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Field Atlas

Atlas / Biology

Domain · 5 threads · 25 fields

Biology

How evolution and heredity, long at odds, merged, and how reading DNA rewrote both. How the cell became the unit of life and disease, how the brain was found to signal with electricity and chemistry, how the study of where species live became the science of ecosystems, and how a single egg builds a body.

Thread 01 · 5 fields

The Heredity Thread

From Darwin's natural selection and Mendel's peas to the genome. For decades the two founding ideas of modern biology seemed incompatible: Darwin needed variation to accumulate, and the heredity of his day blended it away. Mendel's discrete genes rescued natural selection, molecular biology found what genes are made of, and genomics now reads them by the billion. The map runs into fog at life's origin, and in the long stretches of DNA whose purpose no one knows.

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Field tree: Genetics, Evolutionary Biology, Molecular Biology, Population Genetics, Genomics. Each field links to its page.GeneticsEMERGED 1866 – 19151866 · DISCOVERY · contested: Mendel's experiments on plant hybrids1866 DISCOVERY1900 · DISCOVERY · contested: Mendel's laws are rediscovered1900 DISCOVERY1902 – 1915 · SYNTHESIS: Genes are located on chromosomes1902 – 1915 SYNTHESIS1927 · TECHNIQUE-INVENTED: X-rays create mutations on demand1927 TECHNIQUE-INVENTED1941 · DISCOVERY: One gene, one enzyme1941 DISCOVERYContinues into Developmental Genetics, drawn on The Development Thread↘ INTO DEVELOPMENTAL GENETICS · THE DEVELOPMENT THREAD1 unresolved problemEvolutionary BiologyEMERGED 1838 – 18591858 · DISCOVERY · contested: Darwin and Wallace announce natural selection1858 DISCOVERY1859 · CONSENSUS-OVERTURNED: On the Origin of Species1859 CONSENSUS-OVERTURNED1861 – 1863 · DISCOVERY: Archaeopteryx, a feathered link between reptiles and birds1861 – 1863 DISCOVERY1967 · CONSENSUS-OVERTURNED: Our cells are partnerships of ancient bacteria1967 CONSENSUS-OVERTURNED1977 – 1990 · CONSENSUS-OVERTURNED: Woese finds a third domain of life1977 – 1990 CONSENSUS-OVERTURNEDContinues into Biogeography, drawn on The Ecology Thread↘ INTO BIOGEOGRAPHY · THE ECOLOGY THREADContinues into Evolutionary Developmental Biology, drawn on The Development Thread↘ INTO EVOLUTIONARY DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY · THE DEVELOPMENT THREAD2 unresolved problemsMolecular BiologyEMERGED 1944 – 19661944 · CONSENSUS-OVERTURNED: Genes are made of DNA, not protein1944 CONSENSUS-OVERTURNED1953 · DISCOVERY · contested: The structure of DNA1953 DISCOVERY1958 · SYNTHESIS: Crick's central dogma and the sequence hypothesis1958 SYNTHESIS1961 – 1966 · DISCOVERY: The genetic code is cracked1961 – 1966 DISCOVERY1970 · CONSENSUS-OVERTURNED: Information flows from RNA back to DNA1970 CONSENSUS-OVERTURNED1973 · TECHNIQUE-INVENTED: Genes are cut, joined and moved between organisms1973 TECHNIQUE-INVENTEDBranches from Biochemistry, drawn on The Cell Thread↖ FROM BIOCHEMISTRY · THE CELL THREAD1 unresolved problemPopulation GeneticsEMERGED 1908 – 19471908 · DISCOVERY · contested: The Hardy–Weinberg principle1908 DISCOVERY1918 · SYNTHESIS: Fisher shows Mendelism explains continuous variation1918 SYNTHESIS1930 – 1932 · SYNTHESIS · contested: Fisher, Haldane and Wright found population genetics1930 – 1932 SYNTHESIS1937 – 1947 · SYNTHESIS: The Modern Synthesis1937 – 1947 SYNTHESIS1968 · CONSENSUS-OVERTURNED · contested: Kimura's neutral theory1968 CONSENSUS-OVERTURNEDContinues into Conservation Biology, drawn on The Ecology Thread↘ INTO CONSERVATION BIOLOGY · THE ECOLOGY THREAD1 unresolved problemGenomicsEMERGED 1977 – 20031977 · TECHNIQUE-INVENTED: Sanger sequencing1977 TECHNIQUE-INVENTED1983 – 1985 · TECHNIQUE-INVENTED · contested: The polymerase chain reaction1983 – 1985 TECHNIQUE-INVENTED2001 – 2003 · DISCOVERY · contested: The human genome is read2001 – 2003 DISCOVERY2010 · DISCOVERY: Neanderthal DNA lives on in us2010 DISCOVERY2012 · TECHNIQUE-INVENTED · contested: CRISPR–Cas9 becomes a programmable genome editor2012 TECHNIQUE-INVENTED2 unresolved problems
Charted: settled results
Contested: sources disagree on priority or causation
Unmapped: open problems

