During the past ten years, there has been a revolution in our understanding of developmental biology, as scientists apply the ideas and techniques of genetics and embryology to the processes of development. In this book, John Maynard Smith gives an account of the progress that has been made in this field -- in our knowledge of both the development of individuals and the evolution of the species. Maynard Smith points out that there is a parallel between the developmental changes that convert an egg into an adult and the evolutionary changes converted simple single-celled ancestors into the existing array of multicellular animals and plants. Genetic studies provide the necessary link between development and evolution: natural selection explains how information is incorporated in the genome, and development shows what use is made of it during the development of each individual. Traditionally, two very different views have been held about development. Maynard Smith argues that the differences between them are not so much scientific as ideological -- one can be considered reductionist and the other holistic. But because of advances in the science underpinning both viewpoints, he says, the possibility of a dialogue between them is great, which will be beneficial to the entire discipline.

Emphasizing the changes worked by circulation and copying, interpretation and debate, this book uses the case to explore how pictures succeed and fail, gain acceptance and spark controversy. It reveals how embryonic development was made a process that we can see, compare, and discuss, and how copying - usually dismissed as unoriginal

Bringing together conceptual obstacles and core concepts of evolutionary theory, this book presents evolution as straightforward and intuitive.

A renowned biologist provides a sweeping chronicle of more than four billion years of life on Earth, shedding new light on evolutionary theory and history, sexual selection, speciation, extinction, and genetics.

How can we bring together the study of genes, embryos and fossils? Embryos in Deep Time is a critical synthesis of the study of individual development in fossils. It brings together an up-to-date review of concepts from comparative anatomy, ecology and developmental genetics, and examples of different kinds of animals from diverse geological epochs and geographic areas. Can fossil embryos demonstrate evolutionary changes in reproductive modes? How have changes in ocean chemistry in the past affected the development of marine organisms? What can the microstructure of fossil bone and teeth reveal about maturation time, longevity and changes in growth phases? This book addresses these and other issues and documents with numerous examples and illustrations how fossils provide evidence not only of adult anatomy but also of the life history of individuals at different growth stages. The central topic of Biology today—the transformations occurring during the life of an organism and the mechanisms behind them—is addressed in an integrative manner for extinct animals.