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Article: The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time. (book reviews)
- Article from:
- Insight on the News
- Article date:
- June 20, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 News World Communications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Charles Darwin's brief visit to the Galapagos Islands in 1835 became one of the most famous events in the history of biology. His observations of the creatures found in that isolated volcanic archipelago some 600 miles to the west of equatorial South America aroused speculations in his mind that during the next quarter-century developed into his theory of natural selection.
A century and a half later, as Jonathan Weiner tells us in his fascinating new book, The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time (Knopf, 332 pp), dedicated scientists are discovering surprising new evidence about how natural forces encourage species to change far more rapidly than ...