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Did you know that two of every three people reading this book will die for reasons connected with the genes they carry? That our DNA gradually changes with age, which is why older parents are more likely to give birth to children with genetic defects than younger parents? That each individual is a kind of living fossil, carrying within a genetic record that goes back to the beginnings of humanity? In The Language of Genes, renowned geneticist Steve Jones explores the meanings and explodes the myths of human genetics, offering up an extraordinary picture of what we are, what we were, and what we may become. “An essential book for anyone interested in the development and possible future of our species.”—Kirkus Reviews “This is one of the most insightful books on genetics to date and certainly the most entertaining.”—The Wall Street Journal
Commissioned by the BBC to deliver the Reith Lectures in 1991, Steve Jones has used them as the basis for this book which argues that the evolution of our genes may be compared to the evolution of language. This book shows readers how close we are to success in the search for our origins.
A unique overview of the human language faculty at all levels of organization. Language is not only one of the most complex cognitive functions that we command, it is also the aspect of the mind that makes us uniquely human. Research suggests that the human brain exhibits a language readiness not found in the brains of other species. This volume brings together contributions from a range of fields to examine humans' language capacity from multiple perspectives, analyzing it at genetic, neurobiological, psychological, and linguistic levels. In recent decades, advances in computational modeling, neuroimaging, and genetic sequencing have made possible new approaches to the study of language, and the contributors draw on these developments. The book examines cognitive architectures, investigating the functional organization of the major language skills; learning and development trajectories, summarizing the current understanding of the steps and neurocognitive mechanisms in language processing; evolutionary and other preconditions for communication by means of natural language; computational tools for modeling language; cognitive neuroscientific methods that allow observations of the human brain in action, including fMRI, EEG/MEG, and others; the neural infrastructure of language capacity; the genome's role in building and maintaining the language-ready brain; and insights from studying such language-relevant behaviors in nonhuman animals as birdsong and primate vocalization. Section editors Christian F. Beckmann, Carel ten Cate, Simon E. Fisher, Peter Hagoort, Evan Kidd, Stephen C. Levinson, James M. McQueen, Antje S. Meyer, David Poeppel, Caroline F. Rowland, Constance Scharff, Ivan Toni, Willem Zuidema
Did you know that two of every three people reading this book will die for reasons connected with the genes they carry? That our DNA gradually changes with age, which is why older parents are more likely to give birth to children with genetic defects than younger parents? That each individual is a kind of living fossil, carrying within a genetic record that goes back to the beginnings of humanity? In The Language of Genes, renowned geneticist Steve Jones explores the meanings and explodes the myths of human genetics, offering up an extraordinary picture of what we are, what we were, and what we may become. “An essential book for anyone interested in the development and possible future of our species.”—Kirkus Reviews “This is one of the most insightful books on genetics to date and certainly the most entertaining.”—The Wall Street Journal
The Book of Genes & Genomes presents a concise overview of the advances in genetics and genomics and provide the unfamiliar reader with a succinct description of many of the applications and implications of this field. Given the substantial investment in genetics and genomics over the past several decades and the many recent discoveries and developments, this book will help the reader begin to understand the importance of genetics and genomics to us all. This exciting new title includes information on how genetics and genomics has advanced our understanding of health and medicine, evolution, and biology, as well as how they are pushing the boundaries of ethics and social values.
Mankind is the only speaking species on earth. Hence language is supposed to have a genetic basis, no matter whether it relies on general intelligence, or on a linguistic module. This study proposes that universal formal properties of the linguistic code emerged from the genetic code through duplication. The proportion of segmental duplication is clearly higher in the human genome than in any other species, and duplication took place 6 million years ago when humans separated from the other hominid branches. The evolution of language is therefore supposed to be a gradual process with a break. This book describes a lot of striking formal resemblances the genetic code and the linguistic code hold in common. The book aims to reconcile generative grammar with cognitive semiotics showing that both of them constitute instances of embodiment.
The Gene Book: Explorations in the Code of Life is designed to introduce undergraduate college students to foundational concepts in genetics. The text provides in-depth coverage of the essential principles of genetics, from Mendel to molecular gene therapy, and reads like a story, guiding readers through each of these areas in an interesting, engaging, and enlightening way. Milestone scientific discoveries introduce conceptual topics in each of the 10 chapters. The significance of each genetics paradigm is reinforced by the meaningful research context in which it is placed, whether the focus is single gene inheritance of disorders such as PKU and cystic fibrosis, or more complex genetic phenomena. Chromosomes, cell division, and cytogenetic disorders, including Down Syndrome and leukemia, are presented in a riveting historical context. In addition, the principles of molecular genetics are a major focus of this book. Students learn about the double helix, DNA replication, gene expression, mutation, natural selection, genomics, and the tools of molecular DNA analysis. Approachable and effective, The Gene Book is a highly readable comprehensive text on genetics principles designed to highlight essential concepts that make up their very core. The text is well suited to undergraduate genetics courses and can also be used as a primer for more advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in medical or molecular genetics.
Very little excites human curiosity quite so much as contemplating human origins. More than any other branch of science, evolution - and human evolution in particular - is fraught with controversy. Working from what is essentially the same data, schools of opinion have come to diametrically opposed conclusions. Are we adapted Neanderthals, or a new species altogether which wiped them out? Did the first Americans enter the continent 30,000 or 12,000 years ago? Did the Polynesians sail against wind and current to an unknown fate, or were they just blown across from South America while out fishing? Why do we speak different languages? Is it because language traces our biological history, or are the two things completely unrelated? Evolution, because it deals with a past that can never conclusively be known, was once ideal material for perpetual debate. Enter genetics with a completely new source of objective data. Surely these old questions would soon be settled one way or another. Or would they? Bryan Sykes brings together a world-class set of contributors to debate these questions. The result is eight lively essays, each of which offers a different opinion about what the links between genes, language, and the archaeological record can tell us about human evolution - and indeed, whether they can tell us anything conclusive at all. This stimulating and challenging book poses more questions than it offers answers, eschews jargon, and pursues controversy. Guaranteed to fascinate anyone who has ever wondered how the fossil record, the incredible diversity of human language, and our genetic inheritance might combine to give a glimpse of human origins. Edited by Bryan Sykes, Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford. Publisher's note.
This study is an attempt to bring genetics and evolution more into the public domain. It looks at genetic engineering and the social issues it raises, as well as considerations of cultural, demographic and linguistic history.