It can be microscopic, yet also accounts for the largest organisms ever recorded, living for millennia and weighing tens of thousands of tonnes. Its ability to digest rock enabled the first life on land, it can survive unprotected in space, and thrives amidst nuclear radiation.In this captivating adventure, Merlin Sheldrake explores the spectacular and neglected world of fungi: endlessly surprising organisms that sustain nearly all living systems. They can solve problems without a brain, stretching traditional definitions of ‘intelligence’, and can manipulate animal behaviour with devastating precision. In giving us bread, alcohol and life-saving medicines, fungi have shaped human history, and their psychedelic properties, which have influenced societies since antiquity, have recently been shown to alleviate a number of mental illnesses. The ability of fungi to digest plastic, explosives, pesticides and crude oil is being harnessed in break-through technologies, and the discovery that they connect plants in underground networks, the ‘Wood Wide Web’, is transforming the way we understand ecosystems. Yet they live their lives largely out of sight, and over ninety percent of their species remain undocumented.Entangled Life is a mind-altering journey into this hidden kingdom of life, and shows that fungi are key to understanding the planet on which we live, and the ways we think, feel and behave. The more we learn about fungi, the less makes sense without them.

    Jason Fung returns with an eye-opening biography of cancer in which he offers a radical new paradigm for understanding cancer—and issues a call to action for reducing risk moving forward. Our understanding of cancer is slowly undergoing a revolution, allowing for the development of more effective treatments. For the first time ever, the death rate from cancer is showing a steady decline . . . but the “War on Cancer” has hardly been won.In The Cancer Code, Dr. Jason Fung offers a revolutionary new understanding of this invasive, often fatal disease—what it is, how it manifests, and why it is so challenging to treat. In this rousing narrative, Dr. Fung identifies the medical community’s many missteps in cancer research—in particular, its focus on genetics, or what he terms the “seed” of cancer, at the expense of examining the “soil,” or the conditions under which cancer flourishes. Dr. Fung—whose groundbreaking work in the treatment of obesity and diabetes has won him international acclaim—suggests that the primary disease pathway of cancer is caused by the dysregulation of insulin. In fact, obesity and type 2 diabetes significantly increase an individual’s risk of cancer.In this accessible read, Dr. Fung provides a new paradigm for dealing with cancer, with recommendations for what we can do to create a hostile soil for this dangerous seed. One such strategy is intermittent fasting, which reduces blood glucose, lowering insulin levels. Another, eliminating intake of insulin-stimulating foods, such as sugar and refined carbohydrates.For hundreds of years, cancer has been portrayed as a foreign invader we’ve been powerless to stop. By reshaping our view of cancer as an internal uprising of our own healthy cells, we can begin to take back control. The seed of cancer may exist in all of us, but the power to change the soil is in our hands.

    Once we appreciate how nature works, he asserts, we will understand why conservation is economically wise and essential to our survival. Here Sala, director of National Geographic's Pristine Seas project (which has succeeded in protecting more than 5 million sq km of ocean), tells the story of his scientific awakening and his transition from academia to activism--as he puts it, he was tired of writing the obituary of the ocean. His revelations are surprising, sometimes counterintuitive: More sharks signal a healthier ocean; crop diversity, not intensive monoculture farming, is the key to feeding the planet.Using fascinating examples from his expeditions and those of other scientists, Sala shows the economic wisdom of making room for nature, even as the population becomes more urbanized. In a sober epilogue, he shows how saving nature can save us all, by reversing conditions that led to the coronavirus pandemic and preventing other global catastrophes. With a foreword from Prince Charles and an introduction from E. O. Wilson, this powerful book will change the way you think about our world--and our future.

    The complex behavior of birds recounted here demonstrates that birds have sophisticated mental abilities previously unrecognized by conventional avian research. Ackerman supports her thesis with descriptions of the behavior of an entertaining variety of birds from across the world. She brings scientific research alive with personal field observations and accounts of her encounters with colorful and fascinating birds. Throughout, Ackerman reminds readers that birds are thinking beings--their brains are wired differently than those of mammals, giving them increased brain power despite their small size. She further makes the case that bird intelligence shows that humankind is not alone in using language and tools or constructing complex structures and manipulating other creatures.

    And there is no more accomplished and accessible guide than renowned neuroscientist David Eagleman to help us understand the nature and changing texture of that fabric. With his hallmark clarity and enthusiasm he reveals the myriad ways that the brain absorbs experience: developing, redeploying, organizing, and arranging the data it receives from the body's own absorption of external stimuli, which enables us to gain the skills, the facilities, and the practices that make us who we are. Eagleman covers decades of the most important research into the functioning of the brain and presents new discoveries from his own research as well: about the nature of synesthesia, about dreaming, and about wearable devices that are revolutionizing how we think about the five human senses. Finally, Livewired is as deeply informative as it is accessible and brilliantly engaging.

    Around the world, we struggle with diseases that were once considered rare. Cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and diabetes affect millions each year; many people are also struggling with hypertension, weight gain, fatty liver, dementia, low testosterone, menstrual irregularities and infertility, and more. We treat the symptoms, not realizing that all of these diseases and disorders have something in common. Each of them is caused or made worse by a condition known as insulin resistance. And you might have it. Odds are you do—over half of all adults in the United States are insulin resistant, with most other countries either worse or not far behind. In Why We Get Sick, internationally renowned scientist and pathophysiology professor Benjamin Bikman explores why insulin resistance has become so prevalent and why it matters. Unless we recognize it and take steps to reverse the trend, major chronic diseases will be even more widespread. But reversing insulin resistance is possible, and Bikman offers an evidence-based plan to stop and prevent it, with helpful food lists, meal suggestions, easy exercise principles, and more. Full of surprising research and practical advice, Why We Get Sick will help you to take control of your health.

    In Tapestries of Life, bestselling author Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson explains how closely we are all connected with the natural world, highlighting our indelible link with nature’s finely knit system and our everyday lives.In the heart of natural world is a life-support system like no other, a collective term that describes all the goods and services we receive – food, fresh water, medicine, pollination, pollution control, carbon sequestration, erosion prevention, recreation, spiritual health and so much more. In this utterly captivating book, Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson sets out to explore these wonderful, supportive elements – taking the reader on a journey through the surprising characteristics of the natural world.

    Wilson recalls his lifetime with ants, from his first boyhood encounters in the woods of Alabama to perilous journeys into the Brazilian rainforest.“Ants are the most warlike of all animals, with colony pitted against colony,” writes E.O. Wilson, one of the world’s most beloved scientists, “their clashes dwarf Waterloo and Gettysburg.” In Tales from the Ant World, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Wilson takes us on a myrmecological tour to such far-flung destinations as Mozambique and New Guinea, the Gulf of Mexico’s Dauphin Island and even his parent’s overgrown backyard, thrillingly relating his nine-decade-long scientific obsession with over 15,000 ant species.Animating his scientific observations with illuminating personal stories, Wilson hones in on twenty-five ant species to explain how these genetically superior creatures talk, smell, and taste, and more significantly, how they fight to determine who is dominant. Wryly observing that “males are little more than flying sperm missiles” or that ants send their “little old ladies into battle,” Wilson eloquently relays his brushes with fire, army, and leafcutter ants, as well as more exotic species. Among them are the very rare Matabele, Africa’s fiercest warrior ants, whose female hunters can carry up to fifteen termites in their jaw (and, as Wilson reports from personal experience, have an incredibly painful stinger); Costa Rica’s Basiceros, the slowest of all ants; and New Caledonia’s Bull Ants, the most endangered of them all, which Wilson discovered in 2011 after over twenty years of presumed extinction.Richly illustrated throughout with depictions of ant species by Kristen Orr, as well as photos from Wilsons’ expeditions throughout the world, Tales from the Ant World is a fascinating, if not occasionally hair-raising, personal account by one of our greatest scientists and a necessary volume for any lover of the natural world.

