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A novel, interdisciplinary exploration of the relative contributions of rigidity and flexibility in the adoption, maintenance, and evolution of technical…
traditions.Techniques can either be used in rigid, stereotypical ways or in flexibly adaptive ways, or in some combination of the two. The Evolution of Techniques, edited by Mathieu Charbonneau, addresses the impacts of both flexibility and rigidity on how techniques are used, transformed, and reconstructed, at varying social and temporal scales. The multidisciplinary contributors demonstrate the important role of the varied learning contexts and social configurations involved in the transmission, use, and evolution of techniques. They explore the diversity of cognitive, behavioral, sociocultural, and ecological mechanisms that promote and constrain technical flexibility and rigidity, proposing a deeper picture of the enablers of, and obstacles to, technical transmission and change.In line with the extended evolutionary synthesis, the book proposes a more inclusive and materially grounded conception of technical evolution in terms of promiscuous, dynamic, and multidirectional causal processes. Offering new evidence and novel theoretical perspectives, the contributors deploy a diversity of methods, including ethnographies, field and laboratory experiments, cladistics and phylogenetic tree building, historiography, and philosophical analysis. Examples of the wide range of topics covered include field experiments with potters from five cultures, stability and change in Paleolithic toolmaking, why children lack flexibility when making tools, and cultural techniques in nonhuman animals.The volume&’s three thematic sections are:· Timescales of technical rigidity and flexibility· Rigid copying to flexible reconstruction· Exogenous factors of technical rigidity and flexibilityThe volume closes with a discussion by philosopher Kim Sterelny.ContributorsRita Astuti, Adam Howell Boyette, Blandine Bril, Josep Call, Mathieu Charbonneau, Arianna Curioni, Nicola Cutting, Bert De Munck, György Gergely, Anne-Lise Goujon, Ildikó Király, Catherine Lara, Sébastien Manem, Luke McEllin, Helena Miton, Giulio Ongaro, Sarah Pope-Caldwell, Valentine Roux, Manon Schweinfurth, Dan Sperber, Kim Sterelny, Dietrich Stout, James W. A. Strachan, Sadie TenpasEnter the prehistoric world for an incredible four-billion year journey in this book for young history and dinosaur enthusiasts.Take children…
on a fascinating journey through history, showing them how and where their favorite dinosaurs came to exist, and how events from billions of years ago are still affecting our natural world today.Packed with dynamic historical content, Prehistoric Worlds combines illustrations and photos to help young historians aged 7-9 learn all about the period that shaped our planet. Meet favorite dinosaurs, from the terrifying T.Rex to the spiky stegosaurus; nurture your inner paleontologist by learning about prehistoric plant and animal fossils; and discover destructive extinction events that changed the world forever.Inside this dinosaur book for children, you&’ll find: - A wide range of prehistoric life and its chronology, including plants and animals from this period, and the continental shifts that shaped our world today.- Information on natural history written by palaeontologist and scientist Ashley Hall.- Illustrations and expert CGI imagery showing different types of dinosaur species.Plants flourish, birds evolve, and dinosaurs charge across the pages of this lively and colorful book. From oceans teeming with life to destructive asteroids, children will discover the incredible timeline of prehistoric life that resulted in the world we recognize today.Plains Vizcachas: Biology and Evolution of a Peculiar Neotropical Caviomorph Rodent
By Luciano Luis Rasia, Claudio Gustavo Barbeito, Francisco Acuña. 2024
The plains vizcacha (Lagostomus maximus) is a remarkable rodent of the Neotropic given several peculiar aspects of its biology, some…
of them quite unique among rodents or even among mammals. This book gathers specialists studying plains vizcachas from very different approaches, including paleontology, systematics, morphology, physiology, development and conservation. It is divided in two Parts, 1) Evolutionary History, and 2) Morphology, Development and Physiology. It will surely be a required reading for any researcher working with caviomorph rodents, mastozoology of the Neotropics or internal anatomy and physiology of mammals.Put your dinosaur knowledge to the test with this brilliant quiz book for kids!Introducing Dinosaur Knowledge Genius! - a brilliant…
quiz book packed with over 80 topics on the fascinating prehistoric world of dinosaurs. Which were the most fearsome predators? How big were the most gigantic plant-eaters? Why did so many dinosaurs have frills, crests, or spikes? Did dinosaurs really lay eggs? Which ones had feathers? If you want to know the answers, then this may be the book for you! Take on this brain-busting challenge about prehistoric life.This dinosaur quiz book for children aged 9-12 offers: - Plenty of quiz questions throughout the book to put your knowledge to the test.- Interactive &“Test Yourself&” panel lists with three levels of difficulty - starter, challenger, and genius.- Impressive dinosaur graphics that jump out at you on every page.- A variety of fun facts, picture puzzles, and quiz questions to keep kids entertained and engaged.As you hop from one dinosaur species to the next, you will learn all about the fascinating prehistoric world in this entertaining quiz book for kids and the whole family to enjoy. The pages are packed with eye-popping pictures and the "Test Yourself" panels list the type of dinosaur you&’re looking for on the page. With three levels of difficulty, the challenge gets harder from Starter to Challenger and the truly tricky Genius category. There's a fun fact with every picture to give a helpful clue.At DK, we believe in the power of discovery. So why stop here? Why not put your general knowledge to the test with other books in the Knowledge Genius series? Try General Knowledge Genius! to learn about everything, explore the animal world with Animal Knowledge Genius! or explore our planet with Earth Knowledge Genius!The Invention of Prehistory: Empire, Violence, and Our Obsession with Human Origins
