Every one of us carries the history of life on our skin, in our DNA, and in our bodies. The history of life is like a Russian nested doll: As we tease apart the layers, we trace our connections with long-extinct species.Neil Shubin
If you know how to look, our body becomes a time capsule that, when opened, tells of critical moments in the history of our planet and of a distant past in ancient oceans, streams and forests.Neil Shubin
Take a look at your hand. You use it to brush your teeth, comb your hair, or read a book. But take a closer look, and you’ll see a history that goes all the way back to fish, over 350 million years ago.Neil Shubin
Finding fossils is a blend of hard work, serendipity and knowing where to look.Neil Shubin
Much as a historian can study the parchment of a medieval manuscript to illuminate the culture that produced it, we can use our own bodies as a sort of parchment to understand the deep history that led to us.Neil Shubin
If we want to locate a common ancestor to all placental mammals, we have to go back between 86 and 110 millions of years to locate the species that lies at our base. Each us of carries the remnants of this journey insideNeil Shubin
Genes are recipes, they are not blueprints.Neil Shubin
Our bodies are mosaics: some pieces ancient, others recent, parts working together and others not.Neil Shubin
We are first and foremost animals. Our health depends on appreciating this fact… Our habits, lifestyle, and diet have a direct relationship with the health and well-being of our family, neighbors, and friends.Neil Shubin
Fish don't know water exists till they jump out of it. In the same way, scientists didn't understand the environment that permeates everything we do until they stepped outside it.Neil Shubin