    Shubin describes how over the last half-century, scientists have been able to explore how genetic recipes build bodies during embryological development--how these inventions and adaptations occur in a nonprogressive manner in different contexts, at different speeds. Paleontology has been transformed over the last 50 years by tools and techniques of molecular biology--and it is that revolution in our understanding of the evolution of life that Shubin traces here. Each of us is a mosaic of precursors that came about at different times and places, with deep rooted connections across species that Darwin, for all he understood, could never even have imagined.

    Radiometric dating of nearby rocks indicated the skeleton, classified as Ardipithecus ramidus, was 4.4 million years old, more than a million years older than "Lucy," then the oldest known human ancestor. The findings challenged many assumptions about human evolution--how we started walking upright, how we evolved our nimble hands, and, most significantly, whether we were descended from an ancestor that resembled today's chimpanzee--and repudiated a half-century of paleoanthropological orthodoxy.Fossil Men is the first full-length exploration of Ardi, the fossil men who found her, and her impact on what we know about the origins of the human species. It is a scientific detective story played out in anatomy and the natural history of the human body. Kermit Pattison brings into focus a cast of eccentric, obsessive scientists, including one of the world's greatest fossil hunters, Tim White--an exacting and unforgiving fossil hunter whose virtuoso skills in the field were matched only by his propensity for making enemies; Gen Suwa, a Japanese savant who sometimes didn't bother going home at night to devote more hours to science; Owen Lovejoy, a onetime creationist-turned-paleoanthropologist; Berhane Asfaw, who survived imprisonment and torture to become Ethiopia's most senior paleoanthropologist and who fought for African scientists to gain equal footing in the study of human origins; and the Leakeys, for decades the most famous family in paloanthropology.An intriguing tale of scientific discovery, obsession and rivalry that moves from the sun-baked desert of Africa and a nation caught in a brutal civil war, to modern high-tech labs and academic lecture halls, Fossil Men is popular science at its best, and a must read for fans of Jared Diamond, Richard Dawkins, and Edward O. Wilson.

    Somehow, within each of our brains, billions of neurons work to create our conscious experience. How does this happen? Why do we experience life in the first person? After over twenty years researching the brain, world-renowned neuroscientist Anil Seth puts forward a radical new theory of consciousness and self. His unique theory of what it means to 'be you' challenges our understanding of perception and reality and it turns what you thought you knew about yourself on its head.'Awe-inspiring and humane.' NEW STATESMAN (Books of the Year)'Fascinating.' FINANCIAL TIMES (Books of the Year)'Profound.' GUARDIAN (Books of the Year)'Brilliant.' CLAIRE TOMALIN, NEW YORK TIMES'Outstanding.' PSYCHOLOGY TODAY 'Amazing . . . a brilliant read.'RUSSELL BRAND'Beautifully written, crystal clear, deeply insightful.'DAVID EAGLEMAN, Pulitzer Prize-nominated author of Livewired'Offers us new cause for astonishment and wonder.'ANNAKA HARRIS, author of Conscious'A fascinating book. A joy to read.'NIGEL WARBURTON'Truly compelling.'PROFESSOR KARL FRISTON, Universty College London'A wonderfully accessible and comprehensive account.'SEAN CARROLL, author of Something Deeply Hidden

    By showing how others teach and learn, Safina offers a fresh understanding of what is constantly going on beyond humanity. With reporting from deep in nature, alongside individual creatures in their free-living communities, this book offers a very privileged glimpse behind the curtain of life on Earth, and helps inform the answer to that most urgent of questions: Who are we here with?

    We see it, touch it, and live in it every day. It is a habitat for a mesmerizingly complex world of micro-organisms and physical functions that are vital to our health and our survival. It is also a waste removal plant, a warning system for underlying disease and a dynamic immune barrier to infection. One of the first things people see about us, skin is crucial to our sense of identity, providing us with social significance and psychological meaning. And yet our skin and the fascinating way it functions is largely unknown to us. In prose as lucid as his research underlying it is rigorous, blending in memorable stories from the past and from his own medical experience, Monty Lyman has written a revelatory book exploring our outer surface that will surprise and enlighten in equal measure. Through the lenses of science, sociology, and history--on topics as diverse as the mechanics and magic of touch (how much goes on in the simple act of taking keys out of a pocket and unlocking a door is astounding), the close connection between the skin and the gut, what happens instantly when one gets a paper cut, and how a midnight snack can lead to sunburn--Lyman leads us on a journey across our most underrated and unexplored organ and reveals how our skin is far stranger, more wondrous, and more complex than we have ever imagined.

    The "star" of the show is the star-nosed mole, with its nose containing some 25,000 touch-sensitive nerve organs and the ability to gobble small invertebrate prey in world record-breaking time. The mole was author's first real biological assignment; his "strange path of discovery" is brilliantly documented, from figuring how to find and capture his elusive subject to eventually mapping its brain. He also studies tentacled snakes that deploy some devilish hunting strategies, worms that leave the ground in response to "grunts," eels that paralyze their prey with Taser-like jolts, bloodthirsty water shrews, and zombie-making wasps. The author's witty style and amazing findings are complemented by stunning photography and movie shorts that readers with smart phones can scan and play. The astonishing animals are only half the story. Just as compelling is the enquiring-human side--i.e., seeing a scientist at work (and at play), applying a Sherlockian credo

    In What Is Life?, he takes up the challenge of describing what it means to be alive in a way that every reader can understand.It is a shared journey of discovery; step-by-step Nurse illuminates five great ideas that underpin biology—the Cell, the Gene, Evolution by Natural Selection, Life as Chemistry, and Life as Information. He introduces the scientists who made the most important advances, and, using his personal experiences in and out of the lab, he shares with us the challenges, the lucky breaks, and the thrilling eureka moments of discovery.Nurse writes with delight at life’s richness and with a sense of the urgent role of biology in our time. To survive the challenges that face us all today—climate change, pandemic, loss of biodiversity and food security—it is vital that we all understand what life is.

    It infected nearly one-third of the world’s population and killed ten percent of those it struck. In its wake, schools and businesses closed, hospitals became overwhelmed, and the sick spilled out into makeshift care centers in public spaces. Policemen, public transportation workers, and everyday citizens in face masks were a common—and eerie—sight. Yet, discussion of this global pandemic often takes a backseat to World War I and other contemporary events.

    Instead of conserving particular species in nature reserves as 'museum pieces', frozen in time, the thinking now is that we should allow landscape-sized areas to 'rewild' according to their own self-determined processes. By fencing off large areas and introducing large herbivores, along with apex predators such as wolves, dynamic new habitats are already being created.These 'self-willed' areas will develop in ways that cannot always be predicted, and they may not conform to our traditional ideas of wildlife habitats, but they will form a robust and rich ecology which will be strong enough to withstand future climate changes and species shifts.In this highly topical book, the first popular account of rewilding, practising ecologists Paul Jepson and Cain Blythe explore the ongoing scientific discoveries that are emerging from this fascinating field.

