Darwin's doubt : ǂthe ǂexplosive origin of animal life and the case for intelligent design

Charles Darwin Knew That There Was A Significant Event In The History Of Life That His Theory Did Not Explain. In What Is Known Today As The Cambrian Explosion, 530 Million Years Ago Many Animals Suddenly Appeared In The Fossil Record Without Apparent Ancestors In Earlier Layers Of Rock. In Darwin's Doubt Stephen C. Meyer Tells The Story Of The Mystery Surrounding This Explosion Of Animal Life -- A Mystery That Has Intensified, Not Only Because The Expected Ancestors Of These Animals Have Not Been Found, But Also Because Scientists Have Learned More About What It Takes To Construct An Animal. Expanding On The Compelling Case He Presented In His Last Book, Signature In The Cell, Meyer Argues That The Theory Of Intelligent Design -- Which Holds That Certain Features Of The Universe And Of Living Things Are Best Explained By An Intelligent Cause, Not An Undirected Process Such As Natural Selection -- Is Ultimately The Best Explanation For The Origin Of The Cambrian Animals. - Back Cover. The Mystery Of The Missing Fossils -- Darwin's Nemesis -- The Burgess Bestiary -- Soft Bodies And Hard Facts -- The Not Missing Fossils? -- The Genes Tell The Story? -- The Animal Tree Of Life -- Punk Eek! -- How To Build An Animal -- The Cambrian Information Explosion -- Combinatorial Inflation -- The Origin Of Genes And Proteins -- Assume A Gene -- Complex Adaptations And The Neo-darwinian Math -- The Origin Of Body Plans -- The Epigenetic Revolution -- After Darwin, What? -- The Post-darwinian World And Self-organization -- Other Post-neo-darwinian Models -- The Possibility Of Intelligent Design -- Signs Of Design In The Cambrian Explosion -- The Rules Of Science -- What's At Stake. Stephen C. Meyer. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 415-480) And Index. xiii, 498 pages, [8] pages of color plates : 24 cm Charles Darwin knew that there was a significant event in the history of life that his theory did not explain. In what is known today as the "Cambrian explosion," 530 million years ago many animals suddenly appeared in the fossil record without apparent ancestors in earlier layers of rock. In Darwin's Doubt Stephen C. Meyer tells the story of the mystery surrounding this explosion of animal life -- a mystery that has intensified, not only because the expected ancestors of these animals have not been found, but also because scientists have learned more about what it takes to construct an animal. Expanding on the compelling case he presented in his last book, Signature in the Cell, Meyer argues that the theory of intelligent design -- which holds that certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection -- is ultimately the best explanation for the origin of the Cambrian animals. - Back cover Includes bibliographical references (pages 454-480) and index The mystery of the missing fossils -- Darwin's nemesis -- The Burgess bestiary -- Soft bodies and hard facts -- The not missing fossils? -- The genes tell the story? -- The animal tree of life -- Punk eek! -- How to build an animal -- The Cambrian information explosion -- Combinatorial inflation -- The origin of genes and proteins -- Assume a gene -- Complex adaptations and the neo-Darwinian math -- The origin of body plans -- The epigenetic revolution -- After Darwin, what? -- The post-Darwinian world and self-organization -- Other post-neo-Darwinian models -- The possibility of intelligent design -- Signs of design in the Cambrian explosion -- The rules of science -- What's at stake When Charles Darwin finished The Origin of Species, he thought that he had explained every clue, but one. Though his theory could explain many facts, Darwin knew that there was a significant event in the history of life that his theory did not explain. During this event, the “Cambrian explosion,” many animals suddenly appeared in the fossil record without apparent ancestors in earlier layers of rock. In Darwin’s Doubt, Stephen C. Meyer tells the story of the mystery surrounding this explosion of animal life—a mystery that has intensified, not only because the expected ancestors of these animals have not been found, but because scientists have learned more about what it takes to construct an animal. During the last half century, biologists have come to appreciate the central importance of biological information—stored in DNA and elsewhere in cells—to building animal forms. Expanding on the compelling case he presented in his last book, Signature in the Cell, Meyer argues that the origin of this information, as well as other mysterious features of the Cambrian event, are best explained by intelligent design, rather than purely undirected evolutionary processes. Part one : The mystery of the missing fossils. Darwin's nemesis The Burgess bestiary Soft bodies and hard facts The not missing fossils? The genes tell the story? The animal tree of life Punk eek! Part two : How to build an animal. The Cambrian information explosion Combinatorial inflation The origin of genes and proteins Assume a gene Complex adaptations and the neo-Darwinian math The origin of body plans The epigenetic revolution Part three : After Darwin, what? The post-Darwinian world and self-organization Other post-neo-Darwinian models The possibility of intelligent design Signs of design in the Cambrian explosion The rules of science What's at stake Builds on the subject of intelligent design, taking readers one step further into the history of life and defending the theory as the best explanation for the origin of the Cambrian animals and the information needed to produce them