Van Valen, Leigh
An evolutionary biologist who came up with the model of the Red Queen the living chess piece that Alice encounters in Trough the Looking Glass who must keep running as fast as she can to say in the same place as a metaphor to explain evolutionary patterns. His studies involve genetics and systematics, and involve a wide range of topics, including the evolution of biotas and of mammals.

Variance
A measure of how variable a set of numbers are. Technically, it is the sum of squared deviations from the mean divided by (n 1) (the number of numbers in the sample minus one)

Ventral wall defect
A defect in the abdominal wall causing intestines and sometimes other internal organs to be present outside of the body. Omphalocele and gastrochisis are the two most common defects.

Ventricle
This can refer to a chamber in the brain or two chambers of the heart of a human being.

Vermeij, Geerat J.
Biologist at the Center for Population Biology of the University of California at Davis, and author of Privileged Hands: A Scientific Life. Vermeij, blind since age 3, combines autobiography and description of the evolutionary “rams race” between intertidal predator and prey species. Wider research interests include economic relationships between organisms and ecosystems and their implications for human organisms.