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All organisms living on Earth, however different, share hundreds of complex traits inherited from a common ancestor. The grand unification of biological sciences performed by the molecular revolution in the last decades has crystallized this notion, pointing to life as a unitary phenomenon. Quite paradoxically, in the same time interval, the level of specialization of biological sciences has risen to the point where researchers working in different areas have few occasions for cultural interaction and, sadly, know little biology outside their own field. This is a particularly serious problem for human biology, which has primarily become a domain of medicine, while biological anthropology has disappeared from Departments of Anthropology at many universities.
The main goal of this book is to guide the reader toward an understanding of the continuity of life across diversity and of its deep links with Earth. The route chosen is an analysis of ten fundamental transitions from the very beginning to the present, each pivotal to further change.
Introduction
The Origins
The Birth of Life
Moving to the Light: The Evolution of Photosynthesis
The Great Oxygenation Event
Eukaryotes
Sexual Reproduction
Multicellularity
The Chloroplast and Photosynthetic Eukaryotes
The Animals
Land Plants
The Emergence of Humanity
Synopsis