Life''s Solution builds a persuasive case for the predictability
of evolutionary outcomes. The case rests on a remarkable
compilation of examples of convergent evolution, in which two or
more lineages have independently evolved similar structures and
functions. The examples range from the aerodynamics of hovering
moths and hummingbirds to the use of silk by spiders and some
insects to capture prey. Going against the grain of Darwinian
orthodoxy, this book is a must read for anyone grappling with the
meaning of evolution and our place in the Universe. Simon Conway
Morris is the Ad Hominen Professor in the Earth Science Department
at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of St. John''s College
and the Royal Society. His research focuses on the study of
constraints on evolution, and the historical processes that lead to
the emergence of complexity, especially with respect to the
construction of the major animal body parts in the Cambrian
explosion. Previous books include The Crucible of Creation Getty
Center for Education in the Arts, 1999 and co-author of Solnhofen
Cambridge, 1990. Hb ISBN 2003 0-521-82704-3
目錄：
Preface. The Cambridge sandwich page xi
Acknowledgements xvii
List of abbreviations xix
1. Looking for Easter Island
Inherency: where is the ground plan in evolution?
The navigation of protein hyperspace
The game of life
Eerie perfection
Finding Easter Island
2. Can we break the great code?
The ground floor
DNA: the strangest of all molecules?
3. Universal goo: life as a cosmic principle?
A Martini the size of the Pacific
Goo from the sky
Back to deep space
A life-saving rain?
4. The origin of life: straining the soup or our
credulity?
Finding its path
Problems with experiments
On the flat
Back to the test tube
A sceptic’s charter
5. Uniquely lucky? The strangeness of Earth
The shattered orb
Battering the Earth
The Mars express
Making the Solar System
Rare Moon
Just the right size
Jupiter and the comets
Just the right place
A cosmic fluke?
6. Converging on the extreme
Universal chlorophyll?
The wheels of life?
Fortean bladders
A silken convergence
Matrices and skeletons
Play it again!
Attacking convergence
Convergence: on the ground, above the ground, under the
ground
7. Seeing convergence
A balancing act
Returning the gaze
Eyes of an alien?
Clarity and colour vision
Universal rhodopsin?
Smelling convergence
The echo of convergence
Shocking convergence
Hearing convergence
Thinking convergence?
8. Alien convergences?
Down in the farm
Military convergence
Convergent complexities
Hearts and minds
Honorary mammals
Giving birth to convergence
Warming to convergence, singing of convergence, chewing
convergence
9. The non-prevalence of humanoids?
Interstellar nervous systems?
The conceptualizing pancake
The bricks and mortar of life
Genes and networks
Jack, the railway baboon
Giant brains
Grasping convergence
Converging on the humanoid
Converging on the ultimate
10. Evolution bound: the ubiquity of convergence
Ubiquitous convergence
Respiratory convergence
Freezing convergence, photosynthetic convergence
The molecules converge
Convergence and evolution
Converging trends
A possible research programme
11. Towards a theology of evolution
An evolutionary embedment
Darwin’s priesthood
Heresy! Heresy!!
Genetic fundamentalism
A path to recovery?
Converging on convergence
12. Last word
Notes
Index
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