With wisdom, humor, and scientific aplomb, medical students and sex educators Nina Brochmann and Ellen Støkken Dahl take readers on a fascinating journey of female sexual organs and sexual health--from the clitoris to contraception to cervical cancer.More than a user's manual, this book is demystification, and tribute to the vagina that we have been waiting for. The Wonder Down Under is filled with astonishing, important, and little-known information--relayed with both medical expertise and genuine empathy. Did you know, for instance, that female and male sex organs are merely variations on the same basic structure? Or that there's no such thing as a virginity test--because a broken hymen is not a meaningful indicator of whether or not someone's had sex?Brochmann and Dahl have written a tour-de-force about the biology, anatomy, and reality of the female body, stopping along the way to explain how misinformation and silence about the vagina have been harmful to women over time. The Wonder Down Under makes crucial contributions to the discussion: the book was an instant bestseller that sold out in its native Norway in just three days. Since then it has been acquired by publishers in more than two dozen countries around the world.The Wonder Down Under is a joyful and indispensable book that will educate readers of all kinds and equip a new generation to make informed choices about their sexual health and happiness.

    Why does music evoke such powerful moods? The answers are at last be- coming clear, thanks to revolutionary neuroscience and the emerging field of evolutionary psychology. Both a cutting-edge study and a tribute to the beauty of music itself, This Is Your Brain on Music unravels a host of mysteries that affect everything from pop culture to our understanding of human nature, including: • Are our musical preferences shaped in utero? • Is there a cutoff point for acquiring new tastes in music? • What do PET scans and MRIs reveal about the brain’s response to music? • Is musical pleasure different from other kinds of pleasure?This Is Your Brain on Music explores cultures in which singing is considered an essential human function, patients who have a rare disorder that prevents them from making sense of music, and scientists studying why two people may not have the same definition of pitch. At every turn, this provocative work unlocks deep secrets about how nature and nurture forge a uniquely human obsession.

    From your first cell to your first breath, this is your story as you have never heard it before.Did you know that it took three attempts to make your kidneys? Or that tiny twirling hairs on your back showed your other organs where to go? Or that hiccups are probably a legacy from our ancient, underwater ancestors?With the help of some cutting-edge science and a wry sense of humour, Vestre reveals all this and more. Like: how sperm know which way to swim. Why sex and gender are more complicated than one might think. What you have in common with every living being, and why you are unique.Set off on a true voyage of discovery through an inner universe whose secrets we are still unravelling. A miniature drama of cosmic significance, this is the amazing story of how you became you.

    The text takes a unified approach to the subject, aiming to help the reader develop a real overview of chemical processes, byavoiding the traditional divisions of physical, inorganic and organic chemistry.To understand how chemical reactions happen we need to know about the bonding in molecules, how molecules interact, what determines whether an interaction is favorable or not, and what the outcome will be. Answering these questions requires an understanding of topics from quantum mechanics, throughthermodynamics, to curly arrows. In this book all of these topics are presented in a coherent and coordinated fashion, showing how each leads to a deeper understanding of chemical reactions.

    We take for granted that we can remember, feel emotion, navigate, empathize, and understand the world around us, but how would our lives change if these abilities were dramatically enhanced--or disappeared overnight?Helen Thomson has spent years traveling the world, tracking down incredibly rare brain disorders. In Unthinkable she tells the stories of nine extraordinary people she encountered along the way. From the man who thinks he's a tiger to the doctor who feels the pain of others just by looking at them to a woman who hears music that’s not there, their experiences illustrate how the brain can shape our lives in unexpected and, in some cases, brilliant and alarming ways.Story by remarkable story, Unthinkable takes us on an unforgettable journey through the human brain. Discover how to forge memories that never disappear, how to grow an alien limb, and how to make better decisions. Learn how to hallucinate and how to make yourself happier in a split second. Find out how to avoid getting lost, how to see more of your reality, even how exactly you can confirm you are alive. Think the unthinkable.

    It opens with a question: How would an alien scientist view our species? What would it make of our sex differences, our sexual behavior, our child-rearing patterns, our moral codes, our religions, languages, and science? The book tackles these issues by drawing on ideas from two major schools of thought: evolutionary psychology and cultural evolutionary theory. The guiding assumption is that humans are animals, and that like all animals, we evolved to pass on our genes. At some point, however, we also evolved the capacity for culture - and from that moment, culture began evolving in its own right. This transformed us from a mere ape into an ape capable of reshaping the planet, travelling to other worlds, and understanding the vast universe of which we're but a tiny, fleeting fragment.

