70 Great Mysteries of the Natural World Contents
Origins
Introduction
1 How did the Earth form?
2 The origins of life
3 The origins of multicellular life
4 The Cambrian evolutionary ‘explosion’
5 The biggest mass extinction of all time
6 Were the dinosaurs warm-blooded?
7 Giant dinosaurs: how did they get so big?
8 Why did the dinosaurs die out?
9 Why do mammals rule the world?
10 The hunt for the earliest human ancestor
The Earth
Introduction
11 Why does the compass point north?
12 How continents and oceans form
13 Is Mount Everest getting higher?
14 Where did the oxygen in the atmosphere come from?
15 What makes volcanoes explode?
16 The formation of diamonds
17 Which was the largest volcanic eruption ever?
18 The mystery of tsunamis
19 Asteroid and comet impacts on Earth
20 Where does oil come from?
Evolution
Introduction
21 The evidence for evolution
22 How did the eye evolve?
23 Why do so many people not accept evolution?
24 Disentangling the genetic code
25 Selfish-gene theory
26 Drawing the tree of life
27 Human genetic variation
28 How do new species form?
29 Exploring the links between evolution and development
30 Are five fingers essential?
Biogeography & Environments
Introduction
31 Numbers of species in the tropics and at the poles
32 The evolution of deserts
33 How do plants and animals live in the desert?
34 Has there always been ice at the poles?
35 How deep can life live under ice and rock?
36 Why are islands special?
37 What do we know about Darwin’s finches?
38 The origins of Australia’s special wildlife
39 Breathing sulphur: life on the abyssal black smokers
40 Extremophiles and life on other planets
Plants & Animals
Introduction
41 Estimating present-day global biodiversity
42 Why are insects so diverse?
43 Why are some organisms small and some large?
44 What is the largest living organism?
45 Engineering limits to the body size of land animals
46 Running, hopping, skipping: animal locomotion
47 Flying and walking: learning from nature
48 How do dogs see the world?
49 Why are animals coloured?
50 How do animals adapt to the deep?
Animal Behaviour
Introduction
51 Instinct and learning in animal behaviour
52 Is an ant colony a superorganism?
53 Why are animals nice to each other?
54 How do animals navigate?
55 Sexual selection
56 Why do deer have antlers: fighting or display?
57 Invisible signalling: pheromones
58 Do animals have emotions?
59 The language of honey bees
60 Animal consciousness
Global Warming & the Future
Introduction
61 Global warming
62 What will Earth’s climate be like in the future?
63 El Niño: extreme weather on the increase?
64 Greenhouse gases and Earth’s natural rhythms
65 Predicting future human population levels
66 Flu pandemics and eastern Asia
67 Wildlife extinction and conservation
68 What will replace liquid hydrocarbon fuels?
69 Humanity’s ecological footprint
70 Human behaviour and saving the planet
Further reading
Sources of illustrations
Sources of quotations
Index