Embryogenesis Explained

Book excerpt: The greatest mystery of life is how a single fertilized egg develops into a fully functioning, sometimes conscious multicellular organism. Embryogenesis Explained offers a new theory of how embryos build themselves, and combines simple physics with the most recent biochemical and genetic breakthroughs, based on their discovery of differentiation waves. The authors explain their ideas in a form accessible to the lay person and the broad spectrum of scientists and engineers. Readers are prompted to question whether existing concepts of explanation in molecular developmental biology are adequate to the task. The book examines the history of the belief that there is something special about life that is either outside the realm of science or requires new laws of nature. The different subjects of development, physics, genetics and evolution are unified to explain the major unanswered scientific question of our time.