Our place in nature - Where do we Come From?
The molecular evidence for human descent explained
in a new book
Three questions have occupied the human mind since the time it first began to
contemplate the world: Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?
Artists (notably Paul Gauguin), religious thinkers, philosophers, and most
recently scientists have all searched for answers. In the new book Where Do We
Come From?, Jan Klein and Naoyuki Takahata describe how scientists decipher
human origin from the record encrypted in the DNA and protein molecules.
There are many popular books on the origin of the human species. The majority
are focused on the testimony provided by old bones, while molecular evidence is
merely skimmed over. Here it is just the reverse: although the archeological and
palaeontological evidence is summarized, its marrow is the information provided
by molecules, first and foremost nucleic acids. After explaining the nature of
descent and the methods of studying genealogical relationships, the authors
summarize what the molecular archives reveal about the Tree of Life and our
position on it.
Dr. Jan Klein is professor and a director at the Max Planck Institute for
Biology, Department of Immunogenetics, in Tübingen, Germany. Dr. Naoyuki
Takahata is professor at the Graduate University for Advanced Studies,
Department of Biosystems Science at Hayama, Kanagawa, Japan.
Jan Klein, Naoyuki Takahata Where Do We Come From? 2002. Hardcover, 462 pp.
124 figs. Euro 44.95; £31.50; $49.95; sFr 74,50 ISBN 3-540-42564-0
Contact: Joan Robinson Tel.
+49-6221-4878130 or FAX +49-6221-4878141 (in Germany), or e-mail: robinson@springer.de
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