biology

The Making of the Fittest

The Making of the Fittest is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand The Making of the Fittest rather than just read about it. In short: The Making of the Fittest: DNA and the Ultimate Forensic Record of Evolution is a science book by Sean B. Carroll, published in 2006.

Key takeaways

The Making of the Fittest belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect The Making of the Fittest to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of The Making of the Fittest from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Making of the Fittest: DNA and the Ultimate Forensic Record of Evolution is a science book by Sean B. Carroll, published in 2006. It is a general interest book on evolution, following on his two previous works Endless Forms Most Beautiful and From DNA to Diversity (an introductory text for biology graduate students). Carroll discusses specific examples of how evolutionary processes have played out in the development of selected species, and focuses on the pivotal function of changes in DNA sequences for understanding the history of natural selection. The book won the Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science.

Contents Preface: Beyond Any Reasonable Doubt discusses the nature of DNA evidence. Introduction: The Bloodless Fish of Bouvet Island describes the evolution of antifreeze protein in icefish. The Everyday Math of Evolution looks at work in population genetics by William E. Castle, R. C. Punnett, H. T. J. Norton, J. B. S. Haldane and others. He emphasizes that natural selection, by its nature, is cumulative and nonrandom: “The mutational process is blind, natural selection is not. Mutation generates random variation, selection sorts out the winners and losers. Furthermore, natural selection acts cumulatively." Immortal Genes: Running in Place for Eons discusses conserved sequences. Since the genetic code is degenerate, some mutations result in codons that code for the same amino acid. Such synonymous substitutions are far less likely to be conserved by natural selection. Making the New from the Old describes gene duplication, particularly in the evolution of color vision in primates. The insertion of Long interspersed nuclear elements and Short interspersed nuclear elements allow us to construct phylogenetic trees: “Once a SINE or a LINE is inserted, there is no active mechanism for removing it. The insertion of these elements marks a gene in a species, and is then inherited by all species descended from it.” Fossil Genes: The Broken Pieces of Yesterday's Life describes pseudogenes, vestiges of functional genes that were not maintained by natural selection and accumulated deleterious mutations. In the human genome, MYH16 is an example. Déjà Vu: How and Why Evolution Repeats Itself looks at convergent evolution. Our Flesh and Blood: Arms Races, the Human Race, and Natural Selection looks at evolutionary arms races, starting with the rough-skinned newt and garter snake. He describes Anthony Allison’s work showing that sickle cell anemia is more common in populations where malaria is endemic. The Making and Evolution of Complexity describes Carroll’s own field of evolutionary developmental biology. He describes the evolution of the eye. Seeing and Believing looks at the antiscientific movements Lysenkoism, chiropractic and creationism. The Palm Trees of Wyoming looks at evolutionary ecology.

Reception A review for the National Center for Science Education by Louise Mead states that the book "should be required reading for those teetering on the edge of accepting evolution, as well as anyone interested in learning more about the great epic of life", and that it provides evocative and powerful examples of how evolution works and why it matters. David McKinnon, writing for the Journal of Clinical Investigation, notes that the book is stylistically and conceptually similar to the works of Stephen Jay Gould, but based strongly on findings in molecular biology that were not yet available for Gould. He concluded that the book was "sufficiently comprehensive to make a good introduction to evolution for the lay reader or nonspecialist and is highly recommended".

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The Making of the Fittest

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The Making of the Fittest claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to The Making of the Fittest before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about The Making of the Fittest ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of The Making of the Fittest

In research: The Making of the Fittest appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses The Making of the Fittest in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: The Making of the Fittest is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2006 non-fiction books, Books about evolution, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The Making of the Fittest outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study The Making of the Fittest in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The Making of the Fittest means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain The Making of the Fittest out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is The Making of the Fittest in simple terms?

The Making of the Fittest: DNA and the Ultimate Forensic Record of Evolution is a science book by Sean B. Carroll, published in 2006.

Why does The Making of the Fittest matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study The Making of the Fittest?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on The Making of the Fittest.