Fields in this thread

  1. 1866 – 1915GeneticsHow are traits passed from parents to offspring?One of the thread's roots
  2. 1838 – 1859Evolutionary BiologyWhy are living things so varied, and so well suited to the lives they lead?One of the thread's roots
  3. 1944 – 1966Molecular BiologyWhat are genes made of, and how do they build a living cell?Branched from Genetics + Biochemistry (The Cell Thread)
  4. 1908 – 1947Population GeneticsHow do gene frequencies change in populations, and is that enough to explain evolution?Branched from Evolutionary Biology + Genetics
  5. 1977 – 2003GenomicsWhat can be learned by reading entire genomes, and comparing them?Branched from Molecular Biology + Population Genetics

Thread 02 · 5 fields

The Cell Thread

From cork under a microscope to the machinery inside every living thing. The first microscopes revealed that plants and animals are built of tiny compartments, and that invisible organisms swarm in every drop of water. It took two centuries to see what that meant: every living thing is made of cells, every cell comes from another, and many diseases are caused by microbes. Chemistry then showed that cells run on enzymes and a universal currency of energy, microscopes of electrons and light mapped their inner machinery, and immunology found how the body tells its own cells from invaders. The fog here is how little a cell can be and still live, how cells know their own size, and why some pathogens still defeat every vaccine.