    There is a wide range of career options open to those who wish to pursue a career in neuroscience, yet there are few resources that provide students with inside advice on how to go about it.So You Want to Be a Neuroscientist? is a contemporary and engaging guide for aspiring neuroscientists of diverse backgrounds and interests. Fresh with the experience of having recently launched her own career, Ashley Juavinett provides a candid look at the field, offering practical guidance that explores everything from programming to personal stories.Juavinett begins with a look at the field and its history, exploring our evolving understanding of how the brain works. She then tackles the nitty-gritty: how to apply to a PhD program, the daily life of a graduate student, the art of finding mentors and collaborators, and what to expect when working in a lab. Finally, she introduces readers to diverse young scientists whose career paths illustrate what you can do with a neuroscience degree. For anyone intrigued by the brain or seeking advice on how to further their ambitions of studying it, So You Want to Be a Neuroscientist? is a practical and timely overview of how to learn and thrive in this exciting field.

    Beneath the frozen crusts of several of the small, ice-covered moons of Jupiter and Saturn lurk vast oceans that may have been in existence for as long as Earth, and together may contain more than fifty times its total volume of liquid water. Could there be organisms living in their depths? Alien Oceans reveals the science behind the thrilling quest to find out.Kevin Peter Hand is one of today's leading NASA scientists, and his pioneering research has taken him on expeditions around the world. In this captivating account of scientific discovery, he brings together insights from planetary science, biology, and the adventures of scientists like himself to explain how we know that oceans exist within moons of the outer solar system, like Europa, Titan, and Enceladus. He shows how the exploration of Earth's oceans is informing our understanding of the potential habitability of these icy moons, and draws lessons from what we have learned about the origins of life on our own planet to consider how life could arise on these distant worlds.Alien Oceans describes what lies ahead in our search for life in our solar system and beyond, setting the stage for the transformative discoveries that may await us.

    From anatomy, it moves on to function, explaining how the brain works constantly and unnoticed to regulate processes such as heartbeat and breathing and how it collects information from the external world to produce the experiences of sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. The chapters that follow cover memory and learning, consciousness and personality, and emotions and communication.There's also a guide to the brain's disorders, including physical problems such as tumors and strokes and psychological and functional disorders, ranging from autism to schizophrenia.Illustrated with bold graphics and step-by-step illustrations and peppered with bite-size factoids and question-and-answer features, this is the perfect introduction to the fascinating world of the human brain.

    Created for a broad public, from novice birders to expert ornithologists and anyone interested in the spectacular diversity of birds, this book has something for everyone.- Presents every taxon accepted as a species by any of the four major world lists: 11,524 in total.- 20,865 illustrations covering sexual dimorphism, morphs and many distinctive subspecies.- 11,558 distribution maps, with notes on altitudinal ranges.- All 3313 one-country endemic species marked.- IUCN/BirdLife International conservation status given.- Taxonomic treatment by the four major world lists indicated and compared for each species.- Nomenclatural discrepancies explained.- All English and scientific names from eBird included.- QR codes for instant access to videos, photos and sound recordings, species-by-species.- Checkboxes for personal record-keeping.- All species known to have become extinct since the year 1500 presented separately in their own appendix.- A 37-page world atlas of colour reference maps, with relevant details of interest to birders and ornithologists.- The easiest and most enjoyable way to browse through all the birds of the world.

    

    We domesticated animals to suit our needs, and altered their DNA--wolves became dogs to help us hunt, junglefowl became chickens to provide us with eggs, wildebeest were transformed through breeding into golden gnus so rifle-clad tourists had something to shoot. And this was only the beginning. As our knowledge grew we found new ways to tailor the DNA of animals more precisely; we've now cloned police dogs and created a little glow-in-the-dark fish--the world's first genetically modified pet. The breakthroughs continue.Through climate change, humans have now affected even the most remote environments and their inhabitants, and studies suggest that through our actions we are forcing some animals to evolve at breakneck speed to survive. Whilst some are thriving, others are on the brink of extinction, and for others the only option is life in captivity. Today, it's not just the fittest that survive; sometimes it's the ones we decide to let live.According to the Bible, Noah built the original ark to save the world's creatures from imminent floods. Now the world is warming, the ice caps are melting and sea levels are rising. With nowhere "wild" left to go, Helen Pilcher proposes a New Ark. In this entertaining and thought-provoking book, she considers the many ways that we've shaped the DNA of the animal kingdom and in so doing, altered the fate of life on earth. In her post-natural history guide, she invites us to meet key species that have been sculpted by humanity, as well as the researchers and conservationists who create, manage and tend to these post-natural creations.

    Why do many owls have asymmetrical ear openings? (Hint: It helps them pinpoint prey; see page 40.) And why does the Grey Heron rest on one leg at a time? (Hint: Not because it’s tired; see page 66!) Birds boast a spectacular array of adaptations suited to their incredibly diverse diets and habitats. In this in-depth handbook, discover the ways they’re even more astounding than you know—inside and out. Detailed analysis and illustrations illuminate:SkeletonMusclesCirculationDigestionRespirationReproductionFeathersColors and PatternsAnd much, much more!

    We get cancer because we can't avoid it—it's a bug in the system of life itself.Cancer exists in nearly every animal and has afflicted humans as long as our species has walked the earth. In Rebel Cell: Cancer, Evolution, and the New Science of Life's Oldest Betrayal, Kat Arney reveals the secrets of our most formidable medical enemy, most notably the fact that it isn't so much a foreign invader as a double agent: cancer is hardwired into the fundamental processes of life. New evidence shows that this disease is the result of the same evolutionary changes that allowed us to thrive. Evolution helped us outsmart our environment, and it helps cancer outsmart its environment as well—alas, that environment is us.Explaining why "everything we know about cancer is wrong," Arney, a geneticist and award-winning science writer, guides readers with her trademark wit and clarity through the latest research into the cellular mavericks that rebel against the rigid biological "society" of the body and make a leap towards anarchy.We need to be a lot smarter to defeat such a wily foe—smarter even than Darwin himself. In this new world, where we know that every cancer is unique and can evolve its way out of trouble, the old models of treatment have reached their limits. But we are starting to decipher cancer's secret evolutionary playbook, mapping the landscapes in which these rogue cells survive, thrive, or die, and using this knowledge to predict and confound cancer's next move.Rebel Cell is a story about life and death, hope and hubris, nature and nurture. It's about a new way of thinking about what this disease really is and the role it plays in human life. Above all, it's a story about where cancer came from, where it's going, and how we can stop it.

    Yet, it turns out that most parameters are not constant; moreover, despite the importance of local mechanisms, the brain is definitely in charge. In this book, the eminent neuroscientist Peter Sterling describes a broader concept: allostasis (coined by Sterling and Joseph Eyer in the 1980s), whereby the brain anticipates needs and efficiently mobilizes supplies to prevent errors.Allostasis evolved early, Sterling explains, to optimize energy efficiency, relying heavily on brain circuits that deliver a brief reward for each positive surprise. Modern life so reduces the opportunities for surprise that we are driven to seek it in consumption: bigger burgers, more opioids, and innumerable activities that involve higher carbon emissions. The consequences include addiction, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and climate change. Sterling concludes that solutions must go beyond the merely technical to restore possibilities for daily small rewards and revivify the capacities for egalitarianism that were hard-wired into our nature.Sterling explains that allostasis offers what is not found in any medical textbook: principled definitions of health and disease: health as the capacity for adaptive variation and disease as shrinkage of that capacity. Sterling argues that since health is optimal responsiveness, many significant conditions are best treated at the system level.

