The Mermaid s Tale : Four Billion Years of Cooperation in the Making of Living Things

Kenneth M. Weiss

ISBN 10: 0674031938 / ISBN 13: 9780674031937

Published by Harvard University Press Feb 2009, 2009

About this Item

Neuware - Even after 150 years, Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection is irresistibly compelling. But, how can this idea - in which competition prevails - be consistent with all that we know about the thoroughly cooperative nature of life at the genetic and cellular level This book reconciles these discrepancies.

Seller Inventory # 9780674031937

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Mermaid s Tale : Four Billion Years of Cooperation in the Making of Living Things
• Publisher: Harvard University Press Feb 2009
• Publication Date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674031938
• ISBN 13: 9780674031937
• Binding: Buch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 248W x 166H x 27D millimeters 248 millimeters width by 166 millimeters height by 27 millimeters depth
• Weight: 670 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Even after 150 years, Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection is irresistibly compelling. But how can this idea―in which competition prevails―be consistent with all that we know about the thoroughly cooperative nature of life at the genetic and cellular level? This book reconciles these discrepancies.

Assembling a set of general principles, authors Kenneth Weiss and Anne Buchanan build a comprehensive, unified theory that applies on the evolutionary time scale but also on the developmental and ecological scales where daily life is lived, and cells, organisms, and species interact. They present this story through a diversity of examples spanning the fundamental challenges that organisms have faced throughout the history of life. This shows that even very complex traits can be constructed simply, based on these principles. Although relentless competitive natural selection is widely assumed to be the primary mover of evolutionary change, The Mermaid’s Tale shows how life more generally works on the basis of cooperation. The book reveals that the focus on competition and cooperation is largely an artifact of the compression of time―a distortion that dissolves when the nature and origins of adapted life are viewed primarily from developmental and evolutionary time scales.

About the Authors

Kenneth M. Weiss is Evan Pugh University Professor of Anthropology and Genetics, Emeritus, in the Department of Biology at Pennsylvania State University.

Anne V. Buchanan was, until her retirement, Senior Research Scientist in the Department of Anthropology at Pennsylvania State University.