Jonathan Silvertown
Ireland, United Kingdom
As seen in:
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Treezilla: The Monster Map of Trees. A citizen science project from @OpenScienceLab, OU in partnership with @Forest_Research @Treeconomics. New apps soon!
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Articles by Jonathan Silvertown
Nature’s Magicians: How Leaves Conjure Up Our World
. Oct. 2026. 256p. ISBN 9781668098431. $29. NATURE COPY ISBN Evolutionary biologist Silvertown ( Selfish Genes to Social Beings: A Cooperative History of Life) enthuses about leaf complexity and its wide range of achievements. Leaves communicate with each other and the whole plant via smells and other chemical signals. They change color: leaves adapt to changing environments, both seasonally and over the long term.
Jak współpracujemy. Od samolubnych genów do istot społecznych
W jaki sposób Czarnobrody utrzymywał dyscyplinę wśród swojej załogi liczącej trzystu marynarzy? Jak to się stało, że żołnierze dwóch wrogich armii spędzili razem Boże Narodzenie? Dlaczego do polowania na bizony potrzebna była aż setka ludzi działających razem niczym dobrze naoliwiony mechanizm? W obliczu obrazów przemocy, które dominują w mediach, często trudno nam myśleć o ludziach jako o gatunku życzliwym i pomagającym sobie wzajemnie.
Dlaczego współpraca działa? Opowieść o naszej ukrytej supermocy [fragment książki]
Trzęsienie ziemi w Meksyku, 1985 r. W obliczu obrazów przemocy, które dominują w mediach, często trudno nam myśleć o ludziach jako o gatunku życzliwym i pomagającym sobie wzajemnie. Jednak Jonathan Silvertown przekonuje, że współpraca stanowi nasz najlepszy sposób na przetrwanie i jest głęboko wpleciona w liczące sobie cztery miliardy lat dzieje życia. To właśnie dzięki niej organizmy stale się rozwijają i szybciej dostosowują do zmieniających się warunków.
Cooperation and the history of life: is natural selection a team sport?
By Jonathan Silvertown August 14th 2024 Cooperation is in our nature, for good and for ill, but there is still a nagging doubt that something biological in us compels us to be selfish—our genes. This is the paradox: genes are inexorably driven by self-replication, and yet cooperation continually rears its head. Not only are humans fundamentally team players, but all of nature has been teaming up since the dawn of life four billion years ago.
Sex in City Plants, Animals, Fungi, and More: A Guide to Reproductive Diversity
Cities pose formidable obstacles to nonhuman life. Vast expanses of asphalt and concrete are inhospitable to plants and animals; traffic noise and artificial light disturb natural rhythms; sewage and pollutants imperil existence. Yet cities teem with life: In rowhouse neighborhoods, tiny flowers bloom from cracks in the sidewalk. White clover covers lawns, its seeds dispersed by shoes and birds. Moths flutter and spiders weave their webs near electric lights.
ChatGPT is funnier than you
here are three fundamental rules of humor. Unfortunately, no one can remember what they are. We can probably blame the Greek philosopher Aristotle for this because he apparently wrote an entire book on laughter, which was then lost. His mistake was not to write on tablets of stone. They are harder to lose, but the downside is that they demand brevity. There has to be a reason why there are only 10 commandments. Stone tablets were the Post-it notes of the ancient world. “Enough!” I hear you cry.
ChatGPT Is Funnier Than You
There are three fundamental rules of humor. Unfortunately, no one can remember what they are. We can probably blame the Greek philosopher Aristotle for this because he apparently wrote an entire book on laughter, which was then lost. His mistake was not to write on tablets of stone. They are harder to lose, but the downside is that they demand brevity. There has to be a reason why there are only 10 commandments. Stone tablets were the Post-it notes of the ancient world. “Enough!” I hear you cry.