    Nonetheless, many physicians remain reluctant to discuss cannabis medicine with their patients. And with so much conflicting misinformation from unreliable sources, finding out if cannabis could be an effective treatment for you or a loved one can feel nearly impossible. This book is the comprehensive resource for people who have not found relief from conventional medicines.Bonni Goldstein, MD, has helped thousands of patients suffering from chronic, difficult-to-treat conditions improve with cannabis. In this revelatory book, she explains the current state of scientific research on how cannabis interacts with human physiology to create homeostasis -- balance -- leading to good health. Many of the plant's compounds, including CBD and CBG, and their therapeutic effects are explained in detail. Readers will learn how to best navigate the multitude of available cannabis-based products, with detailed guidance on safety and usage, and how to customize a personalized cannabis regimen. And Dr. Goldstein presents 28 common conditions for which patients have found cannabis treatment to be effective, including cancer, insomnia and gastrointestinal disorders.As medical cannabis laws continue to evolve, it is more vital than ever for struggling patients to understand the benefits of this plant from an honest, medicine-based perspective. Educational, practical, and thorough, Cannabis Is Medicine empowers patients to make informed decisions about this natural medicine and improve the quality of their lives.

    In Nests, Eggs, Birds, celebrated artist and author Kelsey Oseid explores the fascinating ins and outs of where and how dozens of avian species--robins, birds of paradise, crows, owls, penguins, and more--make their homes and lay their eggs.Full of striking naturalistic art and fun scientific facts, Nests, Eggs, Birds will delight bird lovers of all ages.

    Based on this neurological exam and an MRI showing significant brain atrophy, he was classified by his doctors as "impaired." His doctors told him this was almost certainly the advance of Alzheimer's disease. In 2017, Mr. Brown was tested with a list of 10 words. He recalled 9 of the ten words, then scored perfectly on a subsequent test. What happened? What did he do to so significantly improve his memory and cognition? In Beating the Dementia Monster, Mr. Brown tells the story of his experience and describes the steps he took that changed his life and his future. Not only does he tell what he did, he also identifies the scientific research that explains his results. If you are looking for the magic dietary supplement or the exotic diet that will cure your cognitive decline, it’s not here. But if you or someone you love is facing the progression of mild cognitive impairment, there are things that you are probably able to do to slow, stop, and even reverse cognitive decline. “David Brown’s regimen has made a remarkable difference in his cognitive impairment. What he recommends is practical, doable, and good for all aspects of your health, both physical and psychological. It is something that anyone confronting mild cognitive impairment should try.” —Tae-Im Moon, Ph.D. Licensed Clinical Psychologist “Engaging and informative.” —Carrie S. Brown, Ph.D. Author of Rosie’s Mom: Forgotten Women Workers of the First World War

    It puts humanity's place in the universe into necessary perspective. Despite a history of controversy, the evidence for evolution continues to accumulate as a result of many separate strands of amazing scientific sleuthing.In The Story of Evolution in 25 Discoveries, Donald R. Prothero explores the most fascinating breakthroughs in piecing together the evidence for evolution. In twenty-five vignettes, he recounts the dramatic stories of the people who made crucial discoveries, placing each moment in the context of what it represented for the progress of science. He tackles topics like what it means to see evolution in action and what the many transitional fossils show us about evolution, following figures from Darwin to lesser-known researchers as they unlock the mysteries of the fossil record, the earth, and the universe. The book also features the stories of animal species strange and familiar, including humans--and our ties to some of our closest relatives and more distant cousins. Prothero's wide-ranging tales showcase awe-inspiring and bizarre aspects of nature and the powerful insights they give us into the way that life works.Brisk and entertaining while firmly grounded in fundamental science, The Story of Evolution in 25 Discoveries is a captivating read for anyone curious about the evidence for evolution and what it means for humanity.

    Chief among these are probable losses in subjective existential purpose and increases in psychopathology. A highly original theory of the ultimate basis of these trends is advanced, which unites prior work in psychometrics and evolutionary science. This theory builds on the social epistasis amplification model to argue that genetic and epigenetic changes in modernizing and modernized populations, stemming from shifts in selective pressures related to industrialization, have lowered human fitness and wellness.

      For almost a century, a small band of eccentric scientists has struggled to answer these questions and explain one of the greatest mysteries of all: how and why life began on Earth. There are many different proposals, and each idea has attracted passionate believers who promote it with an almost religious fervor, as well as detractors who reject it with equal passion.   But the quest to unravel life’s genesis is not just a story of big ideas. It is also a compelling human story, rich in personalities, conflicts, and surprising twists and turns. Along the way the journey takes in some of the greatest discoveries in modern biology, from evolution and cells to DNA and life’s family tree. It is also a search whose end may finally be in sight.   In The Genesis Quest, Michael Marshall shows how the quest to understand life’s beginning is also a journey to discover the true nature of life, and by extension our place in the universe.

    But all the animals in this book especially need our love – now more than ever. Learn about their habitats, what makes them special, and show them you care with simple activities you can do at home.

    This rhyming photographic board book visits the oceans of places like New Zealand, Russia and South America. Writer, filmmaker and orca activist Mark Leiren-Young introduces young readers to blue whales bigger than dinosaurs and tiny vaquitas who swim close to shores.

    The whimsical artwork and humorous text is perfect for enlightening the next generation of geniuses and creating a love for medical science they will carry for a lifetime!Bacteria and Antibiotics is a fantastic book for nurses to read and makes a wonderful addition to other special gifts for your little one, such as science toys for toddlers, baby anatomy books, and educational baby toys. Give the gift of learning to your little one with this educational baby book and help them understand their bodies!

    The book showcases more than one hundred significant bug species, including the ruby-tailed wasp, the garden tiger moth, the jewel beetle, the flying stick insect, the orchid bee, and many others.Magnificent full-color photographs show the bugs in detail, so that readers can learn to distinguish, for example, the translucent abdomen of the great pied hoverfly from the yellow or orange markings on a giant scoliid wasp. Each detailed and dazzling photograph is accompanied by a caption describing the bug's lifestyle, distribution, size, and key characteristics. An insightful introduction also explores the different orders and families found in the insect classes and an explanation of how they have evolved. Based on the most up-to-date science and accessibly written, the book will appeal to scientists and amateur science readers alike.

    

    Immersed in his squabbling family, birdwatching in the wetlands on their abandoned ranch, and falling in love with a local biologist, he makes discoveries that force him to contend with the environmental cataclysm of his turn-of-millennium present—even as he confronts the Cold War era ideologies and political violence that have shaped his family’s past.