By Stefanos Geroulanos. 2024
“[A]n incisive and captivating reassessment of prehistory . . . In lucid prose, Geroulanos unspools an enthralling and detailed history…
of the development of modern natural science. It’s a must-read.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review “An astute, powerfully rendered history of humanity.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review An eminent historian tells the story of how we came to obsess over the origins of humanity—and how, for three centuries, ideas of prehistory have been used to justify devastating violence against others. Books about the origins of humanity dominate bestseller lists, while national newspapers present breathless accounts of new archaeological findings and speculate about what those findings tell us about our earliest ancestors. We are obsessed with prehistory—and, in this respect, our current era is no different from any other in the last three hundred years. In this coruscating work, acclaimed historian Stefanos Geroulanos demonstrates how claims about the earliest humans not only shaped Western intellectual culture, but gave rise to our modern world. The very idea that there was a human past before recorded history only emerged with the Enlightenment, when European thinkers began to reject faith-based notions of humanity and history in favor of supposedly more empirical ideas about the world. From the “state of nature” and Romantic notions of virtuous German barbarians to theories about Neanderthals, killer apes, and a matriarchal paradise where women ruled, Geroulanos captures the sheer variety and strangeness of the ideas that animated many of the major thinkers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, including Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Charles Darwin, and Karl Marx. Yet as Geroulanos shows, such ideas became, for the most part, the ideological foundations of repressive regimes and globe-spanning empires. Deeming other peoples “savages” allowed for guilt-free violence against them; notions of “killer apes” who were our evolutionary predecessors made war seem natural. The emergence of modern science only accelerated the West’s imperialism. The Nazi obsession with race was rooted in archaeological claims about prehistoric IndoGermans; the idea that colonialized peoples could be “bombed back to the Stone Age” was made possible by the technology of flight and the anthropological idea that civilization advanced in stages. As Geroulanos argues, accounts of prehistory tell us more about the moment when they are proposed than about the deep past—and if we hope to start improving our future, we would be better off setting aside the search for how it all started. A necessary, timely, indelible account of how the quest for understanding the origins of humanity became the handmaiden of war and empire, The Invention of Prehistory will forever change how we think about the deep past.Dino Dana: Dino Field Guide
By J. J. Johnson, Christin Simms, Colleen Russo Johnson. 2020
A Dino Dana Field Guide of Dinosaurs for Kids (Ages 8-12)“This field guide is great for new and old dinosaur…
lovers. It alphabetically introduces dinosaurs and information about when and where they lived along with other tidbits about them. It is good for fun reading and can be used in homeschooling.” ―JustaBXMomNominated for Four Daytime Emmy® Awards#1 Bestseller in Children's Fossil BooksFun facts about dinosaurs for kids. Did you know that the brachiosaurus was the tallest dinosaur that we know of today? That the kosmoceratops had fifteen horns and hooks on its head? That the spinosaurus is the only known dinosaur to spend most of its time swimming? Discover this and much more in Dino Dana: Dino Field Guide.Dino Dana's field guide for your child. Fans of the Amazon Prime TV show Dino Dana will be so excited to have a Dino Field Guide of their own, put together by the incredible show's creator and executive producer, J. J. Johnson. Full of colorful illustrations and fascinating science facts, this dinosaur book is sure to amaze any young dino enthusiast.A great science book for kids. This book for children is perfect for any kid who likes history and science. In the Dino Dana field guide, your kids learn:Which time period each dinosaur lived inHow big the dinosaurs wereWhat kinds of things dinosaurs ate and did each dayAnd so much moreKids who like cool dinosaur books like Dinosaurs, National Geographic Little Kids First Big Book of Dinosaurs, The Big Book of Dinosaurs, or The Dinosaur Book will love Dino Dana: Dino Field Guide.The Fossil Detectives: Discovering Prehistoric Britain
By Douglas Palmer, Hermione Cockburn. 2008
Fossils provide us with a tantalizing glimpse of Britain's prehistoric past and hold the key to unlocking the secrets of…
