Gene -- Genes are the units of heredity in living organisms. They are encoded in the organism's genetic material (usually DNA or RNA), and control the physical development and behavior of the organism. ... > full article

Crust (geology) -- In geology, a crust is the outer layer of a planet, part of its lithosphere. Planetary crusts are generally composed of a less dense material than that of its deeper layers. The crust of the Earth is ... > full article

Genetic drift -- Genetic drift is the term used in population genetics to refer to the statistical drift over time of gene frequencies in a population due to random sampling effects in the formation of successive ... > full article

Microorganism -- A microorganism or microbe is an organism that is so small that it is microscopic (invisible to the naked eye). Microorganisms are often illustrated using single-celled, or unicellular organisms; ... > full article

Prokaryote -- Prokaryotes are organisms without a cell nucleus, or indeed any other membrane-bound organelles, in most cases unicellular (in rare cases, multicellular). This set of characteristics is distinct from ... > full article

Natural selection -- Natural selection is the phrase Charles Darwin used in 1859 for the process he proposed to explain the origin of species and their apparent adaptation to their environment. Along with the rules of ... > full article

Methane -- The simplest hydrocarbon, methane, is a gas with a chemical formula of CH4.A principal component of natural gas, methane is a significant ... > full article

Evolution -- In biology, evolution is the process by which populations of organisms acquire and pass on novel traits from generation to generation. The modern understanding of evolution is based on the theory of ... > full article

Timeline of human evolution -- The timeline of human evolution outlines the major events in the development of our species and the evolution of our ... > full article

Fossil -- Fossils are the mineralized or otherwise preserved remains or traces (such as footprints) of animals, plants, and other organisms. The totality of fossils and their placement in fossiliferous ... > full article

Modern Cosmology
Modern Cosmology begins with an introduction to the smooth, homogeneous universe described by a Friedman-Robertson-Walker metric, including careful treatments of dark energy, big bang ... > read more

Myths of the Archaic State : Evolution of the Earliest Cities, States, and Civilizations
Classical archaeology promotes the view that a state's evolution reflects general, universal forces. Norman Yoffee challenges the model in this book by presenting more complex and multi-linear models ... > read more

Gen-e-sis: The Scientific Quest for Life's Origins
Life on Earth arose nearly 4 billion years ago, bursting forth from air, water, and rock. Though the process obeyed all the rules of chemistry and physics, the details of that original event pose as ... > read more

Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life
One of the best descriptions of the nature and implications of Darwinian evolution ever written, it is firmly based in biological information and appropriately extrapolated to possible applications ... > read more

Evolution in Four Dimensions : Genetic, Epigenetic, Behavioral, and Symbolic Variation in the History of Life (Life and Mind: Philosophical Issues in Biology and Psychology)
Ideas about heredity and evolution are undergoing a revolutionary change. New findings in molecular biology challenge the gene-centered version of Darwinian theory according to which adaptation ... > read more

Biology : The Unity and Diversity of Life (with CD-ROM and InfoTrac)
Cecie Starr and Ralph Taggart are among the most successful authors in introductory, biological science instruction because of their lively approach, engaging writing style, current coverage of the ... > read more

Earth: Portrait of a Planet
This survey is the first to weave together the three major intellectual revolutions in the Earth Sciences that have occurred in the last forty years--the theory of plate tectonics, the ... > read more

Biological Science (2nd Edition)
Infused with the spirit of inquiry, Freeman's Biological Science helps teach readers the fundamentals while introducing them to the excitement that drives the science. By presenting unifying concepts ... > read more

The Third Chimpanzee : The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal
Jared Diamond states the theme of his book up-front: "How the human species changed, within a short time, from just another species of big mammal to a world conqueror; and how we acquired the ... > read more

Genes VIII
Genes VIII changed the approach to begin with the sequence of the human and other genomes and starts with complete coverage of recent advances in genomics. The coverage of genomics is then ... > read more