    In his accessible and engaging style, Chadwick approaches the subject from a scientific angle, with the underlying message that from the perspective of DNA humans are not all that different from any other creature. He begins by showing the surprisingly close relationship between human DNA and that of grizzly bears, with whom we share 80 percent of our DNA. We are 60 percent similar to a salmon, 40 percent the same as many insects, and 24 percent of our genes match those of a wine grape. He reflects on the value of exposure to nature on human biochemistry and mentality, that we are not that far removed from our ancestors who lived closer to nature. He highlights examples of animals using “human” traits, such as tools and play. He ends the book with two examples of the healing benefits of turning closer to nature: island biogeography and the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative. This book is a reflection on man’s rightful place in the ecological universe. Using personal stories, recounting how he came to love and depend on the Great Outdoors and how he learned his place in the system of Nature, Chadwick challenges anyone to consider whether they are separate from or part of nature. The answer is obvious, that we are an indivisible from all elements of a system that is greater than ourselves and should never be neglected, taken advantage of, or exploited. This is a fresh and engaging take on man’s relationship to nature by a respected and experienced author.

    The Mystery of Life’s Origin: The Continuing Controversy investigates how close scientists are to solving that mystery and explores what we are learning about the origin of life from current research in chemistry, physics, astrobiology, biochemistry, and more. The book includes an updated version of the classic text The Mystery of Life’s Origin by Charles Thaxton, Walter Bradley, and Roger Olsen, and new chapters on the current state of the debate by chemist James Tour, physicist Brian Miller, astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez, biologist Jonathan Wells, and philosopher of science Stephen C. Meyer.

    Perfect support for coursework, homework, and exam revision.Each topic is fully illustrated to support the information, make the facts crystal clear, and bring the science to life. For key ideas, "How it works" and "Look closer" boxes explain the theory with the help of simple graphics. And for revision, a handy "Key facts" box provides a simple summary you can check back on later.With clear, concise coverage of all the core biology topics, Super Simple Biology is the perfect accessible guide to biology for children, supporting classwork, and making studying for exams the easiest it's ever been.

    The authors' passion for the dynamic field of neuroscience is evident on every page, engaging students and helping them master the material. In just a few years, the field of neuroscience has been transformed by exciting new technologies and an explosion of knowledge about the brain. The human genome has been sequenced, sophisticated new methods have been developed for genetic engineering, and new methods have been introduced to enable visualization and stimulation of specific types of nerve cells and connections in the brain. The new Fourth Edition has been fully updated to reflect these and other rapid advances in the field, while honoring its commitment to be student-friendly with striking new illustrations, additional animations, and an unparalleled array of online resources.

    Introduce gorgeous greenery into your apartment or home with houseplants. As well as being affordable and easy to transport if you move, nothing helps more to instantly create a lively and inviting interior than houseplants. You can start small and build a plant collection as your confidence develops. To care for your collection, you’ll need to take into consideration every plant’s individual needs. While some plants are easy to care for—particularly cacti, succulents, and snake plants (Sansevieria trifasciata)—some of the most spectacular may need a little extra love. This comprehensive guide to houseplants covers 42 of the most popular houseplants, with all the information you need to help them thrive, including ideal conditions and common concerns, as well as the plant’s common names and the varieties available. Nurture healthy, happy plants with techniques for:Choosing and buyingWatering and feedingLight and positionCompost and pottingDealing with pests and diseasesSolutions tailored by symptomsFind complete growing guidance for: the urn plant, Chinese evergreen, anthurium, cast iron plant, azalea, begonia, bulbs and corms, cacti and succulents, peacock plant, spider plant, grape ivy, croton, cyclamen, umbrella plant, dumb cane, dracaena, poinsettia, ferns, ficus, mosaic plant, ivy, dwarf umbrella tree, herbs, wax plant, jasmine, swiss cheese plant, banana plant, orchid, palms, geranium, radiator plant, philodendron, Chinese money plant, snake plant, holiday cactus, devil’s ivy, African hemp, peace lily, Madagascar jasmine, arrowhead vine, inch plant, and yucca cane. With extensive care charts that serve as a vital reference tool, photographs of damaged leaves or flowers that help you identify specific problems, and photography showing the life and beauty that plants bring to a home, this guide is your key to thriving houseplants.

    This pamphlet thoroughly exposes the analytical incoherency and moral deficiency within so much of this sup-posed left; their position, which is plainly morally corrupt, is proved to also be analytically impossible.

    The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine has treated 104 patients tested positive for COVID-19 in 50 days; and it has achieved zero deaths in patients diagnosed, zero patients misdiagnosed, and zero infections in medical staff. Their experts wrote real treatment experience when combating the virus night and day, and quickly published this Handbook of COVID-19 Prevention and Treatment, in order to share their invaluable practical advice and references with medical professionals around the world. This handbook compares and analyzes the experience of other experts in China; gives detailed and comprehensive answers to potential questions for diagnosing and treating patients in different types; and provides a good reference to key departments such as hospital infection management, nursing, and outpatient clinics. This handbook provides comprehensive guidelines and best practices by China's top experts for coping with COVID-19.Key contents include：- Technical strategies for prevention and treatment of the epidemic- Treatment methods to treat the critically ill- Nursing methods and experienceBook link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-rSX...

    They are enduring symbols of natural majesty and power. Yet despite the magnetic appeal of the big cats, their origins and evolutionary history remain poorly understood--and human activity threatens to put an end to the big cats' glory.On the Prowl is a fully illustrated and approachable guide to the evolution of the big cats and what it portends for their conservation today. Mark Hallett and John M. Harris trace the origins of these iconic carnivores, venturing down the evolutionary pathways that produced the diversity of big cat species that have walked the earth. They place the evolution and paleobiology of these species in the context of ancient ecosystems and climates, explaining what made big cats such efficient predators and analyzing their competition with other animals. Hallett and Harris pay close attention to human impact, from the evidence of cave paintings and analysis of ancient extinctions up to present-day crises. Their engaging and carefully documented account is brought to life through Hallett's detailed, vivid illustrations, based on the most recent research by leading paleontologists. Offering a fresh look at the rise of these majestic animals, On the Prowl also makes a powerful case for renewed efforts to protect big cats and their habitats before it is too late.

    Although we are still in the "crawling" stage to come at grips with the virus, we have a thousand-year repertoire of common sense, hundreds of years of development in preserving public health, and decades of evidence-based medicine. This book simplifies scientific terminology for the non-specialist reader. It succinctly focuses on straightforward practical information: no profuse introductions, no enigmatic theories, and no boring details that may repel you, unnecessarily prolong the book, or restrict the required diversity to review all aspects of dealing with the pandemic in everyday life. In terms of references and sources, I often refer to verified and credible general media sources rather than specialized references. This is to facilitate cross-reference by the reader and go through the same language and terms the general public understand. As healthcare professionals, we are both debtors and creditors. We owe it to all humankind to guide them in terms of awareness, education, care, treatment, and scientific research during this dreaded pandemic. However, they also owe us to listen to what we say, read what we write, and trust us. They should not surrender their ears, eyes, and minds to the mongers of deceit, addicts to conspiracy theories, idiots of limited intelligence, and advocates of political and commercial agendas that run counter to professionalism, knowledge, honesty, and credibility."

    The book has an awe-inspiring, general knowledge feel and beautiful illustrations. An engaging, accessible introduction to biology as a subject of its own. Interactive, with lots of flaps to lift and discover. Part of Usborne’s successful lift-the-flap series, which includes titles on coding, engineering, and the Periodic table.

