Rezension
"There is an interesting blend in the contents and goals of the different chapters. Chapters 3-8 are consecutive to one another in their content, and offer a superb synopsis of the main events that punctuated the evolutionary history of chordates. This storytelling section of the book features a comprehensive review of current research on hemichordates that outlines their relationship with chordates; a firsthand account of how amphioxus was literally dug out of the mud and catapulted to the center stage of research on chordate origins; the fascinating tale of a group of ascidians that lost their tail; an exquisite description of neural crest cells, as they travel across the body during chordate development and travel back in evolutionary time to their distant origins in nonchordate bilaterians; and exceptionally well>crafted reports of the theories and recent views on the origins and evolution of jaws, cranium, and face, the milestones leading to the vertebrate head.
In summary, this volume equips its readers, both newcomers and experts, with an essential vade mecum of key concepts in evolutionary biology, and with a detailed history of chordate innovations and their origins." --The Quarterly Review of Biology
Portrait
Scott F. Gilbert is the Howard A. Schneiderman Professor of Biology (emeritus) at Swarthmore College, where he has taught developmental genetics, embryology, and the history and critiques of biology. He is also a Finland Distinguished Professor (emeritus) at the University of Helsinki. He received his B.A. in both biology and religion from Wesleyan University (1971), and he earned his PhD in biology from the Johns Hopkins University (1976). His M.A. in the history of science, is also from The Johns Hopkins University. He pursued postdoctoral research at the University of Wisconsin in both molecular biology and developmental immunology. Scott is married to Anne M. Raunio, an obstetrician-gynecologist, and they have three children.
Scott's biological research has two foci. The first concerns how changes in developmental mechanisms can generate evolutionary novelty. Studying "the arrival of the fittest, he literally investigates how the turtle gets its shell. The second focus concerns the integration of symbionts into a holobiont, and how the symbiotic microbes and host cells facilitate and scaffold each other's development, truly "becoming with the other. Scott has received several awards for his work in evolutionary developmental biology, including the Medal of François I from the Collège de France, the Kowalevsky Prize in Evolutionary Developmental Biology, the Viktor Hamburger Award for developmental biology education, and the Service Award from the Pan-American Society for Evolutionary Developmental Biology. He has been awarded honorary degrees from the University of Helsinki and the University of Tartu.
Scott currently has three co-authored books in print: (1) Developmental Biology, now in its twelfth edition) which is one of the most widely used textbook in the field; (2) Ecological Developmental Biology, which is attempting to help construct a new area of biological science by bringing together aspects of embryology, medical physiology, ecology, and evolution; and (3) Fear, Wonder, and Science in the Age of Reproductive Biotechnology, a science trade-book concerning both the scientific and emotional aspects of reproductive biotechnology.
