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
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Page 14
... field of scientific enquiry, when there is no unifying theory with which to analyse the data accumulated. There was only one problem with the growing mass of data on human morphological variation — there was no simple correspondence ...
... field of scientific enquiry, when there is no unifying theory with which to analyse the data accumulated. There was only one problem with the growing mass of data on human morphological variation — there was no simple correspondence ...
Page 19
... way genes behave in populations, didn't really say much about the details of human evolution and migration. Enter an Italian physician with a historical bent and a talent for mathematics, who came to the field E pluribus unum r9.
... way genes behave in populations, didn't really say much about the details of human evolution and migration. Enter an Italian physician with a historical bent and a talent for mathematics, who came to the field E pluribus unum r9.
Page 20
... field influenced by a new way of thinking about bacteria and flies. The Italian job Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza had started his career in Pavia as a medical student. He soon left medicine to devote himself to genetics research, first on ...
... field influenced by a new way of thinking about bacteria and flies. The Italian job Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza had started his career in Pavia as a medical student. He soon left medicine to devote himself to genetics research, first on ...
Page 21
... field out of the 'mutant' morass. Kimura noticed that genetic polymorphisms in populations can vary in frequency owing to random sampling errors — the 'drift' mentioned above. What was exciting in his results was that drift seemed to ...
... field out of the 'mutant' morass. Kimura noticed that genetic polymorphisms in populations can vary in frequency owing to random sampling errors — the 'drift' mentioned above. What was exciting in his results was that drift seemed to ...
Page 22
... field needed to make a quick detour through the Middle Ages. 'Ock the Knife' William of Ockham (c.1 2.8 5-1 349) was a medieval scholar who must have been a nightmare to be around. Ockham believed literally in Aristotle's statement that ...
... field needed to make a quick detour through the Middle Ages. 'Ock the Knife' William of Ockham (c.1 2.8 5-1 349) was a medieval scholar who must have been a nightmare to be around. Ockham believed literally in Aristotle's statement that ...
Contents
1 | |
4Coasting Away | 61 |
Leaps and Bounds 8 | 81 |
Blood from a Stone 8The Importance of Culture 6 | 184 |
Acknowledgements | 197 |
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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