    

    Weaving together disparate philosophical and empirical threads, Powell offers the first detailed analysis of the interplay between contingency and convergence in macroevolution, as it relates to both complex life in general and cognitively complex life in particular. If the evolution of mind is not a historical accident, the product of convergence rather than contingency, then, Powell asks, is mind likely to be an evolutionarily important feature of any living world?Stephen Jay Gould argued for the primacy of contingency in evolution. Gould's “radical contingency thesis” (RCT) has been challenged, but critics have largely failed to engage with its core claims and theoretical commitments. Powell fills this gap. He first examines convergent regularities at both temporal and phylogenetic depths, finding evidence that both vindicates and rebuffs Gould's argument for contingency. Powell follows this partial defense of the RCT with a substantive critique. Among the evolutionary outcomes that might defy the RCT, he argues, cognition is particularly important—not only for human-specific issues of the evolution of intelligence and consciousness but also for the large-scale ecological organization of macroscopic living worlds. Turning his attention to complex cognitive life, Powell considers what patterns of cognitive convergence tell us about the nature of mind, its evolution, and its place in the universe. If complex bodies are common in the universe, might complex minds be common as well?

    The variety of bird species is truly astounding, from the tiny bee hummingbird to the large flightless ostrich, making birds one of the most diverse and successful animal groups on the planet. Taking you inside the extraordinary world of birds, What Is a Bird? explores all aspects of these remarkable creatures, providing an up-close look at their morphology, unique internal anatomy and physiology, fascinating and varied behavior, and ecology. It features hundreds of color illustrations and draws on a broad range of examples, from the familiar backyard sparrow to the most exotic birds of paradise. A must-have book for birders and armchair naturalists, What Is a Bird? is a celebration of the rich complexity of bird life.An absorbing and beautifully presented exploration of the natural history of birdsIntegrates physiological adaptations with ecology and behaviorFeatures a wealth of color photographs and explanatory figuresUses scanning electron microscope imagery to provide a rare close-up view of structures not normally visibleProvides insights into our complex relationship with birds, from our enduring fascination with them to the threats they face and the challenges of conservation

    

    Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin (1910–1994) was passionate in her quest to understand the molecules of the living body. She won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1964 for her work on penicillin and Vitamin B12, and her study of insulin made her a pioneer in protein crystallography. Fully engaged with the political and social currents of her time, Hodgkin experienced radical change in women's education, the globalisation of science, relationships between East and West, and international initiatives for peace. Georgina Ferry's definitive biography of Britain's first female Nobel prizewinning scientist was shortlisted for the Duff Cooper Prize and the Marsh Biography Award. This revised and updated edition includes a new preface from the author.

    He is celebrated for his words of wisdom as well as the alleged miracles that he performed while he was still alive. Yet as large as his acclaim may be, Aquinas has also had his fair share of detractors both during his lifetime and long thereafter.In the twentieth century, for example, esteemed British philosopher and writer Bertrand Russel went so far in his criticism as to say that he believed that Thomas Aquinas was not a philosopher in the classical sense of the word but rather that he relied more on dogmatic Catholic faith than any sense of inquiry or inductive reasoning. There are of course those that would vehemently argue the opinions of Bertrand Russel. While it is not the purpose of this book to take one side or the other, these arguments and criticisms will be examined as we delve into the history of this great thinker.Casting all accolades and critiques aside, in this book you will find the raw bare bones of the man who Thomas Aquinas came to be. Thomas Aquinas had an exceptional life of both major accomplishments and upsetting setbacks—here, we explore them in full.

    But evolution and cancer are closely linked, for the historical processes that created life also created cancer. The Cheating Cell delves into this extraordinary relationship, and shows that by understanding cancer's evolutionary origins, researchers can come up with more effective, revolutionary treatments.Athena Aktipis goes back billions of years to explore when unicellular forms became multicellular organisms. Within these bodies of cooperating cells, cheating ones arose, overusing resources and replicating out of control, giving rise to cancer. Aktipis illustrates how evolution has paved the way for cancer's ubiquity, and why it will exist as long as multicellular life does. Even so, she argues, this doesn't mean we should give up on treating cancer--in fact, evolutionary approaches offer new and promising options for the disease's prevention and treatments that aim at long-term management rather than simple eradication. Looking across species--from sponges and cacti to dogs and elephants--we are discovering new mechanisms of tumor suppression and the many ways that multicellular life-forms have evolved to keep cancer under control. By accepting that cancer is a part of our biological past, present, and future--and that we cannot win a war against evolution--treatments can become smarter, more strategic, and more humane.Unifying the latest research from biology, ecology, medicine, and social science, The Cheating Cell challenges us to rethink cancer's fundamental nature and our relationship to it.

    A technical revolution has transformed the field, and extracting meaningful information from large biological data sets is now a central methodological challenge. Algebraic topology is a well-established branch of pure mathematics that studies qualitative descriptors of the shape of geometric objects. It aims to reduce comparisons of shape to a comparison of algebraic invariants, such as numbers, which are typically easier to work with. Topological data analysis is a rapidly developing subfield that leverages the tools of algebraic topology to provide robust multiscale analysis of data sets. This book introduces the central ideas and techniques of topological data analysis and its specific applications to biology, including the evolution of viruses, bacteria and humans, genomics of cancer, and single cell characterization of developmental processes. Bridging two disciplines, the book is for researchers and graduate students in genomics and evolutionary biology as well as mathematicians interested in applied topology.

    Resurrected 300 years after his consciousness was uploaded into the BioGrid - a vast biological computer housed in the root network of a genetically engineered forest, Raine Naidu finds himself leading the non-human faction in a war for Earth's future.Get ready to meet the BioGrid and reconsider what it means to be human.

    For the first time ever, the death rate from cancer is showing a steady decline … but the ‘War on Cancer’ has hardly been won. In The Cancer Code, Dr Jason Fung offers a revolutionary new understanding of this invasive, often fatal disease – what it is, how it manifests and why it is so challenging to treat. In this rousing narrative, Dr Fung identifies the medical community’s many missteps in cancer research – in particular, its focus on genetics, or what he terms the ‘seed’ of cancer, at the expense of examining the ‘soil,’ or the conditions under which cancer flourishes. Dr Fung – whose ground-breaking work in the treatment of obesity and diabetes has won him international acclaim – suggests that the primary disease pathway of cancer is caused by the dysregulation of insulin. In fact, obesity and type 2 diabetes significantly increase an individual’s risk of cancer.In this accessible read, Dr Fung provides a new paradigm for dealing with cancer, with recommendations for what we can do to create a hostile soil for this dangerous seed. One such strategy is intermittent fasting, which reduces blood glucose, lowering insulin levels. Another, eliminating intake of insulin-stimulating foods, such as sugar and refined carbohydrates.For hundreds of years, cancer has been portrayed as a foreign invader we’ve been powerless to stop. By reshaping our view of cancer as an internal uprising of our own healthy cells, we can begin to take back control. The seed of cancer may exist in all of us, but the power to change the soil is in our hands.

