The Universe Within: Discovering the Common History of Rocks, Planets, and People

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The Universe Within: Discovering the Common History of Rocks, Planets, and People Page 21

by Neil Shubin


  A number of the themes in the book were derived from interactions I had with students. Freshmen at the University of Montana, the University of Pennsylvania, and Skidmore College not only provided wonderful audiences but also offered questions that inspired me as I was writing this book. The same is true of students at a number of high schools, including those at Adlai E. Stevenson High School, Downers Grove North, the Francis W. Parker School, and the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. I explored a number of the book’s ideas in my own non-majors course at the University of Chicago.

  My agents, Katinka Matson, John Brockman, Max Brockman, and Russell Weinberger, have been a continual source of support. Dan Frank and Marty Asher formed a powerful editorial team, helping me frame the book during rough drafts and polish it during later ones. Production, assembly, and copyediting derived from the often heroic efforts of Jill Verrillo and Ellen Feldman with the help of Ingrid Sterner, Teresa Gardstein, and Jenna Bagnini. The entire team at Pantheon has been a joy to work with.

  My wife, Michele, kept things going at home during weekend writing escapes; tolerated many a date night discussing the Harvard Computers, Marie Tharp, and zircons; and read innumerable drafts of chapters, including those that ended on the literary equivalent of the cutting-room floor. Her endurance, intelligence, and love made this project possible. Michele and our children, Hannah and Nathaniel, are my deep connections to the universe I celebrate every day.

  ILLUSTRATION CREDITS

  Unless otherwise noted, all illustrations are by Kalliopi Monoyios.

  1.1 Photographs of the Greenland crew courtesy of Bill Amaral; used with permission

  2.1 Photograph of the “Harvard Computers,” 1913, courtesy of the Harvard College Observatory; used with permission

  3.1 Photograph of Beta Pictoris by the European Southern Observatory; rights granted under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)

  3.2 Photograph from Zion Canyon on Earth by George Alexander Grant for the National Parks Service; image in the public domain. Photograph of Victoria Crater on Mars by NASA/JPL–Caltech/Cornell University; image in the public domain

  4.1 Portrait of Seymour Benzer courtesy of the Archives, California Institute of Technology; used with permission

  4.2 Photographs of Hindostan limestone tombstones courtesy of the Indiana Geological Society; used with permission

  5.1 Portrait of Elso Barghoorn courtesy of the Harvard University Archives, Harvard University Press; used with permission

  5.2 Portrait of Anton van Leeuwenhoek by Jan Verkolje (I); image in the public domain. Illustration of van Leeuwenhoek’s microscope courtesy of Michael W. Davidson at Florida State University; used with permission

  5.3 Portrait of Galileo Galilei by Domenico Cresti da Passignano; image in the public domain. Etchings by Galileo Galilei, 1638, in the public domain

  5.4 Portrait of Preston Cloud courtesy of the Department of Special Collections, Davidson Library, University of California at Santa Barbara; used with permission

  6.1 Photograph of Glossopteris fossilized leaf courtesy of the Swedish Museum of Natural History. Photographer: Yvonne Arremo; used with permission

  6.2 Alfred Wegener portrait courtesy of the Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Germany; used with permission

  6.3 Harry Hess portrait courtesy of the Department of Geosciences, Princeton University, Princeton, N.J.; used with permission

  6.4 Photograph of Bruce Heezen and Marie Tharp from the Marie Tharp Estate, courtesy of Fiona Schiano-Yacopina; used with permission

  6.5 Map by Bruce Heezen and Marie Tharp; painted by Heinrich Berann; used with permission

  6.6 John Tuzo Wilson portrait courtesy of the Ontario Science Centre (www.ontariosciencecentre.ca); used with persission

  7.1 Photographs of cliff in Nova Scotia by the author

  7.2 Portrait of William Smith by Hugues Fourau; image in the public domain. Photograph of John Phillips, 1907; image in the public domain. Map by William Smith, published 1815; image in the public domain

  8.1 Photograph of petrified forest reproduced with the permission of Natural Resources Canada 2011, courtesy of the Geological Survey of Canada (Photographer: Lyn Anglin). Photograph of fossil wood from Kaelin et al., “Comparison of Vitrified and Unvitrified Eocene Woody Tissues by TMAH Thermochemolysis—Implications for the Early Stages of the Formation of Vitrinite,” Geochemical Transactions 7 (2006): 9. Image used under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)