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Field tree: Cell Theory, Microbiology, Biochemistry, Cell Biology, Immunology. Each field links to its page.Cell TheoryEMERGED 1665 – 18821665 · DISCOVERY: Hooke names the cell1665 DISCOVERY1674 – 1677 · DISCOVERY: Leeuwenhoek's animalcules1674 – 1677 DISCOVERY1830 · TECHNIQUE-INVENTED: Lenses without coloured blur1830 TECHNIQUE-INVENTED1838 – 1839 · SYNTHESIS: Plants and animals are made of cells1838 – 1839 SYNTHESIS1852 – 1858 · CONSENSUS-OVERTURNED · contested: Every cell from a cell1852 – 1858 CONSENSUS-OVERTURNED1882 · DISCOVERY: Watching cells divide1882 DISCOVERYContinues into Neuroanatomy, drawn on The Brain Thread↘ INTO NEUROANATOMY · THE BRAIN THREAD1 unresolved problemMicrobiologyEMERGED 1847 – 19281847 · DISCOVERY: Semmelweis and handwashing1847 DISCOVERY1854 – 1855 · DISCOVERY: Snow traces cholera to water1854 – 1855 DISCOVERY1859 – 1862 · CONSENSUS-OVERTURNED · contested: Pasteur's swan-neck flasks1859 – 1862 CONSENSUS-OVERTURNED1867 · TECHNIQUE-INVENTED: Antiseptic surgery1867 TECHNIQUE-INVENTED1876 – 1882 · DISCOVERY: Koch proves germs cause disease1876 – 1882 DISCOVERY1928 – 1945 · DISCOVERY · contested: Penicillin1928 – 1945 DISCOVERY1 unresolved problemBiochemistryEMERGED 1828 – 19611828 · CONSENSUS-OVERTURNED · contested: Urea from inorganic chemicals1828 CONSENSUS-OVERTURNED1897 · DISCOVERY: Fermentation without cells1897 DISCOVERY1913 · DISCOVERY: The kinetics of enzymes1913 DISCOVERY1926 · DISCOVERY · contested: An enzyme is a protein1926 DISCOVERY1937 · DISCOVERY: The citric acid cycle1937 DISCOVERY1961 – 1978 · CONSENSUS-OVERTURNED · contested: Mitchell's chemiosmotic theory1961 – 1978 CONSENSUS-OVERTURNEDContinues into Molecular Biology, drawn on The Heredity Thread↘ INTO MOLECULAR BIOLOGY · THE HEREDITY THREADContinues into Synaptic Transmission, drawn on The Brain Thread↘ INTO SYNAPTIC TRANSMISSION · THE BRAIN THREAD1 unresolved problemCell BiologyEMERGED 1931 – 19871931 – 1945 · TECHNIQUE-INVENTED: The electron microscope sees inside cells1931 – 1945 TECHNIQUE-INVENTED1955 – 1975 · DISCOVERY: How a cell makes and exports proteins1955 – 1975 DISCOVERY1972 · SYNTHESIS: The fluid mosaic model1972 SYNTHESIS1970 – 1987 · DISCOVERY: The controls of the cell cycle1970 – 1987 DISCOVERY1962 – 1994 · TECHNIQUE-INVENTED · contested: Green fluorescent protein1962 – 1994 TECHNIQUE-INVENTED1994 – 2006 · TECHNIQUE-INVENTED: Beating the diffraction limit1994 – 2006 TECHNIQUE-INVENTEDContinues into Stem Cell Biology, drawn on The Development Thread↘ INTO STEM CELL BIOLOGY · THE DEVELOPMENT THREAD1 unresolved problemImmunologyEMERGED 1796 – 19761796 – 1798 · TECHNIQUE-INVENTED · contested: Jenner's vaccination1796 – 1798 TECHNIQUE-INVENTED1882 – 1908 · DISCOVERY · contested: Phagocytes against antibodies1882 – 1908 DISCOVERY1890 · DISCOVERY · contested: Antitoxins in the blood1890 DISCOVERY1957 · SYNTHESIS: Clonal selection1957 SYNTHESIS1975 · TECHNIQUE-INVENTED: Monoclonal antibodies1975 TECHNIQUE-INVENTED1976 · DISCOVERY: Antibody genes are shuffled1976 DISCOVERY2005 – 2020 · TECHNIQUE-INVENTED: mRNA vaccines2005 – 2020 TECHNIQUE-INVENTED1 unresolved problem
Charted: settled results
Contested: sources disagree on priority or causation
Unmapped: open problems

Fields in this thread

  1. 1665 – 1882Cell TheoryWhat are living things made of, and where do new cells come from?Root of the thread
  2. 1847 – 1928MicrobiologyWhat are the invisible organisms around us, and do they cause disease?Branched from Cell Theory
  3. 1828 – 1961BiochemistryWhat chemical reactions keep a cell alive, and how does it power them?Branched from Cell Theory
  4. 1931 – 1987Cell BiologyHow is the inside of a cell organised, and how does a cell control its growth and division?Branched from Cell Theory + Biochemistry
  5. 1796 – 1976ImmunologyHow does the body recognise invaders it has never met, and remember them for life?Branched from Microbiology + Cell Biology

Thread 03 · 5 fields

The Brain Thread

From Galvani's twitching frog legs to the wiring diagram of a fly. For centuries the brain was a soft grey mass with no visible parts fine enough to explain a thought. Doctors found that damage to one patch could destroy speech and nothing else, a silver stain showed that the brain is built of separate cells, and physiologists learned that those cells signal with pulses of electricity and pass them on with chemicals released in packets. Recordings from single neurons then found cells that respond to edges and cells that mark a place, and theorists asked whether all of this is computation, a question that gave rise to today's artificial neural networks. The fog here is how a memory is stored, what causes Alzheimer's disease, and why any of this activity is accompanied by experience at all.

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Field tree: Neuroanatomy, Electrophysiology, Systems Neuroscience, Synaptic Transmission, Computational Neuroscience. Each field links to its page.NeuroanatomyEMERGED 1664 – 19091664 · DISCOVERY: Willis maps the brain1664 DISCOVERY1861 · DISCOVERY · contested: Broca finds a centre for speech1861 DISCOVERY1873 · TECHNIQUE-INVENTED: Golgi's black reaction1873 TECHNIQUE-INVENTED1888 – 1906 · CONSENSUS-OVERTURNED · contested: The neuron doctrine1888 – 1906 CONSENSUS-OVERTURNED1897 – 1906 · SYNTHESIS: Sherrington names the synapse1897 – 1906 SYNTHESIS1909 · DISCOVERY: Brodmann's map of the cortex1909 DISCOVERYBranches from Cell Theory, drawn on The Cell Thread↖ FROM CELL THEORY · THE CELL THREAD1 unresolved problemElectrophysiologyEMERGED 1791 – 19521791 · DISCOVERY · contested: Galvani's frog legs1791 DISCOVERY1843 – 1849 · DISCOVERY: The electrical wave in a nerve1843 – 1849 DISCOVERY1849 – 1850 · DISCOVERY: Helmholtz times the nerve impulse1849 – 1850 DISCOVERY1912 – 1928 · DISCOVERY: Adrian records single nerve fibres1912 – 1928 DISCOVERY1939 – 1952 · SYNTHESIS: Hodgkin and Huxley explain the action potential1939 – 1952 SYNTHESIS1976 – 1981 · TECHNIQUE-INVENTED: The patch clamp1976 – 1981 TECHNIQUE-INVENTED1 unresolved problemSystems NeuroscienceEMERGED 1957 – 20051953 – 1957 · DISCOVERY: Patient H.M. and the hippocampus1953 – 1957 DISCOVERY1959 – 1962 · DISCOVERY: Hubel and Wiesel find edge detectors1959 – 1962 DISCOVERY1971 · DISCOVERY: Place cells1971 DISCOVERY2005 · DISCOVERY: Grid cells2005 DISCOVERY1990 – 1992 · TECHNIQUE-INVENTED: Functional MRI1990 – 1992 TECHNIQUE-INVENTED2002 – 2005 · TECHNIQUE-INVENTED · contested: Optogenetics2002 – 2005 TECHNIQUE-INVENTED1 unresolved problemSynaptic TransmissionEMERGED 1904 – 19731921 · DISCOVERY: Loewi's two frog hearts1921 DISCOVERY1935 – 1952 · CONSENSUS-OVERTURNED: The soups and the sparks1935 – 1952 CONSENSUS-OVERTURNED1952 – 1954 · DISCOVERY: Transmitter comes in packets1952 – 1954 DISCOVERY1957 – 1960 · DISCOVERY · contested: Dopamine is a transmitter1957 – 1960 DISCOVERY1970 · DISCOVERY: A receptor is isolated1970 DISCOVERY1970 – 1973 · DISCOVERY: Synapses that learn1970 – 1973 DISCOVERYBranches from Biochemistry, drawn on The Cell Thread↖ FROM BIOCHEMISTRY · THE CELL THREAD1 unresolved problemComputational NeuroscienceEMERGED 1943 – 19861943 · SYNTHESIS: The logical neuron1943 SYNTHESIS1949 · SYNTHESIS: Hebb's rule1949 SYNTHESIS1958 – 1969 · TECHNIQUE-INVENTED · contested: The perceptron1958 – 1969 TECHNIQUE-INVENTED1969 – 1982 · SYNTHESIS: Marr's levels1969 – 1982 SYNTHESIS1982 – 1986 · SYNTHESIS · contested: Networks that remember and learn1982 – 1986 SYNTHESIS1986 – 2024 · TECHNIQUE-INVENTED: Complete wiring diagrams1986 – 2024 TECHNIQUE-INVENTED1 unresolved problem
Charted: settled results
Contested: sources disagree on priority or causation
Unmapped: open problems

Fields in this thread

  1. 1664 – 1909NeuroanatomyWhat is the brain built from, and do its different parts do different jobs?Branched from Cell Theory (The Cell Thread)
  2. 1791 – 1952ElectrophysiologyWhat is a nerve impulse, and how does a nerve cell make and carry it?Branched from Neuroanatomy
  3. 1957 – 2005Systems NeuroscienceHow do circuits of neurons represent the world, remember it, and guide behaviour?Branched from Neuroanatomy + Electrophysiology
  4. 1904 – 1973Synaptic TransmissionHow does one nerve cell pass its signal to the next, and how does that connection change with experience?Branched from Electrophysiology + Biochemistry (The Cell Thread)
  5. 1943 – 1986Computational NeuroscienceCan what the brain does be described as computation, and if so, what does it compute and how?Branched from Systems Neuroscience + Synaptic Transmission

Thread 04 · 5 fields

The Ecology Thread

From Humboldt's mountain to the Red List. Humboldt saw that the plants on a tropical mountain are layered like the climates from the equator to the poles, and Wallace traced a line through the islands of Southeast Asia that divides the animals of Asia from those of Australia. Explaining where species live led to counting them: how populations grow, crash and cycle, how competing species share one place, and how energy and nutrients flow through a whole lake or forest. By the 1960s the same science was measuring what people were doing to the living world, and conservation biology was founded as a discipline built for a crisis. The fog here is why the tropics hold so many species, how so many competitors manage to live together, and whether an ecosystem's collapse can be seen coming.

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Field tree: Biogeography, Population Ecology, Community Ecology, Ecosystem Ecology, Conservation Biology. Each field links to its page.BiogeographyEMERGED 1807 – 18761807 · DISCOVERY: Humboldt's geography of plants1807 DISCOVERY1859 – 1876 · DISCOVERY: The Wallace Line and the zoological regions1859 – 1876 DISCOVERY1915 – 1968 · CONSENSUS-OVERTURNED: The continents move1915 – 1968 CONSENSUS-OVERTURNED1963 – 1967 · SYNTHESIS · contested: The equilibrium theory of island biogeography1963 – 1967 SYNTHESIS1966 – 1969 · DISCOVERY: Emptying islands to watch them refill1966 – 1969 DISCOVERYBranches from Evolutionary Biology, drawn on The Heredity Thread↖ FROM EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY · THE HEREDITY THREAD1 unresolved problemPopulation EcologyEMERGED 1838 – 19341838 · DISCOVERY: Verhulst's logistic curve1838 DISCOVERY1924 – 1942 · DISCOVERY · contested: The ten-year cycle of lynx and hare1924 – 1942 DISCOVERY1925 – 1926 · DISCOVERY · contested: The Lotka–Volterra equations1925 – 1926 DISCOVERY1934 · DISCOVERY: Gause's struggle for existence1934 DISCOVERY1933 – 1954 · DISCOVERY · contested: Crowding or weather1933 – 1954 DISCOVERY1974 – 1976 · CONSENSUS-OVERTURNED · contested: Populations that fluctuate by themselves1974 – 1976 CONSENSUS-OVERTURNED1 unresolved problemCommunity EcologyEMERGED 1916 – 19661916 · SYNTHESIS: Clements's theory of succession1916 SYNTHESIS1926 – 1956 · CONSENSUS-OVERTURNED · contested: The individualistic concept of the community1926 – 1956 CONSENSUS-OVERTURNED1957 – 1959 · SYNTHESIS: Hutchinson's niche and Santa Rosalia1957 – 1959 SYNTHESIS1961 · DISCOVERY: Connell's barnacles1961 DISCOVERY1966 – 1969 · DISCOVERY: Paine's keystone predator1966 – 1969 DISCOVERY2001 · SYNTHESIS · contested: Hubbell's neutral theory2001 SYNTHESIS1 unresolved problemEcosystem EcologyEMERGED 1935 – 19531935 · SYNTHESIS: Tansley names the ecosystem1935 SYNTHESIS1942 · DISCOVERY: Lindeman's trophic-dynamic aspect of ecology1942 DISCOVERY1953 – 1957 · SYNTHESIS: The Odums and energy flow1953 – 1957 SYNTHESIS1958 · DISCOVERY: The Keeling curve1958 DISCOVERY1963 – 1972 · TECHNIQUE-INVENTED: Hubbard Brook and the watershed experiment1963 – 1972 TECHNIQUE-INVENTED1974 – 2012 · DISCOVERY · contested: Trophic cascades1974 – 2012 DISCOVERY1 unresolved problemConservation BiologyEMERGED 1962 – 19851962 · CONSENSUS-OVERTURNED · contested: Silent Spring1962 CONSENSUS-OVERTURNED1975 – 1986 · SYNTHESIS · contested: Single large or several small1975 – 1986 SYNTHESIS1980 – 1981 · DISCOVERY · contested: Minimum viable populations1980 – 1981 DISCOVERY1985 · SYNTHESIS: Soulé defines conservation biology1985 SYNTHESIS1964 – 1994 · TECHNIQUE-INVENTED: The IUCN Red List1964 – 1994 TECHNIQUE-INVENTED1979 – 2014 · DISCOVERY · contested: How fast species are being lost1979 – 2014 DISCOVERYBranches from Population Genetics, drawn on The Heredity Thread↖ FROM POPULATION GENETICS · THE HEREDITY THREAD1 unresolved problem
Charted: settled results
Contested: sources disagree on priority or causation
Unmapped: open problems

Fields in this thread

  1. 1807 – 1876BiogeographyWhy do species live where they do, and why do some places hold so many more of them?Branched from Evolutionary Biology (The Heredity Thread)
  2. 1838 – 1934Population EcologyWhat sets the size of a population, and why do some populations boom and crash?Branched from Biogeography
  3. 1916 – 1966Community EcologyHow do many species share one place, and what decides which of them live together?Branched from Population Ecology
  4. 1935 – 1953Ecosystem EcologyHow do energy and chemical elements flow through living things and their surroundings?Branched from Community Ecology
  5. 1962 – 1985Conservation BiologyHow fast are species being lost, and what does it take to keep them?Branched from Community Ecology + Population Genetics (The Heredity Thread)

Thread 05 · 5 fields

The Development Thread

From Aristotle's opened eggs to skin cells turned back into stem cells. For two thousand years the question was whether a body is already present in miniature in the egg or builds itself step by step. Microscopes settled it for gradual building, and experiments on living embryos showed that cells are told what to become by their neighbours, without losing any of their genes. Mutant flies and worms then revealed the genes that do the telling, and the surprise that nearly all animals share them. The same understanding showed how to reset a specialised cell, and grow tissues in a dish. The fog here is how an organ knows when to stop growing, why a salamander can regrow a leg when we cannot, and how evolution makes something genuinely new.

