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The Triumph of the Embryo
An age old mystery, the development of the microscopic embryo into exceedingly complex plants and animals--into roses and cacti, elephants and blue whales, apes and human beings--stands as one of the most fundamental and important questions facing modern biologists. How does one cell give rise
to so many millions of cells? How do they divide so as to form hearts, brains, eyes, and ears? Where in this pin-head-sized object is all this information encoded? Now, in The Triumph of the Embryo , biologist Lewis Wolpert answers these and other questions in a lucid tour of embryology, which offers
the latest theories in this fascinating field.
Filled with rich and unusual examples, metaphors, and descriptions, Wolpert moves beyond his overall narrative to discuss the many issues it raises, such as aging, cancer, regeneration, and evolution. Readers discover why all calico cats are female; encounter a fruit fly engineered to grow a leg
out of its head; and find out why there seems to be a 110 year age barrier for the human body. Clearly written and illustrated with striking examples, The Triumph of the Embryo offers a dazzling look at the marvels of modern biology.
to so many millions of cells? How do they divide so as to form hearts, brains, eyes, and ears? Where in this pin-head-sized object is all this information encoded? Now, in The Triumph of the Embryo , biologist Lewis Wolpert answers these and other questions in a lucid tour of embryology, which offers
the latest theories in this fascinating field.
Filled with rich and unusual examples, metaphors, and descriptions, Wolpert moves beyond his overall narrative to discuss the many issues it raises, such as aging, cancer, regeneration, and evolution. Readers discover why all calico cats are female; encounter a fruit fly engineered to grow a leg
out of its head; and find out why there seems to be a 110 year age barrier for the human body. Clearly written and illustrated with striking examples, The Triumph of the Embryo offers a dazzling look at the marvels of modern biology.
- GenresScienceNonfictionBiology
220 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1991
6 people are currently reading
83 people want to read
About the author
Lewis Wolpert
35 books108 followersLewis Wolpert CBE FRS FRSL was a developmental biologist, author, and broadcaster.
Career
He was educated at the University of Witwatersrand, Imperial College London, and at King's College London. He is presently Emeritus Professor of Biology as applied to Medicine in the Department of Anatomy and developmental biology at University College London.
He is well known in his field for elaborating and championing the ideas of positional information and positional value: molecular signals and internal cellular responses to them that enable cells to do the right thing in the right place during embryonic development. The essence of these concepts is that there is a dedicated set of molecules for spatial coordination of cells that is the same across many species and across different developmental stages and tissues. The discovery of Hox gene codes in flies and vertebrates has largely vindicated Wolpert's positional value concept, while identification of growth factor morphogens in many species has supported the concept of positional information.
In addition to his scientific and research publications, he has written about his own experience of clinical depression in Malignant Sadness: The Anatomy of Depression. This was turned into three television programmes entitled 'A Living Hell' which he presented on BBC2.
He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1980 and awarded the CBE in 1990. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1999.
He is a Vice-President of the British Humanist Association.
Theories
Wolpert is regarded as a rationalist. In an April 7, 2005 article entitled "Spiked", The Guardian asked a series of scientists "What is the one thing everyone should learn about science?" Wolpert responded, "I would teach the world that science is the best way to understand the world, and that for any set of observations, there is only one correct explanation. Also, science is value-free, as it explains the world as it is. Ethical issues arise only when science is applied to technology – from medicine to industry."
In a lecture entitled "Is Science Dangerous?", he expanded on this: "I regard it as ethically unacceptable and impractical to censor any aspect of trying to understand the nature of our world."
On May 25, 1994, Wolpert conducted an hour-long interview with Dr. Francis Crick called "How the Brain 'sees' " for The Times Dillon Science Forum; a video of the interview was produced by Just Results Video Productions for The Times.
On January 15, 2004, Wolpert and biologist/ parapsychologist Rupert Sheldrake engaged in a live debate regarding the evidence for telepathy. It took place at the Royal Society of Arts in London.
In the late 1960s Wolpert proposed the illustrative French flag model, which explains how signalling between cells early in morphogenesis could be used to inform cells with the same Genetic regulatory network of their position and role.
He is credited with the famous quote: "It is not birth, marriage, or death, but gastrulation which is truly the most important time in your life."
An early book was The Unnatural Nature of Science. His most recent book is Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast.