    Drawing on her experiences as a natural history instructor, dragonfly monitor, cancer survivor, grandmother, and steward, Crosby tells the stories of dragonflies: their roles in poetry and art, their fascinating sex life—unique within the animal kingdom—and their evolution from dark-water dwellers to denizens of the air. We follow Crosby and other citizen-scientists into the prairies, wetlands, and woodlands of the Midwest, where they observe the environment and chronicle dragonfly populations and migration to decipher critical clues about our changing waterways and climate.   Woven throughout are personal stories: reflections on the author’s cancer diagnosis and recovery, change, loss, aging, family, joy, and discovering what it means to be at home in the natural world. Crosby draws an intimate portrait of a landscape teeming with variety and mystery, one that deserves our attention and conservation. As warm as it is informative, this book will interest gardeners, readers of literary nonfiction, and anyone intrigued by transformation, whether in nature or our personal lives.

    With sections focusing on different abilities and features, from biting and flying to jaws, tails, and more, this exciting collection explains how animals’ amazing bodies have adapted to allow them to do so many different things.

    These images can be used in art and graphic design projects, or printed and framed to make stunning decorative artworks. We promise you will be impressed with this impressive pictorial archive.  About the author: This book was curated and authored by the creative director of Vault Editions, Kale James. Kale has published over 12 acclaimed books within the art design space and has worked with brands including Nike, Samsung, Adidas and Rolling Stone. Kale's artwork is published in numerous titles including No Cure, Semi-Permanent, Vogue and more.This collection of vintage illustrations is an essential resource for all artist, collage artists and graphic designers looking to take their artwork to the next level. Only a limited number of copies of this publication have been made, so download your files now and start creating today before they are gone forever.

    Packed with great information and fun, these super helpers are sure to keep any budding scientist turning page after page.

    The memoir traces Beth Armstrong’s love and fascination for animals, from her childhood to her work with captive primates as an adult. Through her eyes, readers sense the awe and privilege of working with these animals at the Columbus Zoo. Individual gorillas there had an enormous effect on her life, shaping and influencing her commitment to improving gorilla husbandry and to involving her zoo in taking an active role to protect gorillas in the wild.   Through anecdotal stories, readers get a glimpse into the fascinating lives of gorillas—the familiar gentleness of mothers and fathers toward their infants, power plays and social climbing, the unruly nature of teenagers, the capacity for humor, and the shared sadness by group members as they mourn the death of one of their own. In the end, Armstrong’s conflict with captivity and her lifelong fondness for these animals helped shape a zoo program dedicated to gorilla conservation.

    

    

    Readers both young and old will delight in this humorous look at the science of boogers while they learn about the countless important roles that snot plays in our bodies.

    But the realities of twenty-first-century medicine will allow most of us to have a say in how, when, and where we die, so we need to make decisions surrounding death, too. Or those decisions may be made for us. Threading compelling real-life stories and practical guidance throughout, this book helps readers navigate end-of-life care for themselves and their loved ones.In this practical guidebook, Dr. Dan Morhaim and Shelley Morhaim offer readers hope, empowerment, and inspiration. What we choose for our end-of-life care, they assert, depends on accurate information and on our personal values. We need these not only to understand new medical advances but also to appreciate the wisdom of humanity's past and present.Dan Morhaim, an emergency medicine physician and former Maryland state legislator, guides readers through the medical, legal, and financial maze of end-of-life care. He details the care choices available to patients and explains why living wills and advance directives are a necessity for every American. He tells readers where to find free and readily available living wills and advance directives and why it is so important for everyone--young and old--to complete them. Meanwhile, Shelley Morhaim draws on her experience as a therapeutic music practitioner for hospice and hospital patients to offer compassion to readers facing hard decisions.The authors reflect on a number of timely topics, including- what doctors--including Dr. Morhaim specifically--want for themselves in terms of end-of-life care- how legislative initiatives on assisted dying vary by state- how to obtain medical orders for life-sustaining treatment (MOLST/POLST)- how to deal with dementia- what to expect from palliative and hospice care- how to cope with pain at the end of life, including with medical cannabis and narcotics- how organ donation and body disposition work- how to communicate individual needs to lawyers, physicians, and family members- how to make decisions when selecting the best care for yourself and othersand more.Organized as a roadmap that people should follow when they plan end-of-life care and contingencies, this book helps readers keep decisions in their own hands and spare their families the uncertainty and trauma of guessing about their end-of-life wishes. Breaking down the barriers to a difficult but essential topic, Preparing for a Better End helps readers open this often-avoided discussion with their loved ones while providing the information and guidance needed to ensure that deeply held values are reflected and honored.Praise for the Author "In The Better End, Dr. Morhaim helps the reader to see that while death does have its sting, it need not be bitter, and each of us can prepare for the end in better ways."--Maya Angelou"Dan Morhaim's message is a must read for anyone who is facing end-of-life crisis issues and concerns, whether it be for themselves or for a family member or loved one. When so many others shun away from the topic, Dan Morhaim addresses the situation with clarity, insight, and sensitivity."--Montel Williams

    The fanged feline was equipped with the savage strength of a lion, the lethal stealth of a puma, the intimidating gait of a black bear, and the strapping, muscular arms of a gorilla. Amazingly, however, those traits did not stand out as much as the long, dagger-like fangs that earned the Smilodon its famous nickname. The saber-toothed tiger, legend has it, was as ferocious as it was fearless, often tackling beasts twice their size. Saber-toothed tigers were arguably the most fabled of all the Ice Age creatures. The fearsome beast has earned itself quite the reputation, and it has been referenced to, appeared in, and inspired unique characters in endless books, films, comics, and other pop culture mediums. For example, Marvel's Victor Creed, otherwise known as “Sabretooth,” is most known as Wolverine's nemesis, and he’s depicted as a hulking, vigorously robust menace in a red and orange-gold jumpsuit with a hunched back, a shock of wild blond hair, tiger-like claws, and frightening fangs. As that indicates, the prehistoric creature is often portrayed as impossibly cunning, unfeeling villains. Even in films geared towards children, such as the first of the Ice Age animations, the saber-toothed tigers, excluding Diego, are depicted as vicious and vindictive, lawless fiends whose sights are set on a Neanderthal toddler. The name and reputation of the ruthless saber-toothed tiger, as enduring as it is chilling, overshadows those of its contemporaries, and the fanged feline remains a household name and one of the foremost symbols of the Ice Age to this very day. So, what is it about the Smilodon that has captured – and continues to capture – the fears, morbid curiosities, hearts, minds, and imaginations of Holocene humans after all this time? And exactly how accurate is the general public's perception and understanding of the saber-toothed tiger? Moreover, if these saber-toothed beasts were indeed as merciless and indomitable as they are often portrayed, what was it that snuffed them out of existence? Saber-Toothed Tigers: The History and Legacy of the Most Famous Extinct Cat Species looks at the origins of the famous cats, the fossil finds, and theories regarding their extinction. Along with pictures depicting important people, places, and events, you will learn about saber-toothed tigers like never before.

    

    To that end, cells have an arsenal of signaling molecules linked together in signaling pathways, which switch between inactive and active conformations. The Molecular Switch articulates a biophysical perspective on signaling, showing how allostery--a powerful explanation of how molecules function across all biological domains--can be reformulated using equilibrium statistical mechanics, applied to diverse biological systems exhibiting switching behaviors, and successfully unify seemingly unrelated phenomena.Rob Phillips weaves together allostery and statistical mechanics via a series of biological vignettes, each of which showcases an important biological question and accompanying physical analysis. Beginning with the study of ligand-gated ion channels and their role in problems ranging from muscle action to vision, Phillips then undertakes increasingly sophisticated case studies, from bacterial chemotaxis and quorum sensing to hemoglobin and its role in mammalian physiology. He looks at G-protein coupled receptors as well as the role of allosteric molecules in gene regulation. Phillips concludes by surveying problems in biological fidelity and offering a speculative chapter on the relationship between allostery and biological Maxwell demons.Appropriate for graduate students and researchers in biophysics, physics, engineering, biology, and neuroscience, The Molecular Switch presents a unified, quantitative model for describing biological signaling phenomena.

