Symmorphosis: On Form and Function in Shaping Life (John M. Prather Lectures)
Language: English
Published by Harvard University Press, 2000
- Hardcover
- Used
Seller: Swan Trading Company, GEORGETOWN, TX, U.S.A.Swan Trading Company
AbeBooks seller since August 20, 2004
Condition: Used - Good
£ 36.12
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
This hardcover is an Ex-Library with typical stamps. No dust jacket. Binding is tight. Covers are clean and crisp. Pages appear bright and unmarked. Ships FAST! Bringing good books to happy readers since 2002.
Seller Inventory # 2608070065
- Title
- Symmorphosis: On Form and Function in Shaping Life (John M. Prather Lectures)
- Author
- Weibel M.D., Ewald R.
- Publisher
- Harvard University Press
- Publication year
- 2000
- Condition
- Good
- Dust jacket
- Missing
- Binding
- hardcover
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 0674000684
- ISBN 13
- 9780674000681
- Item weight
- 19 ounces
- Dimensions
- 8x0x5
This book addresses a simple question: Are animals designed economically? The pronghorn can run at speeds of up to 60 kilometers an hour and can maintain this speed for nearly a full hour. Clearly, the form of this elegant animal is beautifully matched to the function it needs to perform.
This is symmorphosis. The theory of symmorphosis predicts that the size of the parts in a system must be matched to the overall functional demand. Moreover, it predicts that animals must provide their complex systems with a functional capacity that can cope with the highest expected functional demands, possibly including some safety margin to prevent the system from failing when it is overloaded. In Symmorphosis, Ewald Weibel tests these predictions by working out the quantitative relations between form and function.
Physiologists will value this book because Weibel shows them that morphological information can be as quantitative as physiological data. Anatomists will value the book for its demonstration that advanced integrative physiology crucially depends on adequate but rigorously quantitative and testable information on structural design. Finally, anyone interested in the origins of the diverse forms of animals will be fascinated by Weibel's demonstrations that show how animals as different as shrews, pronghorns, dogs, goats--even humans--all develop from essentially the same blueprint by variation of design. This is a hidden beauty of the animal kingdom, which can be uncovered by a rigorous investigation of the quantitative relations of form and function.
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About the Author
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Swan Trading Company
GEORGETOWN, TX, U.S.A.
AbeBooks seller since August 20, 2004
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Swan Trading Company
TX, U.S.A.
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Swan Trading Company
Mark and Susan Lyons
2915 Brandy Ln
Georgetown, TX 78628
(512) 497-2398
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