The Journey of Man: A Genetic OdysseyRandom House Publishing Group, 2012 M10 31 - 240 pages Around 60,000 years ago, a man—genetically identical to us—lived in Africa. Every person alive today is descended from him. How did this real-life Adam wind up as the father of us all? What happened to the descendants of other men who lived at the same time? And why, if modern humans share a single prehistoric ancestor, do we come in so many sizes, shapes, and races? Examining the hidden secrets of human evolution in our genetic code, Spencer Wells reveals how developments in the revolutionary science of population genetics have made it possible to create a family tree for the whole of humanity. Replete with marvelous anecdotes and remarkable information, from the truth about the real Adam and Eve to the way differing racial types emerged, The Journey of Man is an enthralling, epic tour through the history and development of early humankind. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 32
Page 15
... polymorphisms was that they were simply too rare to be of any use in classification. Common, genetically simple polymorphisms were critical. These arrived in 1901, when Karl Landsteiner noticed an interesting reaction upon mixing the ...
... polymorphisms was that they were simply too rare to be of any use in classification. Common, genetically simple polymorphisms were critical. These arrived in 1901, when Karl Landsteiner noticed an interesting reaction upon mixing the ...
Page 16
... polymorphisms. In 1954 Mourant drew together the rapidly expanding body of blood group data in the first comprehensive summary of human biochemical diversity, The Distribution of the Human Blood Groups — a seminal work that became the ...
... polymorphisms. In 1954 Mourant drew together the rapidly expanding body of blood group data in the first comprehensive summary of human biochemical diversity, The Distribution of the Human Blood Groups — a seminal work that became the ...
Page 18
... polymorphism would not exist. By mutation I mean a random change in a DNA sequence - these occur at a rate of around ... polymorphisms. The second force is known as selection, in particular natural selection. This is the force that ...
... polymorphism would not exist. By mutation I mean a random change in a DNA sequence - these occur at a rate of around ... polymorphisms. The second force is known as selection, in particular natural selection. This is the force that ...
Page 20
... polymorphisms — later termed 'classical' polymorphisms by geneticists — in an effort to assess the relationships among modern humans. This work was begun in the 1950s, a heady time for the field of genetics. The structure of DNA had ...
... polymorphisms — later termed 'classical' polymorphisms by geneticists — in an effort to assess the relationships among modern humans. This work was begun in the 1950s, a heady time for the field of genetics. The structure of DNA had ...
Page 21
... polymorphisms needed a coherent theoretical framework to make it understandable. And statistics was about to ride to the rescue. Imagine a group of anything that exhibits variation — the different colours of stones in a streambed, snail ...
... polymorphisms needed a coherent theoretical framework to make it understandable. And statistics was about to ride to the rescue. Imagine a group of anything that exhibits variation — the different colours of stones in a streambed, snail ...
Contents
1 | |
4Coasting Away | 61 |
Leaps and Bounds 8 | 81 |
Blood from a Stone 8The Importance of Culture 6 | 184 |
Acknowledgements | 197 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
actually Adam Africa agriculture analysis ancient animals anthropologists apes appear archaeological Asian Australia Cavalli-Sforza cent central Asia China chromosomes clan classification climate coastal colleagues common ancestor continent culture Darwin defined descendants developed difficult earliest early human east Asia Eurasian Europe Europeans evidence evolution evolutionary expansion favour field find first frequency genes genetic data genetic diversity genetic variation geneticists genome hominid Homo erectus human genetic human migration human populations hunter-gatherers hunting ice age impala India Indo-European Indo-European languages infer ingredients journey known languages leap lifestyle linguistic living marker Middle East Middle Eastern migration mitochondrial DNA modern humans molecules mtDNA mutations Native Americans Neanderthals Neolithic northern nucleotide origin past perhaps polymorphisms population genetics recent region route sample scientific Siberia significant simply soup recipes south-east Asia southern species spoken spread steppe suggests thousands trace unique Upper Palaeolithic western Y-chromosome lineages