Unnatural Selection
How We Are Changing Life, Gene by Gene
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
Gonorrhea. Bed bugs. Weeds. Salamanders. People. All are evolving, some surprisingly rapidly, in response to our chemical age. In Unnatural Selection, Emily Monosson shows how our drugs, pesticides, and pollution are exerting intense selection pressure on all manner of species. And we humans might not like the result.
Monosson reveals that the very code of life is more fluid than once imagined. When our powerful chemicals put the pressure on to evolve or die, beneficial traits can sweep rapidly through a population. Species with explosive population growth—the bugs, bacteria, and weeds—tend to thrive, while bigger, slower-to-reproduce creatures, like ourselves, are more likely to succumb.
Monosson explores contemporary evolution in all its guises. She examines the species that we are actively trying to beat back, from agricultural pests to life-threatening bacteria, and those that are collateral damage—creatures struggling to adapt to a polluted world. Monosson also presents cutting-edge science on gene expression, showing how environmental stressors are leaving their mark on plants, animals, and possibly humans for generations to come.
Unnatural Selection is eye-opening and more than a little disquieting. But it also suggests how we might lessen our impact: manage pests without creating super bugs; protect individuals from disease without inviting epidemics; and benefit from technology without threatening the health of our children.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The power of evolution, toxicologist Monosson (Evolution in a Toxic World) demonstrates, is quite amazing: when strong selective pressure is coupled with short generation times, significant changes in populations can occur over very brief intervals. Monosson focuses on a number of ways humans have created strict selective environments, in which targeted species either must adapt quickly or die, to combat serious pests. She then examines how targeted species have outsmarted us, in large part due to our injudicious use of selective agents. The results might well be catastrophic for the well-being of the human population indiscriminate use of antibiotics has created superbugs for which we have no meaningful defense. Monosson warns us that "The threat of untreatable infections is real... the day when antibiotics don't work is upon us." She describes a similar situation with pesticide resistant weeds, showing that they are increasingly overrunning crops with impunity. Monosson extends these lessons by exploring the impact our practices have on control of cancerous cells, bedbugs, and disease-carrying and agriculture-destroying insects. She concludes with an interesting, if tangential, discussion of epigenetics, which is the study of the impact of environmental influences on genetic expression over the course of generations. Throughout, Monosson's goal is to understand "how our choices impact life's evolutionary course."