    In tropical rainforests around the world, army ants march in groups by the thousands to overwhelm large solitary invertebrates, along with nests of termites, wasps, and other ants. They kill and dismember their prey and carry it back to their nest, where their hungry brood devours it. They are the ultimate social hunters, demonstrating the most fascinating collective behavior.In Army Ants we see how these insects play a crucial role in promoting and sustaining the biodiversity of tropical ecosystems. The ants help keep prey communities in check while also providing nutrition for other animals. Many species depend on army ants for survival, including a multitude of social parasites, swarm-following birds, and flies. And while their hunting behavior, and the rules that govern it, are clearly impressive, army ants display collective behavior in other ways that are no less dazzling. They build living nests, called bivouacs, using their bodies to protect the queen and larvae. The ants can even construct bridges over open space or obstacles by linking to one another using their feet. These incredible feats happen without central coordination. They are the result of local interactions--self-organization that benefits the society at large.Through observations, stories, and stunning images, Daniel Kronauer brings these fascinating creatures to life. Army ants may be small, but their collective intelligence and impact on their environment are anything but.

    But it is their remarkable navigational abilities that make these ants so fascinating to study. Whether in the Sahara or its ecological equivalents in the Namib Desert and Australian Outback, the Cataglyphis navigators can set out foraging across vast expanses of desert terrain in search of prey, and then find the shortest way home. For almost half a century, R�diger Wehner and his collaborators have devised elegant experiments to unmask how they do it.Through a lively and lucid narrative, Desert Navigator offers a firsthand look at the extraordinary navigational skills of these charismatic desert dwellers and the experiments that revealed how they strategize and solve complex problems. Wehner and his team discovered that these insect navigators use visual cues in the sky that humans are unable to see, the Earth's magnetic field, wind direction, a step counter, and panoramic "snapshots" of landmarks, among other resources. The ants combine all of this information to steer an optimal course. At any given time during their long journey, they know exactly where to go. It is no wonder these nimble and versatile creatures have become models in the study of animal navigation.Desert Navigator brings to light the marvelous capacity and complexity found in these remarkable insects and shows us how mini brains can solve mega tasks.

    Playing with and challenging form in all directions, the 27 new and 96 selected poems in Deep Gossip bristle with a sly wit that trips and delights the reader. Inspired by landscape, language, music, and living things, as well as the occasional bout of political outrage, Deep Gossip is a smart collection.Praise for Other Books by Sidney Wade"The quick, closely observed poems in Sidney Wade's beguiling Bird Book move from page to page like their subjects--in flight, on air, a murmuration sweeping across the horizon."--William Souder"Sidney Wade's linguistic and philosophical turns in Bird Book confirm that she is both the supreme heir to Wallace Stevens and one of the most original poets in the language."--Randall Mann"This is a beautiful, wise, and timely collection."--Daniel Anderson"As impressive and thrillingly exact as these poems are concerning matters ornithological, it is the exquisite music --'earth-sprung, bright, and resonant'--of Wade's radically short line that so enchants me, the free play of interlinear rhyme, phonemic harmonies, and small bursts of metrical rhythms that yield more vitality and delight than any gathering of poems I have encountered in a very long time."--B. H. Fairchild"Her poems [are]... a particular and splendid instance of what Hopkins meant by 'poetry proper, the language of inspiration.' "--Richard Howard

    This is the basic premise of fat activism, a social movement that has existed in Canada since the 1970s. Being Fat focuses on the earliest strands of the movement, covering the last decades of the twentieth century. The book explores how fat activists wrestled with feminist issues of the era, including femininity, sexuality, and health.Showcasing the earliest efforts of fat activists in Canada, such as the growth of social initiatives "for fat women only," Being Fat helps us recognize the long reach of second-wave feminism and how it shaped activists' approaches to everyday experiences like shopping, exercise, and going to the doctor.

    Manu knew his full name, Manu'ō'ōmauloa, meant "May the 'ō'ō bird live on" but never understood: Why was he named after a native forest bird that no longer existed?Manu told his parents he wanted to know more about 'ō'ō birds and together they searched the internet. The next day, his teacher shared more facts with the class. There was so much to learn! As his mind fills with new discoveries, Manu has vivid dreams of his namesake bird. After a surprise visit to Hawai'i Island where the family sees native forest birds in their natural setting, Manu finally understands the meaning of his name, and that he can help the birds and promote a healthy forest.Manu, the Boy Who Loved Birds is a story about extinction, conservation, and culture, told through a child's experience and curiosity. Readers learn along with Manu about the extinct honeyeater for which he was named, his Hawaiian heritage, and the relationship between animals and habitat. An afterword includes in-depth information on Hawai'i's forest birds and featherwork in old Hawai'i, a glossary, and a list of things to do to help. Illustrated with eye-catching, full-color block prints, the book accurately depicts and incorporates natural science and culture in a whimsical way, showing how we can all make a difference for wildlife.The book is also available in a Hawaiian-language edition, 'O Manu, ke Keiki Aloha Manu, translated by Blaine Namahana Tolentino (ISBN 9780824883430).

    Stem cells have the potential to generate new cells of different types, and have been shown to do so in certain cases. Could stem cell transplants repair the damaged brain? In this book, neurobiologist Jack Price assesses the potential of stem cell therapies to treat such brain disorders as stroke, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and spinal cord injuries.Certainly brain disorders are in need of effective treatments. These disorders don't just kill, they disable, and conventional drug therapies have not had much success in treating them. Price explains that repairing the human brain is difficult, largely because of its structural, functional, and developmental complexity. He examines the self-repairing capacity of blood and gut cells--and the lack of such capacity in the brain; describes the limitations of early brain stem cell therapies for neurodegenerative disorders; and discusses current clinical trials that may lead to the first licensed stem cell therapies for stroke, Parkinson's and macular degeneration. And he describes the real promise of pluripotential stem cells, which can make all the cell types that constitute the body.New technologies, Price reports, challenge the very notion of cell transplantation, instead seeking to convince the brain itself to manufacture the new cells it needs. Could this be the true future of brain repair?

    

    The broader history of possible extraterrestrial contact is explored alongside a look at current events in the subject of alien disclosure with the result of highlighting evidence of a contact continuum that has continued since the dawn of humanity. The data brought together suggests that the next stage in human evolution may involve the manifestation of full open contact with the visitors in our lifetimes.Exogenesis: Hybrid Humans explores:An ancient sacred Aboriginal artifactWreckage from a huge colony ship gets identified along with associated NASA studies concluding it is a material found in only one place on EarthGenetic engineering of Homo sapiens from an early hominin species is confirmed with a lengthy list of DNA anomalies only explainable by humans being an alien ‘hybrid’ creationThe recent NASA sea change with certain academics calling for serious study of UFOs and other anomalous phenomenaThe theory that an extraterrestrial modified retrovirus was used to deliver some of the genetic information into the upgraded humans