Unnatural Selection
How We Are Changing Life, Gene by Gene
Seiten
2016
Island Press (Verlag)
978-1-61091-499-4 (ISBN)
Island Press (Verlag)
978-1-61091-499-4 (ISBN)
In a narrative style, Emily Monosson explains how humans are driving rapid contemporary evolution through the use of toxic chemicals and what we can do about it. Gonorrhoea. Bed bugs. Weeds. Salamanders. Polar Bears. People. All are evolving, some surprisingly rapidly, in response to our chemical age. In Unnatural Selection, Emily Monosson shows how our drugs, pesticides, and In a narrative style, Emily Monosson explains how humans are driving rapid contemporary evolution through the use of toxic chemicals and what we can do about it. Gonorrhoea. Bed bugs. Weeds. Salamanders. Polar Bears. People. All are evolving, some surprisingly rapidly, in response to our chemical age. In Unnatural Selection, Emily Monosson shows how our drugs, pesticides, and pollution are exerting intense selection pressure on all manner of species. And we humans might not like the result. Monosson reveals that the very code of life is more fluid than once imagined. When our powerful chemicals put the pressure on to evolve or die, beneficial traits can sweep rapidly through a population.
Species with explosive population growth, the insects, bacteria and weeds, tend to thrive, while bigger, slower-to- reproduce creatures, like ourselves, are more likely to succumb. Unnatural Selection is eye-opening and more than a little disquieting. But it also suggests how we might lesson our impact: manage pests without creating super bugs; protect individuals from disease without inviting epidemics; and benefit from technology without threatening the health of our children.
Species with explosive population growth, the insects, bacteria and weeds, tend to thrive, while bigger, slower-to- reproduce creatures, like ourselves, are more likely to succumb. Unnatural Selection is eye-opening and more than a little disquieting. But it also suggests how we might lesson our impact: manage pests without creating super bugs; protect individuals from disease without inviting epidemics; and benefit from technology without threatening the health of our children.
Emily Monosson is an independent biochemical toxicologist, writer, consultant, and college instructor. She is an adjunct Professor at University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and teaches as a visiting faculty at Mount Holyoke College. She is the author of Evolution in a Toxic World and editor of Motherhood, the Elephant in the Laboratory (Cornell, 2008).
Erscheinungsdatum | 11.05.2016 |
---|---|
Verlagsort | Washington |
Sprache | englisch |
Maße | 153 x 229 mm |
Themenwelt | Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Evolution |
Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Genetik / Molekularbiologie | |
Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Ökologie / Naturschutz | |
Technik ► Umwelttechnik / Biotechnologie | |
ISBN-10 | 1-61091-499-6 / 1610914996 |
ISBN-13 | 978-1-61091-499-4 / 9781610914994 |
Zustand | Neuware |
Haben Sie eine Frage zum Produkt? |
Mehr entdecken
aus dem Bereich
aus dem Bereich
Wie die Vernichtung der Arten unser Überleben bedroht - Der …
Buch | Softcover (2023)
Penguin (Verlag)
15,00 €