Showing titles in Biology

Scientists' understanding of life is progressing more rapidly than at any point in human history, from the extraordinary decoding of DNA to the controversial emergence of biotechnology. Featuring pioneering biologists, geneticists, physicists, and science writers, Life explains just how far we've come - and takes a brilliantly educated guess at where we're heading.

Crave answers? A Feast of Science demystifies the chemistry of everyday life, serving up practical knowledge to both inform and entertain. Guaranteed to satiate your hunger for palatable and relevant scientific information, Dr. Joe Schwarcz proves that "chemical" is not necessarily synonymous with "toxic".

What is our immune system, and how does it work? A vast array of cells, proteins and chemicals spring into action whenever our bodies are damaged, but immunity is not something you can see, touch, or feel. It can fight off malicious bacteria and viruses, locate cancerous growths, and even rewire our brains—but sometimes our own tissues can get caught in its crossfire, with catastrophic consequences. Humans may be the most disease-ridden animals on the planet. Professor John Trowsdale shows how the immune system protects us, and how our bodies invest huge resources to keep it running.

Topics explored in this dialogue include: how you can address the greatest challenge of our times, the role of the arts in deep ecology, how the shift from linear thinking to systems thinking in the sciences affects us now and in the future, understanding the complexity of living systems and life itself, why creativity is the driving force of evolution, what religion and deep ecology have in common, what's really behind the information age, and the mathematics of complexity.

Symbiosis, the sustained and intimate associations between unrelated life forms, is now recognized as a ubiquitous phenomenon, one that has shaped evolution since the origin of life and that continues to affect all species. This overview of symbiosis starts with a quick history of relevant early discoveries and researchers, and considers why symbiosis was so long neglected as a respectable topic of biological research and why it was a controversial topic. Today, symbiosis is widely appreciated as being everywhere in nature and as a pervasive influence on ecological communities.

In The Other Big Bang, the evolutionary and developmental biologist Eric S. Haag explores the two-billion-year history of sex, from the first organisms on Earth to contemporary humans.

In recent years, scientists have hypothesized life-forms that can only be called "weird": organisms that live off acid rather than water, microbes that thrive at temperatures and pressure levels so extreme that their cellular structures should break down, perhaps even organisms that reproduce without DNA. Some of these strange life-forms, unrelated to all life we know, might be nearby: on rock surfaces in the American southwest, hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor, or even in our own bodies. Some, stranger still, might live in Martian permafrost, swim in the dark oceans of Jupiter's moons, or survive in the exotic ices on comets.

In The Invisible History of the Human Race, Christine Kenneally draws on cutting-edge research to reveal how both historical artifacts and DNA tell us where we come from and where we may be going. While some books explore our genetic inheritance and some popular television shows celebrate ancestry, this is the first book to explore how everything from DNA to emotions to names and the stories that form our lives are all part of our human legacy.

A comprehensive history of cancer – one of the greatest enemies of medical progress – and an insight into its effects and potential cures, by a leading expert on the illness. In The Emperor of All Maladies, Siddhartha Mukherjee, doctor, researcher and award-winning science writer, examines cancer with a cellular biologist’s precision, a historian’s perspective, and a biographer’s passion. The result is an astonishingly lucid and eloquent chronicle of a disease humans have lived with - and perished from - for more than five thousand years.

George Soper (1870-1948) was a sanitation engineer who tracked down Mary Mallon, or Typhoid Mary (1869-1938), a cook who was an asymptomatic carrier of typhoid responsible for at least 54 cases with four deaths in nine different epidemics. Soper was called in when a landlord in Long Island struggled to trace the source of an outbreak in 1906. Soper’s every attempt to reason with Mary was met by denial and a refusal to cooperate. She was arrested by the New York Health Department and placed in a detention hospital on March 19, 1907.

