Richard C. Francis

Time to worry again—our lifestyle choices do impact our genetic code and that of our children (and even grandchildren!). "The potential is staggering. . . . The age of epigenetics has arrived."—Time, January 2010 Epigenetic means "on the gene," and the term refers to the recent discovery that stress in the environment can impact an individual's physiology so deeply that those biological scars are actually inherited by the next several generations. For instance, a recent study has shown that men who started smoking before puberty caused their sons to have significantly higher rates of obesity. And obesity is just the tip of the iceberg—many researchers believe that epigenetics holds the key to understanding cancer, Alzheimer's, schizophrenia, autism, and diabetes. Epigenetics is the first book for general readers on this fascinating and important topic. The book is driven by stories such as the Dutch famine of World War II, José Canseco and steroids, the breeding of mules and hinnies, Tazmanian devils and contagious cancer, and more.

The Ultimate Mystery of Inheritance

Epigenetics

An essential read for anyone interested in the stories of the animals in our home or on our plate. BBC Focus"

Evolution in a Man-Made World

Domesticated

Much of the evolutionary biology that has grabbed headlines in recent years has sprung from the efforts of sociobiologists and evolutionary psychologists to explain sexual features and behavior--even differences between how men and women think--as evolutionary adaptations. They have looked to the forces of natural selection to explain everything from the mimicry of male mockingbirds to female orgasms among humans. In this controversial book, Richard Francis argues that the utility of this approach is greatly exaggerated. He proposes instead a powerful alternative rooted in the latest findings in evolutionary biology as well as research on the workings of our brains, genes, and hormones. Exploring various sexual phenomena, Francis exposes fundamental defects in sociobiology and evolutionary psychology, which he traces to their misguided emphasis on "why" questions at the expense of "how" questions. Francis contends that this preoccupation with "why" questions (such as, "Why won't men ask for directions"?) results in a paranoiac mindset and distorted evolutionary explanations. His alternative framework entails a broader conception of what constitutes an evolutionary explanation, one in which both evolutionary history, as embodied in the tree of life, and developmental processes are brought to the foreground. This alternative framework is also better grounded in basic biology. Deeply learned, consistently persuasive, and always engaging, this book is a welcome antidote to simplistic sociobiological exegeses of animal and human behavior.

The Seductions of Sociobiology

Why Men Won't Ask for Directions

Much of the evolutionary biology that has grabbed headlines has sprung from the efforts of sociobiologists and evolutionary psychologists to explain sexual behavior as evolutionary adaptations. In this controversial book, Francis argues that the utility of this approach is greatly exaggerated.

Molte specie antenate degli attuali animali domestici si sono estinte. Altre, come il lupo – progenitore riconosciuto di tutti i nostri cani – vivono ancora allo stato selvatico, ma non possono certo vantare la consistenza numerica e l’onnipresenza dei loro discendenti domestici. Dal punto di vista evoluzionistico, insomma, lasciarsi addomesticare dall’uomo conviene: è una sorta di assicurazione contro l’estinzione. La domesticazione è un fenomeno evoluzionistico vistosamente accelerato, nel quale la prossimità con l’uomo agisce come un potente fattore selettivo. Con l’incremento della docilità, però, compaiono numerose alterazioni anatomiche e comportamentali, che sono in qualche modo collegate tra loro e sono comuni a tutte le specie domestiche. Gli scienziati la chiamano «sindrome da domesticazione»: una specie di «pacchetto tutto compreso», da accettare in cambio di un pasto sicuro e un rifugio all’ombra degli umani, che non riguarda solo cani e gatti, ma anche maiali, pecore, capre, bovini, cavalli, cammelli, renne e perfino i procioni, sempre più comuni nei cortili delle case degli Stati Uniti. A fronte di una variabilità morfologica strabiliante (si pensi alle enormi differenze che ci sono tra un danese e un chihuahua), gli animali domestici mostrano però un’incredibile uniformità genetica, il che apre interessanti quesiti sui meccanismi evolutivi coinvolti, che sono magistralmente esposti dall’autore di questo libro. E c’è di più: sembrerebbe che anche noi umani ci siamo «auto-addomesticati», accelerando in questo modo la nostra evoluzione e la nostra adattabilità. In questo libro Richard Francis ci accompagna con enorme competenza in un viaggio alla scoperta del mondo della domesticazione, armato delle più recenti conoscenze scientifiche, ma anche di un’insaziabile voglia di raccontare storie.

Richard C. Francis

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