Mutants: On Genetic Variety and the Human Body"Who are the mutants? We are all mutants. But some of us are more mutant than others." Variety, even deformity, may seem like an unlikely route by which to approach normality, even perfection. Yet much of what we know about the mechanisms of human development, growth, and aging comes from the study of people who are afflicted with congenital diseases, most of which have genetic causes. Congenital abnormalities reveal not only errors within the womb, but also our evolutionary history. In "Mutants," Armand Marie Leroi gives a brilliant narrative account of our genetic grammar and the people whose bodies have revealed it, balancing both the science and the stories behind some of history's most captivating figures-including a French convent girl who found herself changing sex upon puberty; children who, echoing Homer's Cyclops, are born with a single eye in the middle of their foreheads; a village of long-lived Croatian dwarves; a hairy family who was kept at the Burmese royal court for four generations (and from whom Darwin took one of his keenest insights into heredity); and the ostrich-footed Wadoma of the Zambezi River Valley. Stepping effortlessly from myth to molecular biology, this elegant, humane, and illuminating book is about us all. |
Contents
Mutants An introduction | 3 |
The Last Judgement On first parts | 105 |
The War with the Cranes On growth | 169 |
Copyright | |
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achondroplasia African albinism Alexina American Journal anatomist animals beauty become body bone born Boruwlaski Buffon called cancer cells cent centimetres child chromosome clitoris conjoined twins cretinism cyclopia cyclopic defective deformity digits disease disorder dogs dwarfs embryo encodes enzyme eyes female FGFs fingers flies foetus geneticists genitals genome Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire girls grow growth factor growth hormone growth plates hair follicles hairy head homeotic genes Hox genes human hyenas infants least legs limb-bud limbs Linnaeus live London longevity male mammals mesoderm mice molecular molecules monsters morphogen mouse mutations mutations that cause Nature Genetics neural noggin normal organiser osteoblasts Ovitz perhaps piebald pituitary polydactyly protein pygmies receptor retinoic acid Ritta and Christina signalling sirenomelia skeleton skin skull sonic hedgehog spotted hyenas superoxide superoxide dismutase syndrome taller telomeres teratology testosterone thalidomide thing tion tissue tumor variation vertebrae Vrolik Wellcome Library women