highly integrated. This integration not only permits the head's many units to accommodate each other as they grow and work, but also facilitates evolutionary change. Lieberman shows how, when, and why the major transformations evident in the evolution of the human head occurred. The special way the head is integrated, Lieberman argues, made it possible for a few developmental shifts to have had widespread effects on craniofacial growth, yet still permit the head to function exquisitely. --

Download or read book Dual Phase Evolution written by David G. Green and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-11-12 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The aim of the book is to lay out the foundations and provide a detailed treatment of the subject. It will focus on two main elements in dual phase evolution: the relationship between dual phase evolution and other phase transition phenomena and the advantages of dual phase evolution in evolutionary computation and complex adaptive systems. The book will provide a coherent picture of dual phase evolution that encompasses these two elements and frameworks, methods and techniques to use this concept for problem solving.