life's history and evolution. Since the appearance of primitive organisms in Britain more than a billion years ago, oceans, deserts, swamps and vast mountains have come and gone in our corner of western Europe; forests of long-extinct trees, flowers and grasses have covered the land, and dinosaurs and other strange creatures have roamed across it. How do we know? The evidence is all around us - in the rocks and fossils that lie beneath the landscape.In this highly informative and practical book, which accompanies the BBC series, presenter Hermione Cockburn and renowned palaeontologist Douglas Palmer take an in-depth look at the most exciting fossil stories from around the country. When and why were dinosaur fossils first discovered in Britain? How was the biggest fish ever to have swum in the sea unearthed near Peterborough? What do modern medical techniques have to offer fossil hunters?Packed with colour photographs and illustrations, Fossils Detectives is full of surprising facts and features. And for those who want to try their hand at some fossil detecting of their own, the book includes an extensive regional gazetteer of fossil-hunting sites and places to visit, and guidance on identifying your fossil finds.Get ready for some time travel around Britain, with the Fossil Detectives!Descubre fascinantes datos y curiosidades sobre los animales que habitaron la Tierra hace millones de años y sorprende a tus…
amigos y familia.¿Sabías que el dinosaurio más grande que ha existido media tanto como cuatro camiones de bomberos uno detrás de otro? ¿O que el más pequeño pesaba menos que una cucharita de azúcar? ¿Quieres saber cuánto medían las alas del reptil volador más grande jamás descubierto? Sumérgete en las páginas de este divertido libro sobre dinosaurios y descubre todo sobre estas criaturas prehistóricas: cuánto medían las garras del Therizinosaurus, qué dinosaurio tenía el cerebro más pequeño, cuál tenía los dientas más afilados y ¡mucho más!El regalo perfecto para saciar el apetito de saber de los niños de un modo divertido: - Contiene más de 1000 curiosidades en formato de pregunta y respuesta.- Escrito de forma clara, con explicaciones entretenidas e impresionantes imágenes generadas por ordenador.- Con estadísticas alucinantes explicadas por medio gráficos y comparaciones visuales para entender los datos de forma fácil.Un divertido libro ilustrado para niños de 9 años o más, repleto de sorpresas y curiosidades alucinantes para que los jóvenes lectores descubran el maravilloso mundo de los dinosaurios.------------------------------------------Astonish your friends and family with this incredible collection of mind-boggling facts about the scariest animals ever to walk the Earth.Did you know that the largest dinosaur was four times longer than a fire engine but its babies were the size of geese? Or that the smallest dinosaur weighed less than a teaspoon of sugar? Or that the largest flying reptile was as tall as a giraffe with wings the size of a fighter jet? This fascinating first dinosaur book for kids is packed with bite-size nuggets of unbelievable information. Find out which dinosaur had the sharpest teeth, the longest claw and the smallest brain.Dive into the pages of this kids dinosaur book to discover: - 1,000 jaw-dropping, mind-blowing facts to wow your family and friends.- Stunning CGI images to convey statistics in an intuitive way that kids can understand.- Factfile spreads are packed with infographics and key facts on all kinds of prehistoric life.- Photo stories feature the world's spectacular fossils, from dinosaur footprints and nests to complete skeletons.- Fun, accessible text written to excite and entertain children and adults alike.Discover the fastest, the slowest, the deadliest, and the downright weirdest dinosaurs ever to roam the planet, in this dinosaur gift book for children aged 9+.Taxonomists specializing in different groups once based phylogenetic analysis only on morphological data; molecular data was used more rarely. Although…
molecular systematics is routine today, the use of morphological data continues to be important, especially for phylogenetic placement of many taxa known only from fossils and rare or difficult to collect species. In addition, morphological analyses help identify potential biases in molecular analyses. And finally, scenarios with respect to morphology continue to motivate biologists: the beauty of a cheetah or a baobab does not lie in their DNA sequence, but instead on what they are and do! This book is an up-to-date revision of methods and principles of phylogenetic analysis of morphological data. It is also a general guide for using the computer program TNT in the analysis of such data. The book covers the main aspects of phylogenetic analysis and general methods to compare classifications derived from molecules and morphology. The basic aspects of molecular analysis are covered only as needed to highlight the differences with methods and assumptions for analysis of morphological datasets.History of Cenozoic Mammals from South America: A New Model (Springer Earth System Sciences)
By Federico Agnolin. 2024
The Cenozoic history of South America faunas mainly rests on the evidence yielded by the study of fossil mammals. Following…
