Where Do We Come From?

Description

Publisher description: From the moment it first began to contemplate the world, three questions have occupied the human mind: 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. Here, the authors describe how scientists decipher human origin from the record encrypted in the DNA and protein molecules. After explaining the nature of descent and the methods available for studying genealogical relationships, they summarize the information revealed by the molecular archives about the Tree of Life and our location on one of its branches. The knowledge thus gleaned allows them to draw conclusions about our identity, our place in the living world, our future, and the ethical implications of the changed perspective.

First Sentence

The present life of men on earth, O king, as compared with the whole length of time which is unknowable to us, seems to me to be like this: as if, when you are sitting at dinner with your chiefs and ministers in wintertime,... one of the sparrows from outside flew very quickly through the hall; as if it came in one door and soon went out through another.

Subjects

Other Editions

• Where Do We Come From?: The Molecular Evidence for Human DescentHardcoverSpringer2002-01-10
• Where Do We Come From?Springer Berlin / Heidelberg2011-01-01
• Where Do We Come From?Springer London, Limited2013-01-01