The Greatest Show on Earth

by Richard Dawkins

DNA information about, 406;

  of social insects, 349–50;

  suffering caused by, 391, 401

  Pasteur, Louis, 418

  peahens and peacocks, 60, 61, 62, 64

  Peking Man, 184, 185, 186, 196

  penguins, 170, 180, 345

  Penny, David, 322, 324–5

  periodic table, 92–3

  Permian extinction, 140

  Permian period, 99, 101

  Pew Forum, 430, 434

  Pezosiren, 172– 3

  pharyngeal arches, 357

  pheasants, 54–5, 134, 6

  Phoridae, 349 – 50

  photons, 376, 379–80

  photosynthesis, 376

  pigeons, 27, 29, 41, 55

  pigs, 38

  ‘pill bugs’, 299– 300

  Piltdown Man, 150

  pinnipeds, 172–3

  Pithecanthropus erectus, 184–5

  Pittendrigh, Colin, 371

  placental mammals, 268, 300–1, 302, 342–3

  plate tectonics, 274–8, 281–3, 17 – 19

  Plato, 21–3, 26

  Platyhelminthes, 148–9

  platypus, duck-billed, 327, 22

  pleiotropy, 76

  Plesianthropus, 191–2

  Pliny the Elder, 55n

  Pod Kopiste, 113–15

  Pod Mrcaru, 113–16

  pollination, 47–53, 77

  population genetics, 31n

  population thinking, 23

  potassium argon clock, 96–7, 102, 106

  potassium-40, 96–7, 102, 107

  prawns, 305, 307

  Precambrian, 149

  predators: and prey, 380–1, 386–7, 426;

  prudent, 388–90

  preformationism, 213–16

  primroses, 47

  Pringle, J. W. S., 346–7, 348

  prions, 236n Proganochelys, 177–9

  proof, 10–11

  proteins: chains, 236–7;

  Darwin’s speculation on origins of life, 417, 419–20;

  molecules, 235–6, 240, 419–20;

  mutations, 237;

  natural selection, 249–50;

  role as enzyme, 238, 419–20;

  virus assembly, 223–4

  Prothero, Donald, 171

  protons, 92–5

  pseudogenes, 332–3, 336

  pterodactyl skeleton, 288, 289

  Puijila darwini, 172–3

  puppies, 35–6

  Pusey, Harold, 165

  Pythagoras’ Theorem, 10, 11

  rabbits, 22–6, 316–17

  radioactive decay, 94–5

  rats, 31–2, 67–9, 68

  redwood trees, 379

  Reidenberg, Joy, 362

  Reisz, Robert, 175

  reproduction: asexual, 116–17, 118, 126n;

  sexual, 47, 126n, 301, 405;

  survival and, 63, 384, 395, 405

  reptiles and birds, 151, 159–61

  resemblance, patterns of, 296–7, 315

  retina, 353–5, 356

  reward and punishment, 407–8

  Reynolds, Craig, 219–20

  Reznick, David, 138–9

  Rhamphorhynchus, 347 –8

  rhodopsin, 236n

  Ridley, Matt, 399n

  risk-taking, 72–3

  RNA, 420–1;

  ‘RNA World’ theory, 419, 421

  rocks: igneous, 96–7;

  sedimentary, 97–8

  Romer’s Gap, 164–5

  roses, 45–6, 60, 61

  rotifers, bdelloid, 303, 304

  running, 380–90

  Russell, Bertrand, 13

  Sagan, Carl, 12, 58–9

  Sahelanthropus, 204

  St Helena, 265–6

  salamanders, 351–3, 29

  San Andreas Fault, 276, 17

  Sarich, Vincent, 317

  Schafly, Andrew, 131

  sea: emergence from, 161–9;

  return to 169–70, 173, 176, 180, 299

  sea-floor spreading, 275–6, 18 – 19

  sea lions, 169, 172–3, 180

  seals, 169, 172–3, 180

  Second Law of Thermodynamics, 413, 414–15

  segmented body plan, 305–7, 357–9, 425

  selection: artificial, 28, 39–42, 61, 62, 65–8, 81–2, 422–3, 2;

  ‘group selection’, 62n;

  natural, see natural selection;

  sexual, 54–5, 62

  selective breeding: by females of males, 54–6, 60, 62, 134, 138;

  by humans, 38–9, 47, 60, 61;

  of humans, 38–9;

  by insects, 47–54

  self-assembly, 216–17, 220, 224, 235, 243

  self-replication, 392, 419

  Selfish Gene, The, 349n

  Shannon, Claude, 416n

  sharks, 175, 360, 361, 366, 367

  Shubin, Neil, 168

  Sibson, Francis, 341

  Silurian period, 99, 100

  Simons, Daniel J., 14–15

  Simonyi, Charles, 215n, 403

  sinuses, 370

  sirenians, 342, 344

  skeleton: ancestral, 295–6, 308;

  exoskeleton, 305, 308, 315;

  flying creatures, 288–90, 27;

  homology, 288–93, 312;

  Lucy, 188;

  mammalian, 287–8, 292–3;

  vertebrate, 289, 293, 305, 308, 315

  skulls: adult and infant, 205–7;

  AL 444-2, 188–9;

  amphibian, 166, 167;

  bones in, 293;

  brain size, 187, 343;

  chimpanzee, 187, 205;

