Children Of Prometheus

Christopher Wills is Professor of Biology at the University of California at San Diego. His books include Yellow Fever, Black Goddess and Children of Prometheus. Jeffrey Bada is Professor of Marine Chemistry and Director of the NASA Specialized centre of Research and Training in Exobiology at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California.

• * Introduction The Many Faces Of Natural Selection * Authorities Disagree * Natural Selection Can Be Subtle * Living at the Edge of Space * Besieged by Invisible Armies * Perils of the Civil Service * Farewell to the Master Race Our Stormy Evolutionary History * The Road We Did Not Take * Why Are We Such Evolutionary Speed Demons? * Bottlenecks and Selective Sweeps * Sticking Out Like Cyranos Nose Selection For Diversity * Going to Extremes * How Brain Function Evolves * The Final Objection * Our Evolutionary Future