  9.1 Camp Century photograph from A. Kovacs, “Camp Century Revisited: A Pictorial View—1969,” Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory Special Report 150 (July 1970): 44, 49; image in the public domain

  9.2 Photograph of Louis Agassiz circa 1860; image in the public domain

  9.3 Etching of James Croll by unknown artist, published in Popular Science Monthly 51 (August 1897): 445; image in the public domain

  9.4 Portrait of Milutin Milankovitch by Paja Jovanovic´ (1859–1957); image in the public domain

  9.5 Photograph of Dorothy Garrod courtesy of Mrs. Kennedy Shaw and her daughter, Mrs. Caroline Burkitt. Photograph in possession of Pamela Jane Smith; used with permission

  INDEX

  Page numbers in italics refer to illustrations.

  acid rain, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3

  Africa, 3.1, 5.1, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3

  fossil hunting in, 7.1, 10.1

  hominid fossils found in, 10.1, bm1.1n

  rift formation in, 1.1, 10.1, 10.2

  South America’s congruity with, 6.1, 6.2

  Agassiz, Louis, 9.1, 9.2

  ice age theory of, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3

  agriculture, 9.1, 9.2, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3

  alcohol

  algae, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 10.1, 10.2, bm1.1n

  allometry, n

  Alvarez, Luis

  Alvarez, Walter, 7.1, bm1.1n

  Amaral, Bill, 1.1, 1.2, bm1.1n

  American Museum of Natural History, 6.1, 7.1, 8.1

  American Scientist

  Amundsen, Roald, 6.1, 8.1

  Anders, William

  Andromeda Galaxy

  animal distributions, 5.1, 7.1

  Antarctica, 6.1, 6.2, 9.1, bm1.1n

  fossil hunting in

  freezing of, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, bm1.1n

  ring current of, 8.1, 8.2, bm1.1n

  volcanic ring around

  warm wet phase of, 8.1, 8.2

  Apollo missions, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1

  Appalachian Mountains

  argon

  Army, U.S.

  Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory of

  Arrhenius, Svante, 8.1, 8.2, bm1.1n

  asteroids, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 4.1, 4.2, bm1.1n

  catastrophic impacts of, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, bm1.1n

  water within

  astronomy, 2.1, 3.1, 3.2

  distance measurement in

  of Harvard Computers, 2.1, 2.2

  radio

  red-blue color shift in

  see also stars

  AT&T

  Bell Laboratories of

  Atlantic Ocean, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 8.1, 8.2

  closing and reopening of

  Atlas Mountains

  atom bomb, 2.1, 9.1, 9.2

  atoms, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 8.1, 9.1

  electrons of, 2.1, 2.2, 5.1, 5.2, 9.1

  radioactive decay of, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 9.1, bm1.1n

  atoms, nuclei of

  carbon

  fusion reactions of, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1

  global temperatures measured by

  neutrons of, 4.1, 9.1, 9.2

  oxygen, 4.1, 9.1

  protons of, 2.1, 9.1

  see also elements

  Australia, 5.1, 6.1, 6.2, 8.1, 8.2

  drift of

  Jack Hills of, 3.1, bm1.1n

  Axel Heiberg Island

  Babylonians, ancient

  Bacon, Francis

  bact
eria, 4.1, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3

  Barbour, Thomas, 5.1, 5.2, bm1.1n

  Barghoorn, Elso, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, bm1.1n

  Basinger, James

  Beardmore Glacier

  Benzer, Seymour, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, bm1.1n

  Berbers

  Berner, Robert

  Beta Pictoris, 3.1, 3.2

  big bang, theory of, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.1, 3.2

  background noise left by

  date of, 2.1, 2.2

  immediate aftermath of

  biological clocks

  molecular

  see also circadian clocks

  BLaG paper, 8.1, bm1.1n

  Blanford, William and Henry

  body, human, 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 5.2, bm1.1n

  bipedalism of, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 10.5, bm1.1n

  cells of, 4.1, 5.1, 5.2

  color perception in

  constituent elements of, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 8.1

  controlling growth of

  effect of Jupiter on shape of, 3.1, 3.2

  head structure of

  kidney of, 3.1, 4.1

  liver function of

  metabolism of, 2.1, 3.1, 4.1, 5.1

  oxygen utilized by, 5.1, 5.2, 6.1, bm1.1n

  prenatal development of, 3.1, 6.1

  reproduction of, 3.1, 3.2

  Russian nesting doll organization of, 2.1, 2.2

  water content of, 3.1, 3.2

  see also evolution

  body temperatures, 4.1, 6.1

  Borlaug, Norman

  boulders, glacially transported, 6.1, 9.1

  Bowers, Henry

  brain, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 8.1, 10.1

  pineal gland in

  Richter’s patch of, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4

  size and

  British Museum

  Bunker, Archie (character)

