The Evolution ExplosionThe Evolution Explosion
How Humans Cause Rapid Evolutionary Change
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Book, 2001
Current format, Book, 2001, First edition, No Longer Available.Book, 2001
Current format, Book, 2001, First edition, No Longer Available. Offered in 0 more formatsA critical look at the intersection of evolution and high-tech modern life. Evolution is not only the slow process that ruled the rise and fall of the dinosaurs over hundreds of millions of years. It also happens quicklyso quickly and frequently that it changes how all of us live our lives: drugs fail because diseases evolve; insects overcome the most powerful pesticides; HIV and tuberculosis develop resistance to the newest drugs in a few months. This is evolution with teeth. While the ecological scars of human technology have been well publicized, the broad evolutionary consequences of antibiotic and antiviral use, insecticide applications, and herbicide bioengineering are largely unexplored. Does the human impact on evolution falter at the borders of our own species? Or do we, in fact, generate our own evolutionary pressure? Enthusiastically written for a wide audience, The Evolution Explosion examines these practical and critical aspects of modern evolution with simplicity, force, and humor.
While the ecological scars of human technology have been well publicized, Palumbi (biology, Harvard U.) says that no one has explored the evolutionary consequences of antibiotic and antiviral use, insecticide applications, and herbicide bioengineering. For example, he points out, the evolution of disease organisms adds some $30 million a year to US medical bills and is making some diseases economically incurable, and US farmers pay about $2 billion a year to combat insects that have evolved tolerance to their pesticides. He also explores whether humans impact their own evolution, whether they have stopped evolving, whether they generate their won evolutionary pressure, and other questions. He writes for the general reader. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
A critical look at evolution examines the slow process that ruled the rise and fall of the dinosaurs over hundreds of millions of years, the speedy process that causes drugs to fail because a disease evolves too quickly, and how human impact effects our own evolution.
While the ecological scars of human technology have been well publicized, Palumbi (biology, Harvard U.) says that no one has explored the evolutionary consequences of antibiotic and antiviral use, insecticide applications, and herbicide bioengineering. For example, he points out, the evolution of disease organisms adds some $30 million a year to US medical bills and is making some diseases economically incurable, and US farmers pay about $2 billion a year to combat insects that have evolved tolerance to their pesticides. He also explores whether humans impact their own evolution, whether they have stopped evolving, whether they generate their won evolutionary pressure, and other questions. He writes for the general reader. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
A critical look at evolution examines the slow process that ruled the rise and fall of the dinosaurs over hundreds of millions of years, the speedy process that causes drugs to fail because a disease evolves too quickly, and how human impact effects our own evolution.
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- New York : Norton, [2001], ©2001
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