Making PCR
198 pages | 10 halftones | 5-1/2 x 8-1/2 | © 1996 Paper $26.00 ISBN: 9780226701479 Published November 1997 Cloth $25.00 ISBN: 9780226701462 Published May 1996 E-book $10.00 to $26.00 About E-books ISBN: 9780226216874 Published November 2011 Making PCR is the fascinating, behind-the-scenes account of the invention of one of the most significant biotech discoveries in our time—the polymerase chain reaction.
Is the Cemetery Dead?
David Charles Sloane David Charles Sloane 288 pages | 47 halftones, 8 tables | 6 x 9 | © 2018 Cloth $27.50 ISBN: 9780226539447 Published April 2018 E-book $18.00 About E-books ISBN: 9780226539584 Published April 2018 In modern society, we have professionalized our care for the dying and deceased in hospitals and hospices, churches and funeral homes, cemeteries and mausoleums to aid dazed and disoriented mourners.
Washington Independent Review of Books
Jonathan Silvertown, professor of evolutionary ecology at the University of Edinburgh, leads off Dinner with Darwin: Food, Drink, and Evolution with a bold assertion. “There are too many books on food,” he writes, and then proceeds with his own contribution to this swelling canon. Like many of its shelved neighbors, Silvertown’s book discusses the means for producing and preparing the stuff we send down the hatch. But that’s where this superficial resemblance ends.
Putting meat on Homo’s menu
Although some diet books might suggest otherwise, nature has been very accommodating in its meal plan for Homo sapiens. Whereas other great apes, such as gorillas and orangutans, are vegetarian (though some chimpanzees will eat monkey), evolution has made humans omnivores and left most culinary decisions up to us. So, when did evolution enable humans to eat meat?
Evolution put more options on the menu
While some diet books might suggest otherwise, nature has been very accommodating in its meal plan for Homo sapiens. Whereas other great apes, such as gorillas and orangutans, are vegetarian — although some chimpanzees will eat monkey — evolution has made humans “omnivores” and left most culinary decisions up to us. So, when did evolution enable humans to eat meat? Two sources — our species’ family tree and the fossil record — offer clues.
Evolution is back on the menu
While some diet books might suggest otherwise, nature has been very accommodating in its meal plan for Homo sapiens. Whereas other great apes, such as gorillas and orangutans, are vegetarian (though some chimpanzees will eat monkey), evolution has made humans “omnivores” and left most culinary decisions up to us. So, when did evolution enable humans to eat meat? Two sources – our species’ family tree and the fossil record – offer clues.
Evolution on the Menu | by Jonathan Silvertown
Everything people eat has an evolutionary dimension, but as the history of meat and milk consumption demonstrates, choice is often an overlooked factor. While biology has historically provided the potential for diversity in the human diet, it is culture that has written the menu. EDINBURGH – While some diet books might suggest otherwise, nature has been very accommodating in its meal plan for Homo sapiens.
Food, Drink, and Evolution
What do eggs, flour, and milk have in common? They form the basis of waffles, of course, but these staples of breakfast bounty also share an evolutionary function: eggs, seeds (from which we derive flour by grinding), and milk have each evolved to nourish offspring. Indeed, ponder the genesis of your breakfast, lunch, or dinner, and you’ll soon realize that everything we eat and drink has an evolutionary history.
Dinner with Darwin: Food, Drink, and Evolution
Jonathan Silvertown, professor of evolutionary ecology at the University of Edinburgh, leads off Dinner with Darwin: Food, Drink, and Evolution with a bold assertion. “There are too many books on food,” he writes, and then proceeds with his own contribution to this swelling canon. Like many of its shelved neighbors, Silvertown’s book discusses the means for producing and preparing the stuff we send down the hatch. But that’s where this superficial resemblance ends.
Citizen Science Reveals Unexpected Continental-Scale Evolutionary Change in a Model Organism
Organisms provide some of the most sensitive indicators of climate change and evolutionary responses are becoming apparent in species with short generation times. Large datasets on genetic polymorphism that can provide an historical benchmark against which to test for recent evolutionary responses are very rare, but an exception is found in the brown-lipped banded snail (Cepaea nemoralis).
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