Crystals, 139-41, 156

Cuckoos, 72. See also Birds

Cultural relativism, 31

Cytochrome c, 42-43, 44, 49

Cytosine, 144. See also DNA

Darwin, Charles, 34, 61, 95, 107

Darwinism, xi-xii, 2;

arguments against, 92;

creationism and, 59;

genetic system and, 19, 155;

purpose and, 98-99, 101-2, 124.

See also Natural selection

Darwin's Dangerous Idea (Dennett), 102-3

Deception. See Nature

Dennett, Daniel, 102-3

Deoxyribonucleic acid. See DNA

Descendants. See Ancestors and descendants

Digital code:

in modern genetics, 17-20;

in modern technology, 13-14

Distance, 73, 74

DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid):

cells and, 154;

characteristics of, 7-8, 144, 150;

effects of sex on DNA history, 39-41, 46-47;

forerunner of, 151;

“junk,” 18;

mitochondrial, 46-49;

phenotypes and, 152-53;

replication of, 144, 150, 154;

as a river of information, xii, 4, 39;

as self-copying molecules, 144;

survival of, 105-6, 120, 131, 150.

See also Genes; Genetic code

Earth, 136, 138. See also Replication bomb

Embryology, 153

Embryos:

development of, 24-27;

enzymes in, 25;

gastrulation, 25-26;

genes in, 24-25, 26-28, 129-30;

individual differences and, 26-28;

polarity of, 24-25

Engineering, reverse, 102-3, 104

Enzymes, 22-23, 25

Eukaryotic cells, 46, 154. See also Mitochondria

Evolution:

African Eve, 33;

Argument from Personal Incredulity, 70, 77, 91-92;

cultural myths of, 31-33;

cytochrome c and, 43-44;

evolutionary intermediates, 59-60, 61, 70-84, 87-93;