Life remains the only way to make life. Are we still missing a vital ingredient in its creation?      Like Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene, which provided a new perspective on how evolution works, Life on the Edge alters our understanding of our world's fundamental dynamics. Bringing together first-hand experience at the cutting edge of science with unparalleled gifts of explanation, Jim Al-Khalili and Johnjoe Macfadden reveal that missing ingredient to be quantum mechanics; the phenomena that lie at the heart of this most mysterious of sciences. Drawing on recent ground-breaking experiments around the world, each chapter in Life on the Edge engages by illustrating one of life's puzzles: How do migrating birds know where to go? How do we really smell the scent of a rose? How do our genes copy themselves with such precision? Life on the Edge accessibly reveals how quantum mechanics can answer these probing questions of the universe. Guiding the reader through the rapidly unfolding discoveries of the last few years, Al-Khalili and McFadden communicate the excitement of the explosive new field of quantum biology and its potentially revolutionary applications, while offering insights into the biggest puzzle of all: what is life? As they brilliantly demonstrate in these groundbreaking pages, life exists on the quantum edge.

    Following an introduction to neural structure and function, all the key methods and procedures of cognitive neuroscience are explained, with a view to helping students understand how they can be used to shed light on the neural basis of cognition.The second part of the book goes on to present an up-to-date overview of the latest theories and findings in all the key topics in cognitive neuroscience, including vision, attention, memory, speech and language, numeracy, executive function and social and emotional behaviour. Throughout, case studies, newspaper reports and everyday examples are used to provide an easy way in to understanding the more challenging ideas that underpin the subject.In addition each chapter includes:Summaries of key terms and points Example essay questions to aid exam preparation Recommended further reading Feature boxes exploring interesting and popular questions and their implications for the subject.Written in an engaging style by a leading researcher in the field, this book will be invaluable as a core text for undergraduate modules in cognitive neuroscience. It can also be used as a key text on courses in cognition, cognitive neuropsychology or brain and behaviour. Those embarking on research will find it an invaluable starting point and reference.We offer CD-ROM-based resources free of charge to instructors who recommend The Student's Guide to Cognitive Neuroscience by Jamie Ward. These resources include:A chapter-by-chapter, illustrated slideshow lecture course An innovative bank of multiple-choice questions, graded according to difficulty and which allow for confidence-weighted answers Comprehensive lecture planning advice tailored to different length courses.Jamie Ward has researched and taught extensively in many areas of cognitive neuroscience. He is a leading authority on the subject of synaesthesia and has contributed to a wider understanding of it in both academic and lay circles.

    An exciting revision of this innovative text, Earth: Portrait of a Planet, Third Edition, emphasizes active student learning with a new chapter format, interactive media, and the power and insight of Google Earth .

    This title shows us how to examine, study, and appreciate microbes in the manner of a birdwatcher, by making sightings of microbial activities and thereby identifying particular microbes as well as understanding what they do and how they do it.

    The long-anticipated revision of this best-selling text offers the most comprehensive, up-to-date introduction to the theory and practice of artificial intelligence. *NEW-Nontechnical learning material-Accompanies each part of the book. *NEW-The Internet as a sample application for intelligent systems-Added in several places including logical agents, planning, and natural language. *NEW-Increased coverage of material - Includes expanded coverage of: default reasoning and truth maintenance systems, including multi-agent/distributed AI and game theory; probabilistic approaches to learning including EM; more detailed descriptions of probabilistic inference algorithms. *NEW-Updated and expanded exercises-75% of the exercises are revised, with 100 new exercises. *NEW-On-line Java software. *Makes it easy for students to do projects on the web using intelligent agents. *A unified, agent-based approach to AI-Organizes the material around the task of building intelligent agents. *Comprehensive, up-to-date coverage-Includes a unified view of the field organized around the rational decision making pa

    Each case includes an extended discussion, definition of terms, clinical pearls, and USMLE format review questions. This interactive learning system helps you understand essential concepts instead of memorizing facts.

    In this book, he expands the points he has made, and claims that this debate is not so much about religion versus science, as about the nature of science itself. With infectious enthusiasm, he reveals the mechanics of evolutionary theory, explains how it is rooted in the testable and verifiable scientific method, and why it is therefore a sound explanation of our beginning. He argues passionately that to continue to assert otherwise, to continue to insist that creationism has a place in the science classroom is harmful not only to our children, but to the future of the greater world as well.

    For the calculus-based General Physics course primarily taken by engineers and scientists.

    It Combines Comprehensive Medical Content With Dynamic New Features And Interactive Technology To Better Support Instructors And To Help Prepare Students For The Field. An Interactive Skills DVD Is Also Packaged Free With Each Copy Of The Text.

    In its first edition, this highly anticipated textbook for the topically-organized child development course provided a fresh, non-encyclopedic approach, offering the latest, straight-from-the-research understanding of child development without overwhelming the student with inessential detail.The new edition brings those hallmark features forward, again providing a thoroughly contemporary, streamlined introduction to the study of child development that emphasizes fundamental principles, enduring themes, and important recent studies.  Student-friendly pedagogy, a new chapter on gender, and an enhanced media and supplements package further enrich this accessible, engaging, and informative text.

    In Missing Microbes, Dr. Martin Blaser invites us into the wilds of the human microbiome where for hundreds of thousands of years bacterial and human cells have existed in a peaceful symbiosis that is responsible for the health and equilibrium of our body. Now, this invisible eden is being irrevocably damaged by some of our most revered medical advances—antibiotics—threatening the extinction of our irreplaceable microbes with terrible health consequences. Taking us into both the lab and deep into the fields where these troubling effects can be witnessed firsthand, Blaser not only provides cutting edge evidence for the adverse effects of antibiotics, he tells us what we can do to avoid even more catastrophic health problems in the future. http://us.macmillan.com/missingmicrob...

    This best-selling text gives students a solid understanding of organic chemistry by stressing how fundamental reaction mechanisms function and reactions occur. With the addition of handwritten solutions, new cutting-edge molecular illustrations, updated spectroscopy coverage, seamless integration of molecular modeling exercises, and state-of-the-art multimedia tools, the 7th edition of Organic Chemistry clearly offers the most up-to-date approach to the study of organic chemistry.

    Gravetter, and co-author Lori-Ann B. Forzano have written a text for research methods that helps you see how interesting and exciting experimental and non-experimental research can be. Inviting and conversational, RESEARCH METHODS FOR THE BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES, Third Edition, leads you through the research process from start to finish. The text opens with tips and strategies for generating research ideas, moves to selecting measures and participants, and then offers an examination of research strategy and design. This step-by-step approach emphasizes the decisions researchers must make at each stage of the process. The authors avoid a "cookbook" approach to the facts by linking terminology with applied concepts; their "lecture in a book" style emphasizes discussion and explanation of topics. Each chapter ends with a set of exercises and activities.

    In the book, Sagan explores 15 billion years of cosmic evolution and the development of science and civilization. Cosmos traces the origins of knowledge and the scientific method, mixing science and philosophy, and speculates to the future of science. The book also discusses the underlying premises of science by providing biographical anecdotes about many prominent scientists throughout history, placing their contributions into the broader context of the development of modern science.The book covers a broad range of topics, comprising Sagan's reflections on anthropological, cosmological, biological, historical, and astronomical matters from antiquity to contemporary times. Sagan reiterates his position on extraterrestrial life—that the magnitude of the universe permits the existence of thousands of alien civilizations, but no credible evidence exists to demonstrate that such life has ever visited earth.