Saturday, February 25, 2006
Today's two posts to the Main Blog
The first, Classic Papers on Human Origins from Nature Magazine contains one or two introductory sentences on each of ten articles spanning the years from 1925 to 1994. The authors include Louis Leakey, Richard Leakey, Johanson, and Dart.
The second and more relevant entry is Symmetry Breaking and the Evolution of Development by A Richard Palmer.
For anyone interested, another item by Palmer - entitled Antisymmetry - is also available on the internet and begins:
"The notion of antisymmetry likely strikes most people as bizarre. How can any variation exist that is "anti-" something else? To dismiss antisymmetry as mere intellectual catnip of academic snoots would seem easy. To dismiss it too hastily would be a big mistake.
Antisymmetry is a peculiar kind of variation whose evolutionary significance is surprisingly unappreciated, no doubt in part because the term seems odd and foreboding. However, the phenomenon, with its particularly apt moniker, is actually widespread and offers the promise of valuable insights into a century-old debate about the interplay between development and evolution."
Interesting stuff!
John Latter
Books on Symmetry from the Science and Evolution Bookshop: UK | US
technorati tags: human+origins, nature, leakey, symmetry, antisymmetry, evolution
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