In May 2008, he gave one of four plenary lectures at the European Society for the Study of Science and Theology in Sigtuna, Sweden. His talk was reported as follows:
Lewis Wolpert's plenary address entitled "The Origins of Science and Religion" was provocative, amusing and from a totally materialist perspective. In his view, religion arose from the uniquely human need for causal explanations, and neither religion nor philosophy contributed anything of importance to scientific undersanding. ... ESSSAT is to be congratulated for offering its platform to a strong-minded materialist, but in the end Wolpert proved unable to enter serious debate with the conference theme or its participants.
-
Career
He was educated at the University of Witwatersrand, Imperial College London, and at King's College London. He is presently Emeritus Professor of Biology as applied to Medicine in the Department of Anatomy and developmental biology at University College London.
He is well known in his field for elaborating and championing the ideas of positional information and positional value: molecular signals and internal cellular responses to them that enable cells to do the right thing in the right place during embryonic development. The essence of these concepts is that there is a dedicated set of molecules for spatial coordination of cells that is the same across many species and across different developmental stages and tissues. The discovery of Hox gene codes in flies and vertebrates has largely vindicated Wolpert's positional value concept, while identification of growth factor morphogens in many species has supported the concept of positional information.
In addition to his scientific and research publications, he has written about his own experience of clinical depression in Malignant Sadness: The Anatomy of Depression. This was turned into three television programmes entitled 'A Living Hell' which he presented on BBC2.
He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1980 and awarded the CBE in 1990. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1999.
He is a Vice-President of the British Humanist Association.
Theories
Wolpert is regarded as a rationalist. In an April 7, 2005 article entitled "Spiked", The Guardian asked a series of scientists "What is the one thing everyone should learn about science?" Wolpert responded, "I would teach the world that science is the best way to understand the world, and that for any set of observations, there is only one correct explanation. Also, science is value-free, as it explains the world as it is. Ethical issues arise only when science is applied to technology – from medicine to industry."
In a lecture entitled "Is Science Dangerous?", he expanded on this: "I regard it as ethically unacceptable and impractical to censor any aspect of trying to understand the nature of our world."
On May 25, 1994, Wolpert conducted an hour-long interview with Dr. Francis Crick called "How the Brain 'sees' " for The Times Dillon Science Forum; a video of the interview was produced by Just Results Video Productions for The Times.
On January 15, 2004, Wolpert and biologist/ parapsychologist Rupert Sheldrake engaged in a live debate regarding the evidence for telepathy. It took place at the Royal Society of Arts in London.
In the late 1960s Wolpert proposed the illustrative French flag model, which explains how signalling between cells early in morphogenesis could be used to inform cells with the same Genetic regulatory network of their position and role.
He is credited with the famous quote: "It is not birth, marriage, or death, but gastrulation which is truly the most important time in your life."
An early book was The Unnatural Nature of Science. His most recent book is Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast.
In May 2008, he gave one of four plenary lectures at the European Society for the Study of Science and Theology in Sigtuna, Sweden. His talk was reported as follows:
Lewis Wolpert's plenary address entitled "The Origins of Science and Religion" was provocative, amusing and from a totally materialist perspective. In his view, religion arose from the uniquely human need for causal explanations, and neither religion nor philosophy contributed anything of importance to scientific undersanding. ... ESSSAT is to be congratulated for offering its platform to a strong-minded materialist, but in the end Wolpert proved unable to enter serious debate with the conference theme or its participants.
