The Accidental Species: Misunderstandings of Human Evolution (36 page)

1
I’m thinking of
Independence Day
, a popcorn movie, which I reviewed somewhat witheringly in
Nature
386 (1996): 681.

2
The first person to show me this paragraph taken out of context by creationists will be featured on my blog.

3
See for example R. L. Mancinelli et al., “Biopan-survival I: Exposure of osmophiles
Synechococcus
sp. (Nageli) and
Haloarcula
sp. to the space environment,”
Advances in Space Research
22 (1998): 327–334.

Index

Acanthostega
,
x

Acheulian (or Acheulean),
130

Adams, Ansel,
163

adapid,
ix

Aelian (Aelianus Tacticus):
Tactics
,
29

Alexander the Great,
149

algae,
44

Alvin (submersible),
2

“aquatic ape” hypothesis,
114–15
,
140

Archaeopteryx
,
53–55
,
57

Ardipithecus
(genus),
96

Ardipithecus kadabba
,
94

Ardipithecus ramidus
,
94
,
121–22

artificial selection,
21
; analogy with natural selection,
21

Atapuerca, Sierra de,
88

atlatl,
124–26

Australia, human colonization of,
3
,
5
,
78

Australopithecus
(genus),
11
,
74
,
76
,
84–85
,
88–90
,
92

Australopithecus afarensis
,
5
,
93–94
,
122

Australopithecus africanus
,
82–83
,
87
,
93
,
95

Australopithecus anamensis
,
94

Australopithecus garhi
,
134

Australopithecus robustus
. See
Paranthropus robustus

Australopithecus sediba
,
87
,
134

autism-spectrum disorders,
152
,
158–59

Bacillus cereus
,
42

bacteria: cooperation of,
44
,
46
; metabolism of,
43
; profusion of,
42–43

Bateson, William,
35
,
82

Beethoven, Ludwig van:
Pastoral
symphony,
151

Bell, William: “Born under a Bad Sign,”
194n1

Beowulf
(Old English poem),
59–61
,
65
,
71

Beowulf Effect,
61
,
71

Berreby, David:
Us and Them
,
98

biofilms,
44
,
46

bipedality,
95
,
106–7
; evolution of,
112–23
,
169–70
; in
Ardipthecus ramidus
,
121
; in
Australopithecus afarensis
,
122
; in
Oreopithecus
,
123
; and sexual selection,
117–18
,
120–21
; teleological explanations of,
113–14
,
117

birds: evolution of,
50–54
; flight and flightlessness in,
51–54
; song learning in,
147–48
,
150

Black, Davidson,
84

Borges, Jorge Luis:
Funes the Memorious
,
160–61

Bramble, Dennis,
122

Broom, Robert,
83–84
,
184n29

Brunet, Michel,
94–95

Burgess Shales,
64
,
66

Burroughs, Edgar Rice,
99

Carroll, Lewis: Humpty Dumpty’s recitation,
148
;
Through the Looking-Glass
,
20

Cartesian theater,
109
,
130
,
161–62
,
164

cave paintings,
110
,
132

childhood,
132–33
,
158

chimpanzee,
14
,
17
,
63
,
74–75
,
81
,
83
,
93
,
95
,
114
,
128

chloroplasts,
44
,
46

Chou Kou Tien.
See
Zhoukoudian

Churchill, Winston,
148

Cicero (Roman writer),
28–30
,
37

Clayton, Nicky,
135–37
,
158
,
163

Clegg, Brian,
127

clothing, evolution of,
120–21

coelacanth,
79–80

color, perception of,
163

communication.
See under
language

complexity: costs,
46
,
50
; equation with improvement,
42–43
,
47
; evolution of,
see under
evolution; measurement of,
43
,
46–47
; step changes in,
46

conodonts,
67–68

consciousness.
See
sentience

cookery, influence on human evolution of,
125
,
139
,
141–43

cormorant, Galápagos flightless,
51

Corvidae
see
crow family

creationism,
101–5

cretinism,
8–9

crow family,
135–36
,
138
,
144–45

cystic fibrosis,
44

Dart, Raymond,
82–83
,
85
,
95

Darwin, Charles,
xiii
,
12
,
14
,
27
,
30
,
32–34
,
57
,
113
;
The Descent of Man
,
81
:
The Origin of Species
,
12
,
14
,
20–21
,
30
,
33–34
,
38
,
43
,
53
,
80
; imperfection of fossil record,
14
,
40
,
57
; natural selection,
27
; “tangled bank” metaphor,
12
,
14
,
32
,
37
,
46
,
94
,
108
,
139
,
164
; visit to Galápagos Islands,
4

Darwin, Erasmus,
29–30
;
Zoonomia
,
29

Darwinism: eclipse of,
35
,
37
,
82
; social dimension of,
38

Darwinius masillae
,
ix–xi

Dawkins, Richard:
The Greatest Show On Earth
,
32

Deep Time
. See
In Search of Deep Time
(Gee)

