Jonathan Losos' Critical Reads

Jonathan B. Losos is a biology professor and director of the Losos Laboratory at Harvard University and curator of herpetology at Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology. His research regularly appears in top scientific journals, such as Nature and Science, and he has written a popular series about his work for The New York Times. Losos is the editor in chief of The Princeton Guide to Evolution and a member of the National Geographic Society’s Committee for Research and Exploration. He is the author of Lizards in an Evolutionary Tree: Ecology and Adaptive Radiation of Anoles. Jonathan will discuss Improbable Destinies on Tuesday 12/5, 6pm at the Co-op.

Wonderful Life, by Stephen Jay Gould

Song of the Dodo, by David Quammer

Your Inner Fish, by Neil Shubin

Beak of the Finch, by Jonathan Weiner

The Diversity of Life, by Edward O. Wilson

About Improbable Destinies: Earth's natural history is full of fascinating instances of both random and predictable evolution. Evolutionary convergence, phenomena like eyes and wings and tree-climbing lizards that have evolved independently in multiple species, multiple times, suggests a predictability in the way animals evolve and adapt. But evolutionary biologists also study examples of evolutionary contingency: cases where the tiniest change – a random mutation or an ancient butterfly sneeze – caused evolution to take a completely different course. In Improbable Destinies, Losos takes readers across the globe to study the history, context, and evidence for both sides of this debate, raising fascinating questions about what role each force really plays in the constantly changing natural world. Are the plants and animals that exist today, and we humans ourselves, predictable inevitabilities or slapdash evolutionary freaks? And what could these debates suggest about life on other planets? 

Through an exploration of incredible feats of experimental design alongside his own pioneering work with lizards on Caribbean islands, Losos rewinds the tape of life to reveal just how rapid and predictable evolution can be. Losos’ insights into natural selection and evolutionary change have far-reaching applications for protecting ecosystems, securing our food supply, and fighting off harmful viruses and bacteria, and offer a new way of understanding ourselves and our role in the natural world on earth and within the cosmos.