Download or read book The Fossil Chronicles written by Dean Falk and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2011-10-03 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "With wit and authority, Falk tells the parallel stories of two fossil discoveries that surprised the world, revealing the larger significance of these finds. Her lively recounting combines new historical research with her first-hand involvement in controversial interpretations."—Pat Shipman, author of The Animal Connection and The Man Who Found the Missing Link “An absorbing and engagingly personal account, by a leading participant, of two of the major “brain wars” that have raged along the path to our current understanding of human evolution.”--Ian Tattersall, author of The Fossil Trail and Human Origins “In The Fossil Chronicles, Falk engages us with a ‘tale of two brains’. While navigating the surfaces of these ancient brains, she reveals the convolutions of scientific controversies and how personalities and paleopolitics shape the ways we think about human evolution.”—Nina G. Jablonski, author of Skin: A Natural History

Download or read book The Fossil Chronicles written by Dean Falk and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2011-10-03 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two discoveries of early human relatives, one in 1924 and one in 2003, radically changed scientific thinking about our origins. Dean Falk, a pioneer in the field of human brain evolution, offers this fast-paced insider’s account of these discoveries, the behind-the-scenes politics embroiling the scientists who found and analyzed them, and the academic and religious controversies they generated. The first is the Taung child, a two-million-year-old skull from South Africa that led anatomist Raymond Dart to argue that this creature had walked upright and that Africa held the key to the fossil ancestry of our species. The second find consisted of the partial skeleton of a three-and-a-half-foot-tall woman, nicknamed Hobbit, from Flores Island, Indonesia. She is thought by scientists to belong to a new, recently extinct species of human, but her story is still unfolding. Falk, who has studied the brain casts of both Taung and Hobbit, reveals new evidence crucial to interpreting both discoveries and proposes surprising connections between this pair of extraordinary specimens.

Download or read book The Fossil Hunter written by Shelley Emling and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2009-10-13 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At a time when women were excluded from science, a young girl made a discovery that marked the birth of paleontology and continues to feed the debate about evolution to this day. Mary Anning was only twelve years old when, in 1811, she discovered the first dinosaur skeleton--of an ichthyosaur--while fossil hunting on the cliffs of Lyme Regis, England. Until Mary's incredible discovery, it was widely believed that animals did not become extinct. The child of a poor family, Mary became a fossil hunter, inspiring the tongue-twister, "She Sells Sea Shells by the Seashore." She attracted the attention of fossil collectors and eventually the scientific world. Once news of the fossils reached the halls of academia, it became impossible to ignore the truth. Mary's peculiar finds helped lay the groundwork for Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, laid out in his On the Origin of Species. Darwin drew on Mary's fossilized creatures as irrefutable evidence that life in the past was nothing like life in the present. A story worthy of Dickens, The Fossil Hunter chronicles the life of this young girl, with dirt under her fingernails and not a shilling to buy dinner, who became a world-renowned paleontologist. Dickens himself said of Mary: "The carpenter's daughter has won a name for herself, and deserved to win it." Here at last, Shelley Emling returns Mary Anning, of whom Stephen J. Gould remarked, is "probably the most important unsung (or inadequately sung) collecting force in the history of paleontology," to her deserved place in history.

Download or read book The First Fossil Hunters written by Adrienne Mayor and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2023-04-11 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fascinating story of how the fossils of dinosaurs, mammoths, and other extinct animals influenced some of the most spectacular creatures of classical mythology Griffins, Centaurs, Cyclopes, and Giants—these fabulous creatures of classical mythology continue to live in the modern imagination through the vivid accounts that have come down to us from the ancient Greeks and Romans. But what if these beings were more than merely fictions? What if monstrous creatures once roamed the earth in the very places where their legends first arose? This is the arresting and original thesis that Adrienne Mayor explores in The First Fossil Hunters. Through careful research and meticulous documentation, she convincingly shows that many of the giants and monsters of myth did have a basis in fact—in the enormous bones of long-extinct species that were once abundant in the lands of the Greeks and Romans. As Mayor shows, the Greeks and Romans were well aware that a different breed of creatures once inhabited their lands. They frequently encountered the fossilized bones of these primeval beings, and they developed sophisticated concepts to explain the fossil evidence, concepts that were expressed in mythological stories. The legend of the gold-guarding griffin, for example, sprang from tales first told by Scythian gold-miners, who, passing through the Gobi Desert at the foot of the Altai Mountains, encountered the skeletons of Protoceratops and other dinosaurs that littered the ground. Like their modern counterparts, the ancient fossil hunters collected and measured impressive petrified remains and displayed them in temples and museums; they attempted to reconstruct the appearance of these prehistoric creatures and to explain their extinction. Long thought to be fantasy, the remarkably detailed and perceptive Greek and Roman accounts of giant bone finds were actually based on solid paleontological facts. By reading these neglected narratives for the first time in the light of modern scientific discoveries, Adrienne Mayor illuminates a lost world of ancient paleontology.