    The book is suitable for use as a text in similar overview courses about genes and social issues or genes and disease. It gives a good overview of the developments and status of this field for a wide range of biomedical researchers, physicians, and students, especially those interested in the prospects for the new, genetics-based personalized medicine.

    But now, with revolutionary medical advances, death has become just another serious complication. As a young medical student, Dr. David Casarett was inspired by the story of a two-year-old girl named Michelle Funk. Michelle fell into a creek and was underwater for over an hour. When she was found she wasn’t breathing, and her pupils were fixed and dilated. That drowning should have been fatal. But after three hours of persistent work, a team of doctors and nurses was able to bring her back. It was a miracle. If Michelle could come back after three hours of being dead, what about twelve hours? Or twenty-four? What would it take to revive someone who had been frozen for one thousand years? And what does blurring the line between “life” and “death” mean for society? In Shocked, Casarett chronicles his exploration of the cutting edge of resuscitation and reveals just how far science has come. He begins in the eighteenth century, when early attempts at resuscitation involved public displays of barrel rolling, horseback riding (sort of), and blowing smoke up the patient’s various orifices. He then takes us inside a sophisticated cryonics facility in the Arizona desert, a darkroom full of hibernating lemurs in North Carolina, and a laboratory that puts mice into a state of suspended animation. The result is a spectacular tour of the bizarre world of doctors, engineers, animal biologists, and cryogenics enthusiasts trying to bring the recently dead back to life. Fascinating, thought-provoking, and (believe it or not) funny, Shocked is perfect for those looking for a prequel—and a sequel—to Mary Roach’s Stiff, or for anyone who likes to ponder the ultimate questions of life and death.

    His explanation of the role of natural selection in driving the evolution of life on earth depended on steady variation of living things over time – but he was unable to explain how this variation occurred. In the 150 years since publication of the Origin of Species, we have discovered three main sources for this variation – mutation, hybridisation and epigenetics. Then on Sunday, 12th February, 2001 the evidence for perhaps the most extraordinary cause of variation was simultaneously released by two organisations – the code for the entire human genome. Not only was the human genome unbelievably simple (it is only ten times more complicated than a bacteria), but embedded in the code were large fragments that were derived from viruses – fragments that were vital to evolution of all organisms and the evidence for a fourth and vital source of variation – viruses.Virolution was the subject of a feature article in New Scientist. Translated into Russian, French, German and Japanese, this book has become a hot topic for discussion among scientists and thinkers in recent years. It offers a very new interpretation of our human evolution - and extrapolates to new avenues of approach to fight important diseases, such as cancer and MS.In early 2014 Dr Ryan has co-authored a relevant new paper with Swedish and Chinese scientists working on the Human Proteome project. More details about this paper and other developments will follow in his articles and blogs. So popular is the topic he has been commissioned to give a plenary lecture followed by planning and research advice to PhD students in biology and evolutionary biology at the annual European Society for Evolutionary Biology annual meeting for PhD students in Belgium in September 2014.More anon...

    A fast-paced, sure-to-astonish scientific adventure from “one of our finest science journalists” (Jonah Lehrer), Weiner’s Long for This World addresses the ageless question, “Is there a secret to eternal youth?” And has it, at long last, been found?

    When Dr Ben Goldacre saw someone on daytime TV dipping her feet in an 'Aqua Detox' footbath, releasing her toxins into the water, turning it brown, he thought he'd try the same at home. 'Like some kind of Johnny Ball cum Witchfinder General', using his girlfriend's Barbie doll, he gently passed an electrical current through the warm salt water. It turned brown. In his words: 'before my very eyes, the world's first Detox Barbie was sat, with her feet in a pool of brown sludge, purged of a weekend's immorality.' Dr Ben Goldacre is the author of the Bad Science column in the Guardian. His book is about all the 'bad science' we are constantly bombarded with in the media and in advertising. At a time when science is used to prove everything and nothing, everyone has their own 'bad science' moments from the useless pie-chart on the back of cereal packets to the use of the word 'visibly' in cosmetics ads.