  Caesar, Julius

  calcium carbonate

  Caledonian Mountains

  calendars

  decentralized Roman, 4.1, 4.2

  Gregorian

  lunar vs. solar

  in rocks

  California, University of, at Berkeley, 2.1, 7.1

  Camp Century, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, bm1.1n–7n

  Canada, 3.1, 4.1, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 8.1

  cancers

  sleep patterns and, 4.1, bm1.1n–9n

  Cape Johnson, USS

  carbon, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 3.1, 6.1

  atomic nucleus of

  versions of

  in volcanic ejecta, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3

  carbon, atmospheric, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3

  global temperatures affected by, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, bm1.1n

  recycling of, 3.1, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3

  carbon 14, 9.1, bm1.1n

  catastrophes, global, 1.1, 7.1

  evidence of, 7.1, 7.2

  extinctions caused by, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, bm1.1n–3n

  in fossil record, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3

  kings-of-the-hill species left by, 7.1, 7.2

  mechanisms of, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, bm1.1n

  survivors of, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3

  catastrophism, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4

  cave bears

  Cenozoic era

  cesium

  Chicago, University of, 6.1, 7.1, 8.1, 9.1, 9.2, 10.1

  circadian clocks, 4.1, 4.2, bm1.1n–9n

  controlling mechanism of, 4.1, 4.2

  of flies, 4.1, 4.2

  of hamsters, 4.1, 4.2

  light as trigger of, 4.1, 4.2

  mutant, 4.1, 4.2, bm1.1n–8n

  time perception vs.

  see also sleep patterns

  climate change, see ice ages; temperatures, global

  Cloud, Preston Ercelle, Jr., 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, bm1.1n

  coal, 5.1, 6.1, 7.1, 8.1

  cobalt, 2.1, 2.2

  Colbert, Edwin, 8.1, 8.2, bm1.1n

  cold war

  Project Iceworm of

  color perception, 8.1, bm1.1n

  color pigmentation

  Columbia University, 6.1, 6.2, 7.1

  comets, 3.1, 3.2

  Hale-Bopp, 3.1, bm1.1n

  Hartley 2, 3.1, bm1.1n–7n

  water ice of, 3.1, bm1.1n–7n

  communications technology

  Connecticut, 1.1, 1.2

  constellations, 2.1, 2.2

  continental drift, 6.1, 7.1, bm1.1n–2n, 8.1

  of ancient supercontinent, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 8.1, 8.2

  in Atlantic closing and reopening

  atmospheric oxygen and, 6.1, 6.2, bm1.1n

  conveyor belt image of, 6.1, 6.2

  deep-sea trenches in, 6.1, 6.2

  and distribution of similar fossils, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 6.5, 8.1

  earthquakes and, 6.1, 6.2

  mid-ocean ridge and rift valleys of, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 6.5, 6.6, 8.1

  NASA measurement of

  recycling of ocean floor in, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 8.1

  seafloor spreading in, 6.1, 6.2, 8.1

  of southern continents, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 8.1, 8.2

  see also plate tectonics

  Copernicus, Nicolaus

  coral reefs

  cores, drill, see drill cores

  cosmochemistry, n

  Cretaceous period, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, bm1.1n

  Croll, James, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.4

  Cuvier, Baron Georges, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, bm1.1n

  Dansgaard, Willi

  dark energy

  Darlington, Philip, 5.1, 5.2, bm1.1n

  crocodile attack on, 5.1, bm1.1n

  Darwin, Charles, 2.1, 5.1, 10.1, 10.2, bm1.1n

  Dawkins, Richard, n

  deep-sea trenches, 6.1, 6.2

  demolition derbies

  Denmark, 1.1, 9.1, 10.1, bm1.1n

  Descartes, René

  DeVito, Danny

  Devonian era

  diet, 9.1, bm1.1n–8n

  color perception and

  dinosaurs, 1.1, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 8.1

  in bridge abutment, 1.1, bm1.1n

  extinction of, 7.1, 7.2, bm1.1n, bm1.2n

  prosauropod

  DNA, prl.1, prl.2, 4.1, 5.1, 5.2, 9.1, 10.1, 10.2

  of color vision

  error-correction apparatus of

  in molecular clock

  Native American

  see also genes, genetic factors

  Dominy, Nathaniel, 8.1, bm1.1n

  drill cores, 3.1, 6.1, 7.1

  ice, 9.1, bm1.1n

  from seafloors, 6.1, 8.1

  dust clouds, 3.1, 3.2

  Earth

  age of, prl.1, 2.1, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 10.1, bm1.1n