Download or read book Fossil Fungi written by Thomas N Taylor and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2014-08-14 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fungi are ubiquitous in the world and responsible for driving the evolution and governing the sustainability of ecosystems now and in the past. Fossil Fungi is the first encyclopedic book devoted exclusively to fossil fungi and their activities through geologic time. The book begins with the historical context of research on fossil fungi (paleomycology), followed by how fungi are formed and studied as fossils, and their age. The next six chapters focus on the major lineages of fungi, arranging them in phylogenetic order and placing the fossils within a systematic framework. For each fossil the age and provenance are provided. Each chapter provides a detailed introduction to the living members of the group and a discussion of the fossils that are believed to belong in this group. The extensive bibliography (~ 2700 entries) includes papers on both extant and fossil fungi. Additional chapters include lichens, fungal spores, and the interactions of fungi with plants, animals, and the geosphere. The final chapter includes a discussion of fossil bacteria and other organisms that are fungal-like in appearance, and known from the fossil record. The book includes more than 475 illustrations, almost all in color, of fossil fungi, line drawings, and portraits of people, as well as a glossary of more than 700 mycological and paleontological terms that will be useful to both biologists and geoscientists. First book devoted to the whole spectrum of the fossil record of fungi, ranging from Proterozoic fossils to the role of fungi in rock weathering Detailed discussion of how fossil fungi are preserved and studied Extensive bibliography with more than 2000 entries Where possible, fungal fossils are placed in a modern systematic context Each chapter within the systematic treatment of fungal lineages introduced with an easy-to-understand presentation of the main characters that define extant members Extensive glossary of more than 700 entries that define both biological, geological, and mycological terminology

Download or read book Doctor Fossil written by Charlie Pepper and published by Puffin. This book was released on 2014-08-07 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fans of the Matt Hatter cartoon series on ITV, will love the second book in this new action-adventure series. Evil Lord Tenoroc has released a super villain into the Multiverse who has the power to make dinosaurs come to life - Doctor Fossil. It's up to Matt and his friends to stop him before his demon beast spreads chaos across the Multiverse!

Download or read book The Cancer Chronicles written by George Johnson and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2013-08-27 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When the woman he loved was diagnosed with a metastatic cancer, science writer George Johnson embarked on a journey to learn everything he could about the disease and the people who dedicate their lives to understanding and combating it. What he discovered is a revolution under way—an explosion of new ideas about what cancer really is and where it comes from. In a provocative and intellectually vibrant exploration, he takes us on an adventure through the history and recent advances of cancer research that will challenge everything you thought you knew about the disease. Deftly excavating and illuminating decades of investigation and analysis, he reveals what we know and don’t know about cancer, showing why a cure remains such a slippery concept. We follow him as he combs through the realms of epidemiology, clinical trials, laboratory experiments, and scientific hypotheses—rooted in every discipline from evolutionary biology to game theory and physics. Cogently extracting fact from a towering canon of myth and hype, he describes tumors that evolve like alien creatures inside the body, paleo-oncologists who uncover petrified tumors clinging to the skeletons of dinosaurs and ancient human ancestors, and the surprising reversals in science’s comprehension of the causes of cancer, with the foods we eat and environmental toxins playing a lesser role. Perhaps most fascinating of all is how cancer borrows natural processes involved in the healing of a wound or the unfolding of a human embryo and turns them, jujitsu-like, against the body. Throughout his pursuit, Johnson clarifies the human experience of cancer with elegiac grace, bearing witness to the punishing gauntlet of consultations, surgeries, targeted therapies, and other treatments. He finds compassion, solace, and community among a vast network of patients and professionals committed to the fight and wrestles to comprehend the cruel randomness cancer metes out in his own family. For anyone whose life has been affected by cancer and has found themselves asking why?, this book provides a new understanding. In good company with the works of Atul Gawande, Siddhartha Mukherjee, and Abraham Verghese, The Cancer Chronicles is endlessly surprising and as radiant in its prose as it is authoritative in its eye-opening science.