Deinonychus
,
53–54

Denisovans,
7
,
78
,
92
,
136

Dennett, Daniel,
163
:
Consciousness Explained
,
109
,
130
,
161
,
163

Descartes, René,
161

Diamond, Jared,
116
,
126
,
147
;
The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee
,
189n16

diseases: of childhood,
26
; inherited,
26–27
; natural selection and,
27

Dmanisi,
89

DNA (deoxyribose nucleic acid),
32
,
44
,
46
,
47
,
49
,
93
; ancient,
77–78
; mitochondrial (mtDNA),
91–92
; nuclear,
91

double extinction,
70

dodo,
51

dogs,
160
,
165
; domestication of,
126–27
; social behaviour of,
150
,
155–56
,
166

Doushantuo phosphorites,
67

Dragon-Bone Cave.
See
Zhoukoudian

Dubois, Eugène,
81
,
84

Dunbar, Robin,
109
,
152
,
154
,
163
;
Grooming, Gossip and the Evolution of Language
,
152

ebu gogo
,
79

effective population size, definition of,
182n4

Eldredge, Niles,
39

elephant birds of Madagascar,
52

Elliot Smith, Grafton,
82
,
83

encephalization quotient,
138
,
143

endonuclease,
49–50

endosymbiosis,
44–45

English language, evolution of,
58–59
.
See also
Old English

Eoanthropus
.
See
Piltdown Man

EQ.
See
encephalization quotient

evolution: community of descent,
31–32
,
57
,
102
; complexity,
42–44
,
46–47
,
50
; costs and benefits,
46–47
,
50
; definitions of,
x
,
20
,
28–30
,
33
; demonstration of,
16
; “descent with modification,”
31–32
; fossils as evi
dence of,
57
; in the sense of generation,
33
,
35
; human,
11
,
13
,
40
,
55
,
73–79
,
83–84
,
91–93
; on islands,
4
,
6
,
52
; limitations of,
x
; linear view of,
9
,
11
,
46
,
76
,
104
; loss as a consequence of,
12–13
,
17
,
40
,
46
,
50
,
54–55
; perfection in,
47
; popular views of,
x–xi
,
13
,
40
; progressive,
12–14
,
17
,
37–38
,
40
,
42
,
76
,
104
,
113
,
164
; purpose,
44
; relationship with natural selection,
28
,
37
,
39
,
45
; social dimension of,
38
; transformation,
30–31
,
35
,
37
,
39
; treelike pattern of,
33–34
,
39
; trends in,
x
,
12–13

“expensive tissue hypothesis,”
140

Falk, Dean:
The Fossil Chronicles
,
174n13
,
184n24

feathers: as airfoils,
51
; in dinosaurs,
52

Fisher, Ronald A.,
116

Flores,
3–6
: fauna of,
4–5
; stone tools from,
131

Form and Function
(Russell),
35

fossilization,
11
,
15
; cases of exceptional preservation,
63–64
; processes of,
61–63
,
65
,
67
; unlikelihood of,
61–63

fossil record,
14
,
40
; completeness of,
66–70
; human,
75–76
,
93
; imperfection of,
57–58
; reliance on presence of rocks,
70

fossils: causes of,
see
fossilization; as evidence for evolutionary change,
57
,
99
; etymology,
61
; interpretation of,
56
,
100–101
,
103

FOXP2
(“language gene”),
55

free will,
162

generation, theories of,
35–36

genes,
23–24
,
49

genetics: discovery of,
23
,
34–35

Georgia, Republic of,
10–11
,
89

Gibraltar (skull),
80–81

Gibson, Harry “The Hipster,”
195n6

Gigantoraptor
,
53

gluteus maximus,
193n7

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von,
34

gossip.
See under
language

Gould, Stephen Jay,
13
,
39
,
42
,
61
,
64
;
Full House
,
42
;
Wonderful Life
,
13
,
39
,
61
,
64

grammar.
See under
language

grandmother hypothesis,
142–43

“great chain of being,”
34
,
36

Haeckel, Ernst,
14
,
36–38
; misinterpretation of natural selection,
37

hand axe,
89
,
90
,
127
,
130–31
,
133

Harvey, William:
Exercitationes de generatione animalium
,
33

heritable variation.
See under
variation

Hesperornis
,
52

Hinton, Martin,
85

HMS
Beagle
,
4

hominin, definition of,
174n7

Homo
(genus),
6
,
76–77
,
86–90
,
92
,
134
; coexistence with
Australopithecus
,
7
,
76
; coexistence with Neanderthals,
7

Homo antecessor
,
89

Homo erectus
,
7
,
76–77
,
84
,
87–90
,
122
,
130–32
,
139–40
; association with hand axe,
130–31
,
133
,
149
; comparison with
Homo floresiensis
,
10
; development of,
132
; evolution and spread of,
11
,
89–90
; origins and definitions of,
87
; presence on Flores,
3–4
,
6
; presence in Georgia,
10–11
,
90
; size trends,
10