The greatest riddle of evolution has been the following puzzle: while Darwin argued that new species emerge through a slow, gradual accumulation of tiny mutations, the fossil record reveals a very different scenario--the sudden emergence of whole new species, with no apparent immediate ancestors. This discrepancy has fueled heated debate among evolutionary theorists and has provided unfortunate fodder to creationists, who see it as proof that evolution doesn't happen at all. Now, in this provocative and timely book, leading paleoanthropologist Jeffrey Schwartz presents a groundbreaking and radical new theory of evolution, which brings together evidence from genetics, paleontology, embryology, and anatomy to solve this great outstanding riddle. Central to the new theory is the recent discovery of a special kind of gene, known as homeobox genes, which can cause dramatic mutations that express themselves suddenly in the form of a new species. Such a new species will appear to have arisen out of thin air, with no lineage of ancestors. The new theory preserves natural selection, but shows that it is not the primary engine driving evolution, after all. Writing with graceful prose and the expert knowledge only an insider can bring, Jeffrey Schwartz begins by taking readers on a fascinating journey through the whole history of evolutionary thinking and discovery, recounting the major events and disputes. He also introduces the intriguing puzzles encountered along the way in the study of human evolution and shows how, despite early alternative theories advanced by some of the greatest scientific minds of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, gradualism became a matter of scientific orthodoxy.

His account includes the stories behind such highlights as the infamous Piltdown hoax and the remarkable discovery of the astonishingly complete Lucy skeleton. Schwartz then introduces the series of important recent discoveries in developmental biology and genetics that paved the way to his new theory, culminating with the discovery of homeobox genes. This surprisingly small set of key regulatory genes controls everything about the way an animal develops. A slight variation in one of these crucial genes can make the difference between an embryonic limb bud developing into a fin or a foot, an arm or a wing. The key insight Schwartz presents is that a dramatic mutation in one of these genes will be passed on silently, unexpressed, through generations until that mutation is carried by a large enough portion of the population that it will suddenly express itself in bodily form in a number of individuals in a short period of time, creating a new species. Sudden Origins is a provocative and important book that will change the debate about evolution and challenge a number of popular ideas premised on the foundation of Darwinism. This book is crucial reading for anyone who has ever pondered the mysteries of our evolutionary heritage. "In the evolutionary sciences, where we are all struggling to piece together a history that can be perceived only through the fragments of fossils or the living termini of a past that is now lost, it would be foolhardy to cling unreservedly to a particular set of models and hypotheses without at least occasionally questioning their very bases.

Recent discoveries, both of fossils that muddy the presumed clear picture of human evolution and of previously unknown kinds of genes that can control whether an organism develops into a fruit fly or a mouse, serve to take us back to where the early evolutionists began: wrestling with the past through the eyes of a scientist as well as an organism that can contemplate its own existence."--from the Preface.