Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Islands in the Cosmos: The Evolution of Life on Land
    Islands in the Cosmos: The Evolution of Life on Land
    Islands in the Cosmos: The Evolution of Life on Land
    Ebook457 pages10 hours

    Islands in the Cosmos: The Evolution of Life on Land

    By Dale A. Russell

    4.5/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    How is it that we came to be here? The search for answers to that question has preoccupied humans for millennia. Scientists have sought clues in the genes of living things, in the physical environments of Earth from mountaintops to the depths of the ocean, in the chemistry of this world and those nearby, in the tiniest particles of matter, and in the deepest reaches of space. In Islands of the Cosmos, Dale A. Russell traces a path from the dawn of the universe to speculations about our future on this planet. He centers his story on the physical and biological processes in evolution, which interact to favor more successful, and eliminate less successful, forms of life. Marvelously, these processes reveal latent possibilities in life's basic structure, and propel a major evolutionary theme: the increasing proficiency of biological function. It remains to be seen whether the human form can survive the dynamic processes that brought it into existence. Yet the emergence of the ability to acquire knowledge from experience, to optimize behavior, to conceptualize, to distinguish "good" from "bad" behavior all hint at an evolutionary outcome that science is only beginning to understand.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherIndiana University Press
    Release dateJul 14, 2009
    ISBN9780253023919
    Islands in the Cosmos: The Evolution of Life on Land

    Related to Islands in the Cosmos

    Related ebooks

    Biology For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Unique Merger That Made You (and Ewe, and Yew): All sophisticated life on the planet Earth may owe its existence to one freakish event.

      Feb 6, 2014

      At first glance, a tree could not be more different from the caterpillars that eat its leaves, the mushrooms sprouting from its bark, the grass growing by its trunk, or the humans canoodling under its shade. Appearances, however, can be deceiving. Zo

      14 min read

    • Article

      Five Veteran Scientists Tell Us What Most Surprised Them: Fifty years ago, who knew we’d learn to clone genes and find water on Mars?

      Sep 24, 2015

      Turn back the clock to 1965. Science appeared to be marching forward at an unrelenting pace. Biochemists had cracked the genetic code (how DNA translates into proteins), inspiring Life magazine to envision “superbabies with improved minds and bodies.

      7 min read

    • Article

      Why We Love Dinosaurs

      Dec 20, 2018

      People have always known of dinosaurs, though they have called them by many names. Old legends that place Western dragons in caves or beneath the earth may have originated with fossils. The plumed serpent, prominent in mythologies of Mexico and Latin

      8 min read

    • Article

      In Wallace’s footsteps

      Jul 2, 2020

      In Wallace’s footsteps
      9 min read

    • Article

      Wow!

      Nov 12, 2021

      Wow!
      8 min read

    • Article

      Wow

      Nov 12, 2021

      Wow
      8 min read

    • Article

      Wow!

      Nov 12, 2021

      Wow!
      8 min read

    • Article

      Wow!

      Nov 12, 2021

      Wow!
      8 min read

    • Article

      The Age of the Entangled Self

      May 27, 2022

      The Age of the Entangled Self
      3 min read

    • Article

      Extraterrestrial

      Dec 1, 2019

      Extraterrestrial
      7 min read

    • Article

      Frolicking In Fossils

      May 19, 2021

      Frolicking In Fossils
      2 min read

    • Article

      The Whale Who Will Come Soon

      Sep 8, 2021

      The beachfront narrows to an ocherous ribbon, belted by blue, above and below. After a while, a handful of shearwaters appear in the air above the Cat Balou. The birds flash around us; like knife-thrower tricks at a circus. Diving through the water,

      8 min read

    • Article

      Mammoth Task

      Dec 16, 2021

      Mammoth Task
      6 min read

    • Article

      Why Hasn’t Evolution Made Another Platypus?

      Sep 14, 2017

      Snuffling through the underbrush, the shaggy little creature wanders through the sylvan night, sticking its nose in one place, then another, seeking the aroma of its soft-bodied dinner. The forest is dark and the pixie’s eyesight poor, but long whisk

      15 min read

    • Article

      Wisdom Of The Ancients

      Oct 15, 2020

      Wisdom Of The Ancients
      5 min read

    • Article

      Tongue Stones

      May 27, 2022

      Tongue Stones
      5 min read

    • Article

      What Made Early Humans Smart

      Jun 30, 2021

      Talking to Jeremy DeSilva about human evolution was so fun. As was reading his recent book, First Steps: How Upright Walking Made Us Human. I learned something new and fascinating on every page. Do you picture our hominin ancestors as hunters? I did.

      12 min read

    • Article

      Evaporative Losses

      Sep 15, 2020

      Breath travels. Our mouths are broken-open places—a house where only wind lives, searching the cupboards and closets. I replace your missing mouths with those of jars, mines, graves. What is gathered and dissipated by mouth? Once alternately filled a

      4 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Islands in the Cosmos

    4.5/5

    2 ratings1 review

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      What does it take to become a wellspring of life? 'Islands in the Cosmos' is a superlative study of a little blue planet, the only one known to mankind. Russell is a professional paleontologist who reaches beyond his career in dinosauria to interpret much research from many branches of science. His steady hand through what could have been an overwhelming technical review yields an informative natural history of Earth. The author's clear prose not only exemplifies the march of life but also reflects how little is known from the fossil record. This is readable science at its best, a lifetime masterpiece from a humanitarian.

    Book preview

    Islands in the Cosmos - Dale A. Russell

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1