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The hand is meant to represent the nexus of life on Earth through time. At the base near the palm life as bacteria evolves. Different kinds of bacteria then merge genomes to form larger, more complex microbes, cells with nuclei. As with the bacteria, many examples of these organisms, such as amebas and seaweed, survive to the present day. These cells with nuclei (called eukaryotes or protoctists), the result of bacterial genetic mergers, were the first organisms to come together sexually to reproduce. The continued existence of ancient forms of life is represented by their appearance on the tips of the little finger and thumb. The more familiar "macrocopic" kingdoms of life�fungi (represented on the ring finger), plants (the flower), and animals (the lizard)�evolved from the sexually reproducing protoctists. Each kingdom has many phyla, classes, genera, species, and subspecies.

Our species is represented not directly but by the silhouettes of the male and female face, which remind us that our perspective is not ultimately objective but that of a particular being.

For more info, please go to www.sciencewriters.org. for a more involved description of the 5 Kingdom hand design.

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More about: DORION SAGAN

DORION SAGAN is a writer and sleight-of-hand magician who has delivered reviews and essays on topics including evolution, cybersex, and the biology of gender for publications such as The New York Times, Bioscience, The Times Higher Supplement, Wired, Natural History, Coevolution Quarterly, The Smithsonian, The Sciences, The Science Teacher, Whole Earth, Omni, The Environmentalist, The Ecologist, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, , and The New York Times Book Review.

Among his books are (with John R. Skoyles) Up From Dragons: The Evolution of Human Intelligence, (with Lynn Margulis) of Acquiring Genomes, Microcosmos, Origins Of Sex, and Mystery Dance.

Beyond Edge: Science Writers Website;

The Up From Dragons Website

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Dorion Sagan is the author of numerous articles and sixteen books translated into eleven languages, including Into the Cool: Energy Flow, Thermodynamics, and Life (with Eric D. Schneider, 2005) and Up from Dragons: Evolution of Human Intelligence (with John Skoyles, 2002). His What is Life? (with Lynn Margulis) was chosen (with works by Billie Holiday, Shakespeare, and others) as one of fifty �mind-altering masterpieces� by the Utne Reader. Sagan�s essays are included in collections edited by Richard Dawkins and E. O. Wilson. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts�Amherst with a degree in history and has interests in philosophy and literature. Reviewing Sagan�s Microcosmos in the New York Times Book Review, Melvin Konner wrote: �This admiring reader of Carl Sagan, Lewis Thomas, and Stephen Jay Gould has seldom, if ever, seen such a luminous prose style in a work of this kind.� Sagan has written for The New York Times,The New York Times Book Review,Wired,The Skeptical Inquirer,The Smithsonian,The Ecologist, Omni, Natural History, and many others

http://www.intothecool.com/