the seminal work of William D. Matthew, George G. Simpson established the slogan “Splendid Isolation” for describing the evolutionary history of South American faunas. He envisaged South America (as well as other Southern Hemisphere landmasses) as dead ends in the evolution and geographical expansion of animals and plants that since the Mesozoic come in successive migratory waves from the North.More than 40 years passed away from the last important contribution by Simpson (1980). Since then, in spite to the exponential increase in biological, paleontological and geological knowledge, and an incredibly new number of fossils, his scheme remained almost unpolluted and most recent books regarding the palaeobiogeography of South American vertebrates follow this paradigm nearly without criticism.However, the factthat South America was joined to Africa, Australia, Antarctica and India during most of the Cretaceous, and that it was still connected Australia (via Antarctica) and probably Africa up to the Paleogene, together with the large number of shared biotic components between these landmasses, point in favor of a different paleobiogeographical scenario.The book aims to demonstrate that during the Paleogene (and most of the Neogene) the nature and evolutionary history of South American vertebrates is by far much more intricate than previously envisaged. As will be shown, new evidence suggests that southern landmasses may have played an important role in the early evolution and radiation of extant mammal clades. This book is not written to conform with the ideal of a technical manual or a review, and is not carried forward to collect all that has been said before. The main goals are to criticize the current Palaeobiogeographic Model of Vertebrate Settlement of South America, and to propose a new vision based on the evidence provided by the natural world in the last decades.Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs: The Astounding Interconnectedness of the Universe
By Lisa Randall. 2015
In this brilliant exploration of our cosmic environment, the renowned particle physicist and New York Times bestselling author of Warped…
Passages and Knocking on Heaven’s Door uses her research into dark matter to illuminate the startling connections between the furthest reaches of space and life here on Earth.Sixty-six million years ago, an object the size of a city descended from space to crash into Earth, creating a devastating cataclysm that killed off the dinosaurs, along with three-quarters of the other species on the planet. What was its origin? In Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs, Lisa Randall proposes it was a comet that was dislodged from its orbit as the Solar System passed through a disk of dark matter embedded in the Milky Way. In a sense, it might have been dark matter that killed the dinosaurs.Working through the background and consequences of this proposal, Randall shares with us the latest findings—established and speculative—regarding the nature and role of dark matter and the origin of the Universe, our galaxy, our Solar System, and life, along with the process by which scientists explore new concepts. In Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs, Randall tells a breathtaking story that weaves together the cosmos’ history and our own, illuminating the deep relationships that are critical to our world and the astonishing beauty inherent in the most familiar things.Australian Caves and Karst Systems (Cave and Karst Systems of the World)
By John Webb, Susan White, Garry K. Smith. 2023
This book, part of the series Cave and Karst Systems of the World, begins with a review of the interaction…
between people and caves in Australia (including conservation), followed by descriptions of the spectacular cave diving sites, before comprehensively covering all the major carbonate and noncarbonate karst areas, subdivided by rock type and region, and including the origin of the caves. This is followed by broad overviews of cave minerals and speleothems, cave biology and cave fossils. Each section was written by one or more specialists in the topic and is illustrated by clear diagrams and superb colour photos. The book emphasises the unique aspects of the Australian karst, including the variability in the age of the caves (very old to very young) and the impact of isolation on the stygofauna, as well as the vertebrate fossils preserved in the caves. Written in an easy-to-read style, the book is a primary reference guide to Australian karst and represents a valuable asset for anyone interested in the topic, not only cavers and academics.Time Traveler: In Search of Dinosaurs and Other Fossils from Montana to Mongolia
By Michael Novacek. 2003
Hunting for fossils with a preeminent guide and teacherMichael Novacek, a world-renowned paleontologist who has discovered important fossils on virtually…
every continent, is an authority on patterns of evolution and on the relationships among extinct and extant organisms. Time Traveler is his captivating account of how his boyhood enthusiasm for dinosaurs became a lifelong commitment to vanguard science. He takes us with him as he discovers fossils in his own backyard in Los Angeles, then goes looking for them in the high Andes, the black volcanic mountains of Yemen, and the incredibly rich fossil badlands of the Gobi desert.Wherever Novacek goes he searches for still undiscovered evidence of what life was like on Earth millions of years ago. Along the way he has almost drowned, been stung by deadly scorpions, been held at gunpoint by a renegade army, and nearly choked in raging dust storms. Fieldwork is very demanding in a host of unusual, dramatic, sometimes hilarious ways, and Novacek writes of its alluring perils with affection and discernment. But Time Traveler also makes sense of many complex themes - about dinosaur evolution, continental drift, mass extinctions, new methods for understanding ancient environments, and the evolutionary secrets of DNA in fossil organisms. It is also an enthralling adventure story.