  D’Arcy Thompson’s transformations, 310, 311 –312;

  fish–amphibian, 166;

  Georgian Man, 186;

  gorilla, 115;

  Homo sapiens, 192, 205, 294, 310, 312;

  horse, 294;

  Java Man, 185;

  Mrs Ples, 191–3;

  Paranthropus boisei, 115n, 190;

  sirenian, 172;

  thylacine, 300, 301;

  Twiggy, 193

  Smith, Adam, 390

  Smith, J. L. B., 163

  Smith, John Maynard, 211, 345

  snakes, 298, 299, 391

  Social Darwinism, 62n

  solar: energy, 375–80, 414–16;

  system, 413

  South America: animals, 272;

  bees and orchids, 78–9;

  continental drift, 16, 273–5;

  Galapagos islands, 258, 260– 1, 264;

  litopterns, 291–2;

  monkeys, 269–70;

  moths, 50;

  tectonic plate, 276–8, 281–2

  speciation, 256–7

  species: database, 406;

  gene transfer, 303;

  geographical distribution, 272–3, 283–4;

  how new species are born, 254–7;

  immutability of, 26–7;

  status, 190

  Spencer, Herbert, 65

  Sperry, Roger, 233–4

  spider monkeys, 290–1, 26

  spine, movement of, 298–9, 384

  squirrels: flying, 268, 288–90, 302;

  grey, 304

  starlings, flocking behaviour, 218–20, 229, 16

  stars, 426

  Streptococcus, 301

  subduction, 275–6

  suffering, 392–3, 401

  Sulston, John, 246, 247

  sunbirds, 51–2, 5

  Sunday Times, 5, 151–2

  sunflowers, 46–7, 61, 67, 2

  survival: genetic change, 237, 242, 250;

  natural selection, 384, 392;

  neutral theory, 332–4;

  non-random, 42, 63–4, 66, 405–8;

  ‘of the fittest’, 65, 395, 401;

  pain and, 393, 395;

  selecting agent, 62–3;

  successful genes, 248

  symmetry, 59, 305, 358–60, 425

  tadpoles, 233

  tameness, 73– 6

  Tanganyika, Lake, 266, 267

  t
arpon, 63, 64

  ‘Tasmanian wolf’, 300–1

  Taung Child, 189, 190–1

  Taylor, Bert Leston, 306n

  tectonic plates, see plate tectonics

  teeth, 67–70

  Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre, 150n

  teleosts, 366

  terrapins, 174, 180

  tetrapods, 166–7

  theodicy, 392–3, 401

  theory, 9–10, 16–17

  Thompson, D’Arcy, 308, 310–14, 423

  Thompson, Silvanus P., 331n

  thylacines, 300–1, 302

  tides, 411–12

  tigers, 391–2

  Tiktaalik, 168–9, 10

  time, 24–5, 81–2, 85–8

  tortoises, 174–80

  transformation, 301, 303

  ‘transformations’ (D’Arcy Thompson’s), 308–14, 311 – 12

  trees: height, 377–80, 383;

  rings (dendrochronology), 88–90;

  on St Helena, 265– 6

  trial-and-error process, 407–8

  Triassic period, 99, 174, 178

  troglobites, 351

  turbellarians, 148– 9

  Turin Shroud, 105–6

  Turkana Boy, 197

  Turkey, opinion polls, 432–5

  turtles, 173–80

  Twiggy skull, 193, 194, 196

  Uganda Game Department, 112

  United States of America: opinion polls, 7, 106, 268, 269, 429–30, 434, 437;

  school syllabuses, 106;

  science teaching, 4

  universes, 426

  Unweaving the Rainbow, 148

  vagus nerve, 360–3

  varves, 90

  vas deferens, 364– 5

  vegetarian diet, 114–16

  vertebrates: classes, 154, 159, 160, 183–4;

  early evolution, 162;

  embryology, 226–7;

  eyes, 353–4;

  land, 162–3, 166, 293;

  notochord, 227;

  returning to water, 173;

  segmented body plan, 357–9;

  skeletons, 289, 293, 305, 308, 315;

  spinal cord, 306;

  symmetry, 305–6

  Victoria, Lake, 266, 267

  viruses, 222 –4, 391–2, 421

  Wallace, Alfred Russel, 22, 30, 31, 49–50, 64–5

  wasps: ichneumon, 370, 395;

  solitary, 77–8;

  thynnid 78, 5

  Watson, James, 30n, 246n, 319

  Wegener, Alfred, 273–6, 281

  Weinberg, Wilhelm, 31n

  whales: brains, 343;

  fossil record, 170–2;

  genetic evidence for evolution, 170;

  return to water, 169–70, 176, 180, 299;

  skeleton, 342;

  spinal motion, 299

  Wiles, Andrew, 12

  Williams, George C., 364, 424

  Williams, Robyn, 369–70

  Wilson, Allan, 317

  wings, 344–50, 29

  Wolpert, Lewis, 216, 220, 226

  wolves, 27–8, 71–5, 302, 381

  wombats, 268, 369

  Wong, Yan, 335

  woodlouse, 299–300

  Wright, Sewall, 31n

  Wright, Wendy, 198–202

  Yahya, Harun, 154

  zebras, 72, 384