    New findings in molecular biology challenge the gene-centered version of Darwinian theory according to which adaptation occurs only through natural selection of chance DNA variations. In Evolution in Four Dimensions, Eva Jablonka and Marion Lamb argue that there is more to heredity than genes. They trace four dimensions in evolution -- four inheritance systems that play a role in evolution: genetic, epigenetic (or non-DNA cellular transmission of traits), behavioral, and symbolic (transmission through language and other forms of symbolic communication). These systems, they argue, can all provide variations on which natural selection can act. Evolution in Four Dimensions offers a richer, more complex view of evolution than the gene-based, one-dimensional view held by many today. The new synthesis advanced by Jablonka and Lamb makes clear that induced and acquired changes also play a role in evolution. After discussing each of the four inheritance systems in detail, Jablonka and Lamb put Humpty Dumpty together again by showing how all of these systems interact. They consider how each may have originated and guided evolutionary history and they discuss the social and philosophical implications of the four-dimensional view of evolution. Each chapter ends with a dialogue in which the authors engage the contrarieties of the fictional (and skeptical) I.M., or Ifcha Mistabra -- Aramaic for the opposite conjecture -- refining their arguments against I.M.'s vigorous counterarguments. The lucid and accessible text is accompanied by artist-physician Anna Zeligowski's lively drawings, which humorously and effectively illustrate the authors' points.

    In Brain Storms, the award-winning journalist Jon Palfreman tells their story, a story that became his own when he was diagnosed with the debilitating illness. Palfreman chronicles how scientists have worked to crack the mystery of what was once called the shaking palsy, from the earliest clinical descriptions of tremors, gait freezing, and micrographia to the cutting edge of neuroscience, and charts the victories and setbacks of a massive international effort to best the disease. He takes us back to the late 1950s and the discovery of L-dopa. He delves into a number of other therapeutic approaches to this perplexing condition, from partial lobotomies and deep brain stimulation to neural grafting. And he shares inspiring stories of brave individuals living with Parkinson's, from a former professional ballet dancer who tricks her body to move freely again to a patient who cannot walk but astounds doctors when he is able to ride a bicycle with no trouble at all. With the baby boom generation beginning to retire and the population steadily aging, the race is on to discover a means to stop or reverse neurodegenerative conditions like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. Brain Storms is the long-overdue, riveting, and deeply personal story of that race, and a passionate, insightful, and urgent look into the lives of those affected.

    Discover: * how to maximize the effectiveness of your vitamins and supplements-by taking them in the right combinations and avoiding problems * new antiaging vitamins and supplements-they will keep your skin and body healthy and young-looking * the art of personalizing your dietary regimen-to fit your lifestyle, your health profile, and even your job * natural alternatives to hormone replacement therapy (HRT), Viagra, Prozac, and Valium * expanded sections on nutraceuticals, homeopathy, and aromatherapy-and how to find the best practitioners in these fields * healing regimens-for heart patients, stroke victims, diabetics, and arthritis sufferers * new warnings-about dangerous drug interactions and "miracle cures." Plus! Expanded sections on herbal teas and tinctures, beauty aids, diets, salt and sugar intake, and new ways to boost your energy level, fertility, and sex life.

    We rely on them every day of our lives. They make us who we are. And yet the truth is they are far from being the accurate record of the past we like to think they are. True, we can all admit to having suffered occasional memory lapses, such as entering a room and immediately forgetting why, or suddenly being unable to recall the name of someone we've met dozens of times. But what if our minds have the potential for more profound errors, that enable the manipulation or even outright fabrication of our memories?In The Memory Illusion, forensic psychologist and memory expert Dr Julia Shaw uses the latest research to show the astonishing variety of ways in which our brains can indeed be led astray. She shows why we can sometimes misappropriate other people's memories, subsequently believing them to be our own. She explains how police officers can imprison an innocent man for life on the basis of many denials and just one confession. She demonstrates the way radically false memories can be deliberately implanted, leading people to believe they had tea with Prince Charles, or committed crimes that never happened. And she reveals how, in spite of all this, we can improve our memory through simple awareness of its fallibility. Fascinating and unnerving in equal measure, The Memory Illusion offers a unique insight into the human brain, challenging you to question how much you can ever truly know about yourself.