Download or read book The Tyrannosaur Chronicles written by David Hone and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2016-04-21 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Gripping and wonderfully informative' Tom Holland, New Statesman Adored by children and adults alike, Tyrannosaurus is the most famous dinosaur in the world, one that pops up again and again in pop culture, often battling other beasts such as King Kong, Triceratops or velociraptors in Jurassic Park. But despite the hype, Tyrannosaurus and the other tyrannosaurs are fascinating animals in their own right, and are among the best-studied of all dinosaurs. Tyrannosaurs started small, but over the course of 100 million years evolved into the giant carnivorous bone-crushers that continue to inspire awe in palaeontologists, screenplay writers, sci-fi novelists and the general public alike. Tyrannosaurus itself was truly impressive; it topped six tons, was more than 12m (40 feet) long, and had the largest head and most powerful bite of any land animal in history. The Tyrannosaur Chronicles tracks the rise of these dinosaurs, and presents the latest research into their biology, showing off more than just their impressive statistics – tyrannosaurs had feathers and fought and even ate each other. This book presents the science behind this research; it tells the story of the group through their anatomy, ecology and behaviour, exploring how they came to be the dominant terrestrial predators of the Mesozoic and, in more recent times, one of the great icons of biology.

Download or read book Matt Hatter Chronicles Doctor Fossil written by Charlie Pepper and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2014-08-07 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fans of the Matt Hatter cartoon series on ITV, will love the second book in this new action-adventure series. Evil Lord Tenoroc has released a super villain into the Multiverse who has the power to make dinosaurs come to life - Doctor Fossil. It's up to Matt and his friends to stop him before his demon beast spreads chaos across the Multiverse!

Download or read book Cradle of Life written by J. William Schopf and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-10-12 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the greatest mysteries in reconstructing the history of life on Earth has been the apparent absence of fossils dating back more than 550 million years. We have long known that fossils of sophisticated marine life-forms existed at the dawn of the Cambrian Period, but until recently scientists had found no traces of Precambrian fossils. The quest to find such traces began in earnest in the mid-1960s and culminated in one dramatic moment in 1993 when William Schopf identified fossilized microorganisms three and a half billion years old. This startling find opened up a vast period of time--some eighty-five percent of Earth's history--to new research and new ideas about life's beginnings. In this book, William Schopf, a pioneer of modern paleobiology, tells for the first time the exciting and fascinating story of the origins and earliest evolution of life and how that story has been unearthed. Gracefully blending his personal story of discovery with the basics needed to understand the astonishing science he describes, Schopf has produced an introduction to paleobiology for the interested reader as well as a primer for beginning students in the field. He considers such questions as how did primitive bacteria, pond scum, evolve into the complex life-forms found at the beginning of the Cambrian Period? How do scientists identify ancient microbes and what do these tiny creatures tell us about the environment of the early Earth? (And, in a related chapter, Schopf discusses his role in the controversy that swirls around recent claims of fossils in the famed meteorite from Mars.) Like all great teachers, Schopf teaches the non-specialist enough about his subject along the way that we can easily follow his descriptions of the geology, biology, and chemistry behind these discoveries. Anyone interested in the intriguing questions of the origins of life on Earth and how those origins have been discovered will find this story the best place to start.

Download or read book Assembling the Dinosaur written by Lukas Rieppel and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2019-06-24 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A lively account of the dinosaur’s role in Gilded Age America, examining the connection between business, paleontology, and museums. Although dinosaur fossils were first found in England, a series of dramatic discoveries during the late 1800s turned North America into a world center for vertebrate paleontology. At the same time, the United States emerged as the world’s largest industrial economy, and creatures like Tyrannosaurus, Brontosaurus, and Triceratops became emblems of American capitalism. Large, fierce, and spectacular, American dinosaurs dominated the popular imagination, making front-page headlines and appearing in feature films. Assembling the Dinosaur follows dinosaur fossils from the field to the museum and into the commercial culture of North America’s Gilded Age. Business tycoons like Andrew Carnegie and J. P. Morgan made common cause with vertebrate paleontologists to capitalize on the widespread appeal of dinosaurs, using them to project American exceptionalism back into prehistory. Learning from the show-stopping techniques of P. T. Barnum, museums exhibited dinosaurs to attract, entertain, and educate the public. By assembling the skeletons of dinosaurs into eye-catching displays, wealthy industrialists sought to cement their own reputations as generous benefactors of science, showing that modern capitalism could produce public goods in addition to profits. Behind the scenes, museums adopted corporate management practices to control the movement of dinosaur bones, restricting their circulation to influence their meaning and value in popular culture. Tracing the entwined relationship of dinosaurs, capitalism, and culture during the Gilded Age, Lukas Rieppel reveals the outsized role these giant reptiles played during one of the most consequential periods in American history. Praise for Assembling the Dinosaur “A penetrating study of legitimacy and capitalism in the realm of fossils.” —Verlyn Klinkenborg, The New York Review of Books “A solid entry into the growing body of literature on Gilded Age American paleontology, but it is particularly valuable for its contribution to enhancing our understanding of how science and its representation during that period were influenced by, and in turn affected, society as a whole. By incorporating cultural, economic, and scientific developments, Rieppel shines new light on the history of both American paleontology and museum exhibition practice.” —Ilja Nieuwland, Science

