[Book Sip] 4 Billion Years of Evolution... Uncovering Shamelessness and Impudence

Some sentences encapsulate the entire content of the book itself, while others instantly reach the reader's heart, creating a connection with the book. We introduce such meaningful sentences excerpted from the book. - Editor's note

The sturdy bodies of animals, the fins of fish, the feathers and wings of birds, the hands and feet of humans, and the large brain. The author argues that nature and life are not brilliant inventors but rather shameless imitators who have copied, stolen, and transformed over billions of years. Through episodes such as fossil fish with legs and feathered dinosaurs, why organisms became smarter thanks to viruses, jumping genes that survived because they were selfish, and the background of the birth of CRISPR-Cas (gene scissors) technology, the book explains 4 billion years of evolutionary history, 200 years of evolutionary research, and the latest achievements in genome biology that have developed brilliantly over the past 20 years.

A long and strange journey of evolutionary history

When major changes occur in the history of life, the lifestyle and body tissues of animals change completely. The evolution from fish to terrestrial creatures, the birth of birds, and the very beginning of the body itself are only a small part of the revolutions that have occurred in the history of life. And the science that investigates these revolutions is full of surprises. If you think feathers evolved to help animals fly, or lungs and legs evolved to help animals walk on land?you are not alone in thinking so?but you are completely wrong. - pp. 17-18

Hemingway's six-toed cat

Long ago, sailors believed that cats with six toes brought good luck to ships. These so-called mitten cats were considered masters of catching rats because their broad paws helped them maintain balance at sea. A captain named Stanley Dexter gave one of the six-toed cats born on his ship to his friend Ernest Hemingway, who was living on Key West Island, Florida, at the time. This kitten, named "Snow White," founded the lineage of six-toed cats, and their descendants still thrive at Hemingway's birthplace today. These cats are not only the most popular attraction for tourists but also played an important role in new ideas about how genomes work. - p. 124

How Nature Invents | Written by Neil Shubin | Translated by Kim Myung-joo | Bookie | 356 pages | 18,000 KRW

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.