Waubonsee Community College

Freaks of nature, what anomalies tell us about development and evolution, Mark S. Blumberg

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 283-307) and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Freaks of nature

bibliography

213449626

Mark S. Blumberg

"In Freaks of Nature, Mark Blumberg turns a scientist's eye on the oddities of nature, showing how a subject once relegated to the sideshow can help explain some of the deepest complexities of biology. Why, for example, does a two-headed human so resemble a two-headed minnow? What we need to understand, Blumberg argues, is that anomalies are the natural products of development, and it is through developmental mechanisms that evolution works. Freaks of Nature induces a kind of intellectual vertigo as it upends our intuitive understanding of biology. What really is an anomaly? Why is a limbless human a "freak," but a limbless reptile - a snake - a successful variation?" "What we see as deformities, Blumberg writes, are merely alternative paths for development, which challenge both the creature itself and our ability to fit it into our familiar categories. Rather than mere dead ends, many anomalies prove surprisingly survivable - as in the case of the goat without forelimbs that learned to walk upright. Blumberg explains how such variations occur, and points to them as examples of the extraordinary flexibility inherent in individual development."--Jacket

what anomalies tell us about development and evolution

A parliament of monsters : On the breadth and scope of developmental anomalies -- Arresting features : Development is all about time -- Do the locomotion : How we learn to move our bodies -- Life and limb : How limbs are made, lost, replaced, and transformed -- Anything goes : When it comes to sex, expect ambiguity -- Monstrous behavior : We still have much to learn from the odd and unusual