|
"In the country of the blind, the one-eyed
man is king." H.G. Well's famous dictum tells us something
that may seem self-evident: sight matters. But imagine for
a moment that the country of the blind is in fact the whole
world, 550 million years ago. It's a world where life is
primitive and aimless, and evolution slow and painstaking.
Then something remarkable happens. Over
the next five million years, the process of evolution kicks
into overdrive. For the first time, animals evolve hard
external parts. Both hunters and prey develop armaments
and defenses. And in this short space of time -- the blink
of an eye, in geological terms -- the number of different
classifications of animals, or phyla, mushrooms from three
to thirty-eight, the number we still have today.
The "when" and the "what"
of this extraordinary event, known as the Cambrian Explosion,
have been known for some time, and were made famous in Stephen
Jay Gould's bestselling book, Wonderful Life. What
has -- until now -- been speculation is the "why."
Why did this "Big Bang" of biology happen when
it did? What caused it?
Here, for the first time, Oxford zoologist
Andrew Parker reveals his theory of this great flourishing
of life. Parker's astounding explanation is that it was
the development of vision in primitive animals that caused
the explosion. Precambrian creatures were unable to see,
making it difficult to find friend or foe. With the evolution
of the eye, the size shape, color, and behaviour of animals
was suddenly revealed. Once the lights were "turned
on," there was enormous pressure to evolve hard external
parts as defenses and clasping limbs to grab prey. The animal
kingdom exploded into life, and the country of the blind
became a teeming mass of hunters and hunted, all scrambling
for their place on the evolutionary tree.
Parker's theory, which is becoming increasingly
influential and accepted, is at the heart of this scientific
detective story. Drawing on evidence not just from biology,
but also from geology, physics, chemistry, history, and
art, In the Blink of an Eye is the fascinating account
of a young scientist's intellectual journey, and a celebration
of the scientific method.
Andrew Parker received his Ph.D. from
Macquarie University in Sydney while working in marine biology
for the Australian Museum. He became a Royal Society University
Research Fellow at Oxford University's Department of Zoology
in 1999, and is an Ernest Cook Research Fellow of Somerville
College, Oxford, and a Research Associate of the Australian
Museum and University of Sydney. He has published numerous
scientific papers on topics as diverse as optics in nature,
biomimetics, and evolution. He lives in Oxfordshire, England.
|