  ancient, 3.1, 4.1, 5.1

  asteroid collision with, 4.1, 4.2

  geological changes of, 3.1, 3.2

  habitable zone location of, 3.1, 3.2

  heat balance of

  Jupiter’s effect on

  orbital changes of, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.4

  orbit of

  rotations of, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3

  slowing rotations of, 4.1, 4.2

  tilted rotation axis of, 4.1, 4.2, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3

  wobble of, 9.1, 9.2

  Earth, water on, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 4.1, 6.1, 8.1, 8.2

  atmospheric carbon removed by, 3.1, 8.1

  origins of, 3.1, bm1.1n–7n

  relative abundance of, 3.1, 3.2

  rotation slowed by

  see also oceans

  Earth-moon system

  see also moon

  earthquakes, 6.1, 6.2

  Echo 1 satellite

  Einstein, Albert

  E = mc2 equation of, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3

  einsteinium

  electromagnetism, 2.1, 3.1

  electrons, 2.1, 2.2, 5.1, 5.2, 9.1

  elements, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 7.1

  heavier, 2.1, 2.2

  in human body, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 8.1

  new, atomic bomb’s creation of

  periodic table of, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3

  in stellar fuel, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4

  volatile, 4.1, 4.2

  see also a
toms

  Elzevir, Louis

  Enceladus

  end-Cretaceous event, 7.1, 7.2, bm1.1n, bm1.2n

  energy, 2.1, 2.2, 5.1, 6.1

  dark

  mass and, 2.1, 2.2

  from photosynthesis

  Enewetak island

  England, 7.1, 7.2, 9.1

  erosion, 3.1, 6.1, 7.1, 7.2, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5, 8.6, 8.7

  Etosha National Park

  Eureka Sound

  Europa

  Europe, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 7.1, 9.1, 9.2

  evolution, 10.1, 10.2, bm1.1n

  natural selection in, 9.1, 10.1, 10.2, bm1.1n–8n

  prediction of

  Ewing, Maurice “Doc”, 6.1, 6.2

  extinctions, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, bm1.1n–3n, bm1.2n

  of Antarctic life

  end-Cretaceous event, 7.1, 7.2, bm1.1n, bm1.2n

  of ice age mammals

  family histories, 2.1, 4.1

  family trees, 2.1, 8.1, 10.1

  Fathometer

  Fermi, Enrico

  fermium

  “Field Kit to Characterize Physical, Chemical, and Spatial Aspects of Potential Primate Foods” (Lucas et al.), 8.1, bm1.1n

  fish, 2.1, 8.1

  bony

  gill bones of

  jawless, kidney of

  land adaptions developed by, 3.1, 10.1, 10.2

  pineal gland of

  fission reactions

  Fleming, Williamina, 2.1, 2.2

  flies

  molecular forces and

  mutant, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1

  size-control genes of, 5.1, bm1.1n

  fossil record, 1.1, 1.2

  global catastrophes in, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3

  head structure in

  most abundant species in

  multicelled animals in

  shelled animals in, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3

  in Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, 7.1, 7.2, bm1.1n

  whales in

  fossils, 3.1, 4.1, 5.1, 6.1, 7.1, 8.1

  amphibian, 8.1, 8.2

  Arctic redwood trees, 8.1, 8.2

  coral reefs

  dinosaur, see dinosaurs

  earliest, 4.1, 5.1, bm1.1n

  in Greenland, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 7.1

  hominid, 10.1, bm1.1n

  hunting for, 1.1, 1.2, 3.1, 7.1, 8.1, 10.1

  mammal, 1.1, 1.2, 7.1, 10.1

  plant, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3

  seashell, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 9.1

  shared Appalachian-European

  similar, continental distribution of, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 6.5, 8.1

  stratigraphic layers characterized by

  Fourier transform analysis

  Framingham Heart Study

  fusion reactions, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1

 

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