-
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 18, 2025
胚胎大勝利。沃柏特著。周業仁譯。
生長發育像蓋房子，都是由簡到繁。不同的是，蓋房子要畫結構圖，生長發育卻是寫一則操作步驟。就像食譜或摺紙，生長發育是依據一道道指令執行下去的，一般將基因稱做生命的「藍圖」，顯然有點語意上的問題。另一個概念是，蓋房子是由人去蓋的，胚胎生長卻像是房子自己在蓋房子，是「自組織」的。而且，這個自組織，就像房子一樣，是個多層次、多功能的系統。當然，它不是隨意堆疊起來的，而是功能間、層次間結合緊密的結構。以上，它給予我們認知上的意義也是多重的：它象徵知識間必需互相結合、互相支持；象徵初始認知的影響是重大的；象徵知識發展必需在穩定中堆疊起來......等等。
反過來，若從認知原則去預測、評價生物生長的機制，我最期待、欣賞簡要、漂亮的「化學梯變」假說。這個假說可能由來甚早。書中提到的是英國數學家杜林(Turing)，他在1952年的論文認為化學物質的濃度可能控制了胚胎發育的模式。果蠅發育是這個假說最早被確認的證據：「受精卵還在母蠅體內發育時，就已經預設好了胚胎的極性：哪端會變成頭部，哪端形成尾部。......產卵時，bicoid蛋白質開始在前端合成，而且在卵內擴散，形成美麗的濃度梯度，最高濃度是在前端。......這個梯度控制了頭與胸之間的界限所在，還會啟動胚胎裡特定位置的另一個基因。......另外還有一組基因能影響胚胎後端的發育模式。這些基因的活動使胚胎有各種濃度不一的蛋白分布形式，啟動了特定部位的『配對法則基因』，......界定出體節的界線。」
再回到認知面。上述機制提示我們最重要的地方在於，蛋白質的濃度梯度必須是確定(穩定)的。萬一bicoid蛋白質濃度的最高點出現在卵的中央，那麼果蠅的頭就不會長在上面，而是在身體中央了。又如果在其他例子裡，蛋白質濃度梯度控制的是器官的形成，那麼，如果濃度不穩定，後果就會是發育成畸形器官，或根本無法發育成器官，那麼這個器官所擔負的特殊功能當然就不可能實現。這意思是，知識的穩定性是根本的，在不穩定的知識上想要推出穩定的知識無非緣木求魚。而穩定的知識何來？我曾說，那就是知識的「公共性」。也就是要訴諸全體人類共通的感官系統。那些個別的、特殊的感官經驗多半是不可靠的，不穩定的，也自然是不可依恃的。
生長發育像蓋房子，都是由簡到繁。不同的是，蓋房子要畫結構圖，生長發育卻是寫一則操作步驟。就像食譜或摺紙，生長發育是依據一道道指令執行下去的，一般將基因稱做生命的「藍圖」，顯然有點語意上的問題。另一個概念是，蓋房子是由人去蓋的，胚胎生長卻像是房子自己在蓋房子，是「自組織」的。而且，這個自組織，就像房子一樣，是個多層次、多功能的系統。當然，它不是隨意堆疊起來的，而是功能間、層次間結合緊密的結構。以上，它給予我們認知上的意義也是多重的：它象徵知識間必需互相結合、互相支持；象徵初始認知的影響是重大的；象徵知識發展必需在穩定中堆疊起來......等等。
反過來，若從認知原則去預測、評價生物生長的機制，我最期待、欣賞簡要、漂亮的「化學梯變」假說。這個假說可能由來甚早。書中提到的是英國數學家杜林(Turing)，他在1952年的論文認為化學物質的濃度可能控制了胚胎發育的模式。果蠅發育是這個假說最早被確認的證據：「受精卵還在母蠅體內發育時，就已經預設好了胚胎的極性：哪端會變成頭部，哪端形成尾部。......產卵時，bicoid蛋白質開始在前端合成，而且在卵內擴散，形成美麗的濃度梯度，最高濃度是在前端。......這個梯度控制了頭與胸之間的界限所在，還會啟動胚胎裡特定位置的另一個基因。......另外還有一組基因能影響胚胎後端的發育模式。這些基因的活動使胚胎有各種濃度不一的蛋白分布形式，啟動了特定部位的『配對法則基因』，......界定出體節的界線。」
再回到認知面。上述機制提示我們最重要的地方在於，蛋白質的濃度梯度必須是確定(穩定)的。萬一bicoid蛋白質濃度的最高點出現在卵的中央，那麼果蠅的頭就不會長在上面，而是在身體中央了。又如果在其他例子裡，蛋白質濃度梯度控制的是器官的形成，那麼，如果濃度不穩定，後果就會是發育成畸形器官，或根本無法發育成器官，那麼這個器官所擔負的特殊功能當然就不可能實現。這意思是，知識的穩定性是根本的，在不穩定的知識上想要推出穩定的知識無非緣木求魚。而穩定的知識何來？我曾說，那就是知識的「公共性」。也就是要訴諸全體人類共通的感官系統。那些個別的、特殊的感官經驗多半是不可靠的，不穩定的，也自然是不可依恃的。
April 4, 2025
A clear and engagingly written book on possible one the most simplest concepts to grasp but is also extremely difficult to understand fully given its depth.
November 30, 2013
I read this book for an introduction to embryology and it really fulfilled that function. However, what I was not expecting was the chapter devoted to cancer. Congratulations to Wolpert for making science enjoyable.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews