Life as a Single Cell: Creating a New Animal. Making bodies from cells -- The rise of sexual reproduction -- The beginnings of a life: egg and sperm -- The odd case of jumping genes -- Fertilization -- Cleavage and the cell cycle -- The machines of cell division -- The Rise of Structure: Early Growth and Differentiation. Cleavage and implantation of the embryo --Gastrulation: layers and migrations -- Organizers: the experiments of Spemann and Mangold -- How signals work -- Molecular signals in gastrulation -- From the organizer to the notochord -- The Origins of the Major Organs. From the notochord to the nervous system -- Secondary neurulation and the early brain -- The development of unique features of the human brain -- Hox genes: a universal scaffold for the head-to-tail axis -- From left to right: symmetries and asymmetries -- The heart -- Developmental molecules and heart disease -- Building blood vessels -- Blood vessels in cancer and other diseases -- The digestive system -- Liver, pancreas, and gallbladder -- Lungs -- Bones -- Skeletal muscle -- Skin -- Limbs -- Cell death: a sculptor of development -- Eyes -- Cell Differentiation and Disease. Stem cells and potential therapies -- Illuminating the cell -- Stem cells and cancer -- Blood cells -- Neurons and glia -- Evolution and Development. Ernst Haeckel and recapitulation theory -- Genomes and homologs -- Hox genes and genome evolution -- An evolutionary tool kit -- Gene homologies and the origins of organs -- The Flip Side of Evolution -- Xenotransplantation and the creation of artificial species -- Summary and some final thoughts.
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