Download or read book The Life of a Fossil Hunter written by and published by Namaskar Book. This book was released on with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Embark on a thrilling journey through the world of paleontology with "Adventures in Paleontology: Charles H. Sternberg's Fossil Hunter Chronicles" by Charles H. Sternberg. Join the intrepid fossil hunter as he uncovers the mysteries of prehistoric life in this captivating chronicle of discovery and adventure. As you delve into Sternberg's fossil hunter chronicles, prepare to be transported to ancient landscapes and distant epochs. From the excavation of colossal dinosaur bones to the thrill of unearthing rare fossils, every page is filled with excitement and wonder. But beyond the thrill of discovery, Sternberg's narratives offer insights into the scientific process and the relentless pursuit of knowledge. His meticulous attention to detail and passion for paleontology shine through, inspiring readers to explore the wonders of the natural world. Yet, amidst the excitement of fossil hunting, a profound question emerges: What can we learn from Sternberg's adventures in paleontology, and how do they deepen our understanding of Earth's history and evolution? Engage with Sternberg's fossil hunter chronicles through vivid descriptions and captivating storytelling that bring the ancient past to life. His accounts of scientific discovery and exploration are both educational and exhilarating, inviting readers of all ages to embark on their own paleontological adventures. Now, as you journey alongside Sternberg in search of prehistoric treasures, consider this: How can his passion for paleontology inspire us to appreciate the wonders of the natural world and protect Earth's fossil heritage? Don't miss the opportunity to join the ranks of fossil hunters with "Adventures in Paleontology: Charles H. Sternberg's Fossil Hunter Chronicles." Acquire your copy today and embark on an unforgettable expedition through time and discovery. ```

Download or read book Fossils written by Niles Eldredge and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chronicles the history of life on Earth as told through the fossil record, discussing adaptation, the origin of species, human evolution, fossil relationships to modern animals, extinction, and macroevolution, and presents approximately one hundred color fossil photos.

Download or read book The Fossil Book written by Carroll Lane Fenton and published by Courier Corporation. This book was released on 1996-01-01 with total page 766 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Definitive guide provides paleontologists and amateur fossil enthusiasts with invaluable information about finding fossils, caring for samples, and how to study them. Profusely illustrated and expanded edition contains fascinating information about everything from single-celled organisms, arthropods and amphibians, to dinosaurs, birds, and mammals. Includes identification keys, glossary, more. Over 1,500 illustrations.

Download or read book The Life of a Fossil Hunter written by Charles H. Sternberg and published by Prabhat Prakashan. This book was released on 1909-01-01 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Chronicles of Dinosauria written by Dave Woetzel and published by New Leaf Publishing Group. This book was released on 2013-04-01 with total page 91 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explore legends, mythical sightings, and intriguing explorations from around the globe! Enjoy the unique combination of visual illustrations and unforgettable accounts. Discover why the author calls into question what we've been taught to believe and understand about the history of dinosaurs and man. Every legend is said to include some grain of truth, and for years co-author Dave Woetzel has sought to separate fact from fiction as he explores mysteries related to dinosaurs, mankind's history, and the biblical time-line. Teaming with artist and designer Richard Dobbs, the two have created a visual archive of expeditions and intriguing clues to explore, all of which highlight the connection to the authority and reliability of Scripture. Provocative artifacts from around the world are examined in an exquisite, full-color book that hints at man's familiarity with living dinosaurs. Studies point to more than simple answers beneath the waves of Loch Ness, and other sites around the world, many investigated personally by the author. Here is the study of cryptozoology and the discoveries that seem to defy all evolutionary time-lines, vividly illustrated and filled with rare photos.

Download or read book Window Into the Jurassic World written by Nicholas G. McDonald and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 105 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: