Steve Jones
Jones, Steve (1944-) is a British geneticist, snail biologist, and best-selling author. He is sometimes referred to as the “Carl Sagan of England” because of his gift for presenting esoteric scientific concepts in popular terms.
John Stephen Jones is the son of two scientists but claims to have purposely avoided science early on in his life. During grammar school in Liverpool, England, however, his enjoyment of biology and geology field trips to the Yorkshire countryside drew him inevitably to his parents' profession.
Jones received his undergraduate and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and went on to do postgraduate work in genetics at the University of Chicago. A strong interest in understanding the causes of diversity led Jones to begin studying the land snail Cepaea nemoralin, sometimes referred to as an “archetype of diversity” because of the remarkable differences in shell patterns within the species. Its relatively short life span has enabled scientists to easily study the effects of genetic selection, and thereby Jones has shown that ecologically complex habitats foster genetic diversity. His research into snail biology has also led to his discovery that organisms are genetically coded to behavior that promotes their survival. As an example, he cites the way in which dark-shelled snails naturally prefer to inhabit cooler regions and will migrate to such areas even if they are brought up under different conditions.
Currently, Jones is Professor of Genetics at the Galton Laboratory of University College London, and he is the author of several popular books, including the best-seller Darwin's Ghost (2000), in which he has updated Charles Robert Darwin 's The Origin of Species in modern language with contemporary examples that lend further support to the theory of evolution. He also frequently appears on television to promote and popularize science.