The Joy of Science (eBook)

An Examination of How Scientists Ask and Answer Questions Using the Story of Evolution as a Paradigm

Richard A. Lockshin (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2007 | 2007
XI, 440 Seiten
Springer Netherland (Verlag)
978-1-4020-6099-1 (ISBN)

Infos

This book reveals that scientific logic is an extension of common, everyday logic and that it can and should be understood by everyone. It explores why questions arise in science and looks at how questions are tackled, what constitutes a valid answer, and why.

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Scientists have great passion. What could be more exhilarating than to go to work every day feeling as if you were once again a nine-year-old called up to he stage to help the magician with his trick? To be a researcher is to always be in the position of having the chance to see how the trick works. No wonder that many researchers feel that each new day is the most exciting day to be a scientist. It therefore is not surprising that scientists have such trouble communicating with non-scientists. It is difficult for the scientist to understand a life not focused on the desire to understand. But the differences are not that. Everyone wants to understand; that is one of the factors that make us human. The difference is more that scientists limit their definition of comprehension to specific rules of logic and evidence. These rules apply and are used in everyday life, but often with less rigor or restrictions on evidence.

Inhalt

PART 1: HOW SCIENCE WORKS
Chapter 1: Science is an ELF
PART II: ORIGIN OF THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION: TIME AND CHANGE
Chapter 2: The origin of the earth as seen before the Enlightenment
Chapter 3: The seashells on the mountaintop
Chapter 4: Were there kangaroos on Noah’s Ark?
Chapter 5: Aristotle’s and Linnaeus’ classifications of living creatures
Chapter 6: Darwin’s world. Evidences of glaciation
Chapter 7: The Voyage of the Beagle
Chapter 8: Is the earth old enough for evolution?
PART III: ORIGIN OF THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION: SOCIAL ASPECTS
Chapter 9: Evaluating data
Chapter 10: The Industrial Revolution
Chapter 11: Natural selection: The second half of Darwin’s hypothesis
Chapter 12: Darwin’s Hypothesis
Chapter 13: The crisis in evolution
PART IV: THE MOLECULAR BASIS OF EVOLUTIONARY THEORY
Chapter 14: The chemical basis of evolution and the origins of molecular biology
Chapter 15: The stuff of inheritance: DNA, RNA, and mutations
Chapter 16: The genetic code
PART V: THE HISTORY OF THE EARTH AND THE ORIGIN OF LIFE
Chapter 17: The story of our planet origin of life
Chapter 18: The appearance of oxygen
Chapter 19: The conquest of land
Chapter 20: The great ages of our planet
Chapter 21: Return to water and to land
Chapter 22: The forces of evolution: continental drift
Chapter 23: The violence of the earth: rainshadows, volcanism, and meteorites
PART VI: THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES
Chapter 24: Competition among species
Chapter 25: Sexual selection
Chapter 26: Coevolution
Chapter 27: The importance of disease
Chapter 28: The AIDS murder mystery
PART VII: THE EVOLUTION OF HUMANS
Chapter 29: Evolution of humans
Chapter 30: Science and religion
Chapter 31: The impact of evolutionarytheory
Chapter 32: Social policy and evolution; evaluating population measurements
Chapter 33: Conclusions

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 5.11.2007
• Verlagsort: Dordrecht
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Studium ► 1. Studienabschnitt (Vorklinik) ► Biochemie / Molekularbiologie
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Evolution
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Genetik / Molekularbiologie
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Mikrobiologie / Immunologie
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Ökologie / Naturschutz
• Schlagworte: Biology • Charles Darwin • Coevolution • Darwin • DNA • Evolution • Molecular Biology • the origin • Theory of Evolution
• ISBN-10: 1-4020-6099-8 / 1402060998
• ISBN-13: 978-1-4020-6099-1 / 9781402060991