Stephen R. Palumbi Norton 2001 FROM THE BOOK JACKET: Evolution is not just the slow process that ruled the rise and fall of the dinosaurs over hundreds of millions of years. It happens quickly too, so quickly and so frequently that it changes how all of us live our lives. Drugs that suddenly fail because diseases evolve, insects that overcome the most powerful pesticides, HIV we can treat only for months before it evolves resistance to the newest drugs-all of these changes happen right before our eyes, driven by the intensity of human medicine, industry, and agriculture. This fast evolution is evolution with teeth, and it impacts our society, our technology, and, very importantly, our wallets. Evolution adds approximately $30 billion a year to U.S. medical bills and makes some diseases economically incurable except in the richest countries. In addition, U.S. farmers pay an extra $2 billion annually to combat insects that have evolved to tolerate pesticides so powerful that a teaspoon would kill a person. While the ecological scars of human technology have been well publicized, the broad evolutionary consequences of antibiotic and antiviral use, insecticide applications, and herbicide bioengineering have never been explored. Does the human impact on evolution falter at the borders of our own species? Have humans stopped evolving? Do we, in fact, generate our own evolutionary pressure? The Evolution Explosion illustrates these practical aspects of modern evolution and explains in a popularly accessible way how the evolutionary engine functions. With simplicity, humor, and popular imagery, The Evolution Explosion charts answers from the critical intersection of evolution and high-tech modern life. Stephen R. Palumbi is professor of biology at Harvard University, where he teaches evolution, marine biology, and molecular ecology and conducts research on populations and molecular genetics of marine animals. CONTENTS: Acknowledgments IX Chapter 1. From the Mountains to the Sea 3 Chapter 2. Right Before Your Eyes 8 Chapter 3. The Engine of Evolution 37 Chapter 4. Temporary Miracles: The Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance 65 Chapter 5. The Evolution of HIV 95 Chapter 6. Poisoning Insects, and What They Can Do About It 131 Chapter 7. Biotechnology and the Chemical Plow 162 Chapter 8. Evolution All at Sea 184 Chapter 9. Are Humans Still Evolving? 207 Chapter 10. The Ecology and Evolution of Aloha 231 Sources and Suggested Reading 255 Index 269 WHERE TO ORDER: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. 500 Fifth Avenue New York, N.Y. 10110 Tel 212-354-5500 Fax 212-869-0856 PHONE: 1-800-233-4830. FAX: 1-800-458-6515 WEBSITE: www.wwnorton.com PRICE: 24.95 ISBN: 0-393-02011-8
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