Would you like to pass biology without spending hours reading textbooks and watching boring videos? ‘Biology Help for the Virtual Weary Student’ is your answer! With this book, you can learn key biology concepts in no time by reading stories that will provide an easy understanding of the defining topics that make up the incredible world of biology. You’re not memorizing- you’re learning! Pass the class! Excel on standardized tests! Advance to higher level courses with a solid foundation of knowledge! This book contains 17 stories to ace the tests, pass the class, and finally ...

When the brain turns against itself, the results can be terrifying — and sometimes miraculous. In Medical Mysteries – Brain on Fire, bestselling author Dean Lawton explores 20 extraordinary real-life cases of hidden brain illnesses, shocking neurological breakdowns, and remarkable recoveries. From strange delusions and lost memories to sudden transformations and mysterious fevers, these stories reveal how little we truly understand about the mind’s inner workings. What causes a healthy young journalist to descend into madness almost overnight? How can a tiny brain injury erase years ...

The heart usually comes up in a Biology course. After all, it is one the most important organs; it constantly maintains life through the circulation of blood to the respiring cells. It also though, comes up a lot in people's lives; unfortunately this often takes the form of heart disease, your own, or someone you love or know. Quite a lot of people have trouble understanding how the heart works, it is a miracle of engineering and structural design and it takes a bit of effort to get to grips with it. What I want to do in this short book is explain clearly how the heart works and why this ...

Shattering the Myths of Darwinism: A rational criticism of evolution theory Journalist and science writer Richard Milton re-examines Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection from a strictly rational standpoint, in the light of recent scientific research. His independent reporting shows that much of the ‘scientific evidence’ for Darwinism that is taught in schools and colleges is deeply flawed - in some cases is no better than pseudoscience or junk science. His investigation shows how Darwinism the scientific theory has been slowly replaced by Darwinism the religious dogma and...

In GATTACA Has Fallen: how population genetics failed the populace, Dr. Ian Myles explains that the root of all of these issues is the belief that genetics meaningfully guide our fate. Using less controversial examples like eczema and allergic diseases, the book demonstrates how claiming there are genes for asthma is similar to claiming there are genes for intellect or favorite flavor of tea.

Scientists have long struggled to make pregnancy easier, safer, and more successful. In The Dance of Life, developmental and stem-cell biologist Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz takes us to the front lines of efforts to understand the creation of a human life. She has spent two decades unraveling the mysteries of development, as a simple fertilized egg becomes a complex human being of 40 trillion cells. Zernicka-Goetz's work is both incredibly practical and astonishingly vast.

The microbiome is the missing link in modern medicine: a vast genetic universe of bacteria, yeasts, viruses and parasites that live inside us, influencing every aspect of our health, even the way we think and feel. In this mindblowing book, scientist and surgeon James Kinross explains how the organisms that live within us have helped us evolve, shaped our biology and defined the success of our species. With dazzling science and fascinating stories, this pioneering book will change the way you think about human health forever.

In What's Eating You? Eugene Kaplan recounts the true and harrowing tales of his adventures with parasites, and in the process introduces readers to the intimately interwoven lives of host and parasite.

«Epigenética nutricional es exhaustivo en la presentación de los datos disponibles en la actualidad en este campo. Animo a los lectores a que se acerquen a este libro con atención e interés y extraigan nuevas lecciones que les recuerden que la malnutrición adelgaza nuestros sueños de salud». (Carlos López-Otín) * * * ¿Podemos influir en nuestra salud más allá de la genética heredada? ¿Y si supieras que un mal cuidado y funcionamiento de tus genes acelera el envejecimiento y empeora tu calidad de vida? ¿Y si te dijeran que tienes el poder de mejorar esto a través de la ...

Why do we get cancer? Is it our modern diets and unhealthy habits? Chemicals in the environment? An unwelcome genetic inheritance? Or is it just bad luck? The answer is all of these and none of them. We get cancer because we can’t avoid it - it’s a bug in the system of life itself.