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Field tree: Embryology, Experimental Embryology, Developmental Genetics, Stem Cell Biology, Evolutionary Developmental Biology. Each field links to its page.EmbryologyEMERGED 1651 – 1874c. 350 BCE · DISCOVERY: Aristotle opens eggs day by dayC. 350 BCE DISCOVERY1651 · SYNTHESIS: Harvey's "everything from an egg"1651 SYNTHESIS1672 – 1759 · CONSENSUS-OVERTURNED: Preformation versus epigenesis1672 – 1759 CONSENSUS-OVERTURNED1817 – 1828 · DISCOVERY: Germ layers and von Baer's laws1817 – 1828 DISCOVERY1866 – 1874 · SYNTHESIS · contested: Haeckel's biogenetic law and his drawings1866 – 1874 SYNTHESIS1 unresolved problemExperimental EmbryologyEMERGED 1888 – 19691888 – 1892 · CONSENSUS-OVERTURNED: Roux's half embryos and Driesch's whole ones1888 – 1892 CONSENSUS-OVERTURNED1924 · DISCOVERY · contested: The organiser1924 DISCOVERY1952 · SYNTHESIS: Turing's chemical basis of morphogenesis1952 SYNTHESIS1952 – 1962 · TECHNIQUE-INVENTED · contested: Nuclear transfer in frogs1952 – 1962 TECHNIQUE-INVENTED1969 · SYNTHESIS: Positional information1969 SYNTHESIS1996 – 1997 · TECHNIQUE-INVENTED · contested: Dolly the sheep1996 – 1997 TECHNIQUE-INVENTED1 unresolved problemDevelopmental GeneticsEMERGED 1978 – 19881978 · DISCOVERY: Lewis and the bithorax complex1978 DISCOVERY1974 – 1983 · DISCOVERY: Every cell of a worm traced1974 – 1983 DISCOVERY1980 · TECHNIQUE-INVENTED: The Heidelberg screen1980 TECHNIQUE-INVENTED1984 · DISCOVERY: The homeobox1984 DISCOVERY1986 · DISCOVERY: Genes for cell death1986 DISCOVERY1988 · DISCOVERY: The Bicoid gradient1988 DISCOVERYBranches from Genetics, drawn on The Heredity Thread↖ FROM GENETICS · THE HEREDITY THREAD1 unresolved problemStem Cell BiologyEMERGED 1961 – 20061961 – 1963 · DISCOVERY: Colonies in the spleen1961 – 1963 DISCOVERY1981 · TECHNIQUE-INVENTED: Embryonic stem cells1981 TECHNIQUE-INVENTED1998 · TECHNIQUE-INVENTED: Human embryonic stem cells1998 TECHNIQUE-INVENTED2004 – 2006 · CONSENSUS-OVERTURNED: The Hwang fraud2004 – 2006 CONSENSUS-OVERTURNED2006 – 2007 · DISCOVERY: Induced pluripotent stem cells2006 – 2007 DISCOVERY2009 · TECHNIQUE-INVENTED: A gut in a dish2009 TECHNIQUE-INVENTED2014 · CONSENSUS-OVERTURNED: The STAP retraction2014 CONSENSUS-OVERTURNEDBranches from Cell Biology, drawn on The Cell Thread↖ FROM CELL BIOLOGY · THE CELL THREAD1 unresolved problemEvolutionary Developmental BiologyEMERGED 1984 – 20051984 – 1989 · CONSENSUS-OVERTURNED: The same genes in flies and mice1984 – 1989 CONSENSUS-OVERTURNED1994 – 1995 · DISCOVERY · contested: One gene for eyes1994 – 1995 DISCOVERY1997 · SYNTHESIS: Deep homology1997 SYNTHESIS2004 – 2010 · DISCOVERY: Sticklebacks lose their spines2004 – 2010 DISCOVERY2004 – 2006 · DISCOVERY: Tiktaalik2004 – 2006 DISCOVERY1975 – 2007 · SYNTHESIS · contested: Evolution by genetic switches1975 – 2007 SYNTHESISBranches from Evolutionary Biology, drawn on The Heredity Thread↖ FROM EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY · THE HEREDITY THREAD1 unresolved problem
Charted: settled results
Contested: sources disagree on priority or causation
Unmapped: open problems

Fields in this thread

  1. 1651 – 1874EmbryologyHow does a single egg turn into a body with a head, a heart and limbs?Root of the thread
  2. 1888 – 1969Experimental EmbryologyWhat tells each cell of an embryo what to become?Branched from Embryology
  3. 1978 – 1988Developmental GeneticsWhich genes build an embryo, and how do they switch each other on in the right place?Branched from Experimental Embryology + Genetics (The Heredity Thread)
  4. 1961 – 2006Stem Cell BiologyWhich cells can make new cells of other kinds, and can an ordinary cell be turned back into one?Branched from Experimental Embryology + Cell Biology (The Cell Thread)
  5. 1984 – 2005Evolutionary Developmental BiologyIf all animals are built with the same genes, how did evolution make them so different?Branched from Developmental Genetics + Evolutionary Biology (The Heredity Thread)