The Theory of Evolution [Paperback]

This book describes how evolution theory has been confirmed, but at the same time transformed, by recent research.A century ago Darwin and Wallace explained how evolution could have happened in terms of processes known to take place today. This book describes how their theory has been confirmed, but at the same time transformed , by recent research.A century ago Darwin and Wallace explained how evolution could have happened in terms of processes known to take place today. This book describes how their theory has been confirmed, but at the same time transformed , by recent research.All living plants and animals, including man, are the modified descendants of one or a few simple living things. A hundred years ago Darwin and Wallace in their theory of natural selection, or the survival of the fittest, explained how evolution could have happened, in terms of processes known to take place today. In this book John Maynard Smith describes how their theory has been confirmed, but at the same time transformed, by recent research, and in particular by the discovery of the laws of inheritance.List of figures; Preface; Preface to the second edition; Preface to the third edition; Foreword to the Canto edition by Richard Dawkins; Introduction to the Canto edition; 1. Adaptation; 2. The theory of natural selection; 3. Heredity; 4. Weismann, Lamarck and the central dogma; 5. Molecular evolution; 6. The origin and early evolution of life; 7. The structure of chromosomes and the control of gene action; 8. Variation; 9. Artificial selection: some experiments with fruitflies; 10. Natural selection in wild populations; 11. Protein polymorphism; 12. Altruism, social behaviour and sex; 13. What are species?; 14. The origins of species; 15. What keeps species distinct?; 16. The genetics of species differences; 17. The fossil evidence; 18. Evolution and development; 19. Evolution and history; Further reading; Index.'Few people in the world are better qualified than John Maynard Smith ló.