Amin examines various aspects of Islamic tradition through a Darwinian framework. Islam's allowance of polygamy and the underlying reasons for the subordination of women in many Muslim societies are among the important issues this book addresses. Amin also offers original insight into many aspects of American society and history. Through the filter of biologically based theories, he explores the reasons behind the monumental changes in sexual mores that have occurred in the United States over the past century, the underpinnings of feminism, and the differences between liberals and conservatives. An astute and entertaining work that compares and contrasts American culture with that of the Muslim world from a perspective inspired by evolutionary psychology, Conflicts of Fitness presents many thought-provoking tools to those in search of greater understanding of these two dynamic cultures and worlds.

    Instructive and illuminating, The Darwin Myth casts aside Darwinism's politically correct veneer and offers a critical, scientific analysis of Darwin's life and his history–changing theory.

    Among the findings: parental love makes our brain bigger, sex and orgasm make it healthier, social isolation makes it miserable-and although the craving for romantic love can be described as an addiction, friendship may actually be the most important loving relationship of your life.Based on recent studies and articles culled from the prestigious Scientific American and Scientific American Mind magazines, The Scientific American Book of Love, Sex, and the Brain offers a fascinating look at how the brain controls our loving relationships, most intimate moments, and our deep and basic need for connection.

    In this essential guide, Bruce Rogers, "The Orchid Whisperer," shares his expert tips from more than three decades of breeding and growing orchids. The book demystifies the growing process and features more than 100 lush color photographs of breathtaking plants. Best of all, it reveals professional secrets not found anywhere else for blooming, repotting, spotting hazards and pests, grooming, decorating, and much more. Perfect for beginners as well as orchid experts looking for new tricks, The Orchid Whisperer provides everything readers need to know to keep healthy orchids that will flower again and again!

    On the one hand wrens are ubiquitous. They are Britain's most common bird, with 8.5 million breeding pairs and have by far the loudest song in proportion to their size. They also thrive up and down Britain and Ireland: from the smallest city garden to remote offshore islands, blustery moors to chilly mountains. Yet many people, particularly a younger generation, are not sure if they have ever seen a wren. Perhaps because the wren is so tiny, weighing just as much as two A4 sheets of paper, and so busy, always on the move, more mouse than bird. However if we cast our eyes back to recent history wrens were a mainstay of literary, cultural and popular history. The wren was on postage stamps and the farthing, it featured in nursery rhymes and greetings cards, poems and rural `wren hunts', still a recent memory in Ireland particularly. With beautiful illustrations throughout, this captivating year-in-the-life biography reveals the hidden secrets of this fascinating bird that lives right on our doorstep.

    Evo Devo Evolutionary Developmental Biology is the new science that has finally cracked open the box. Within the pages of his rich and riveting book, Sean B. Carroll explains how we are discovering that complex life is ironically much simpler than anyone ever expected.

    Shell traces the epidemic's inception in the Ice Age, its rise during the Industrial Revolution, and its growth through the early days of medicine and into modernity. She takes readers to the front lines of the struggle to come to grips with this baffling plague — from a children's food marketing convention, to the cutthroat race to find the obese gene, to a far-flung tropical island, where a horrifying outbreak of obesity has helped unravel the disorder's genetic and evolutionary roots. Offering an unflinching insider's look into the radical and controversial surgical and pharmacological approaches used to combat what drug makers have dubbed the trillion-dollar disease, Shell takes aim at the collusion of industry and government that lies behind the crises and shows conclusively that obesity is not a matter of gluttony or weak will, but of an increasingly greedy culture preying on vulnerable human biology. Gripping and provocative, The Hungry Gene is the unsettling saga of how the world got fat — and what we can do about it.

    But only the true panda expert knows: -The age of a panda can be determined by measuring the distance between its nipples -In Egyptian hieroglyphics, the panda symbol means "notwithstanding" -Prince's song "Purple Rain" was inspired by the mixed emotions he feels about pandas Smart, funny, and chock-full of panda pictures, 100 Facts About Pandas will astonish and entertain both animal lovers and everyone who laughed their way through The Book of Bunny Suicides and F U, Penguin.

    Warren Andiman, an HIV/AIDS researcher who has been on the front lines battling infectious diseases for over forty years. In Animal Viruses and Humans: A Narrow Divide, Andiman traces the history of eight zoonotic viruses —deadly microbes that have made the leap directly from animals to human populations: Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), Swine influenza, Hantavirus, Monkeypox, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Rabies, Ebola, and Henipaviruses (Nipah and Hendra). He also illustrates the labor intensive and fascinating detective work that infectious disease specialists must do to uncover the source of an outbreak.Andiman also looks to the future, envisioning the effects on zoonoses (diseases caused by zoonotic viruses) of climate change, microenvironmental damage, population shifts, and globalization. He reveals the steps that we can, and must, take to stem the spread of animal viruses, explaining, “The zoonoses I've chosen to write about . . . are meant to describe only a small sample of what is already out there but, more menacingly, what is inevitably on its way, in forms we can only imagine.” Warren Andiman, MD is professor emeritus of pediatrics and epidemiology at the Yale Schools of Medicine and Public Health.

    Line drawings and black-and-white photographs.

    Of the power of Love and of tragedy redeemed by compassion. Here is a book that will shatter forever your casual assumptions about medicine, doctors, and especially about nurses.What can a nurse do for a ten-year old girl who is burned over most of her body, for whom all consciousness is pain? She tries to comfort her, to help release her from her torment, while a zealous doctor tries to play God and repeatedly forces her back to life…When a doctor can do nothing more for a terminal patient, what can the nurse do for his family?After a particularly difficult day, when a favorite patient dies, how does she leave her work behind her and convince her own healthy children and husband of her love for them?“Carol Gino has written a wonderfully moving book. She tells The Nurse’s Story with just the right blend of emotion, compassion and wisdom.” Harold S Kushner, author of “When Bad Things Happen To Good People”“A shattering, exhilarating book. A tribute to human dignity and courage.” Mario Puzo, author of The Godfather“Gritty and honest. It has a fierce compassion.” Martha Lear, author of Heart Sounds.“Riveting, wrenching. Few nurse’s have experienced the range of cases this dedicate nurse describes: cancer, burn unit, emergency room, birth, brain damage…The writer is a vigorous, optimistic, caring woman. And she exudes frankness…” Los Angeles Times

    An x-ray microscope would do the trick, or since we're dreaming, perhaps an Asimov-style nanosubmarine (unfortunately, neither is currently feasible). Think of the wonders we could witness firsthand: antibodies atta- ing a virus, electrical signals racing down nerve fibers, proteins building new strands of DNA. Many of the questions puzzling the current cadre of sci- tists would be answered at a glance. But the nanoscale world of molecules is separated from our everyday world of experience by a daunting million-fold difference in size, so the world of molecules is completely invisible. I created the illustrations in this book to help bridge this gulf and allow us to see the molecular structure of cells, if not directly, then in an artistic rendition. I have included two types of illustrations with this goal in mind: watercolor paintings which magnify a small portion of a living cell by one million times, showing the arrangement of molecules inside, and comput- generated pictures, which show the atomic details of individual molecules. In this second edition of The Machinery of Life, these illustrations are presented in full color, and they incorporate many of the exciting scientific advances of the 15 years since the first edition.

    Weed. Bud. Whatever you choose to call it, it’s been a health aid, comfort, and life-enhancer for humankind for more than three thousand years. But while cannabis is used by hundreds of millions of people around the world, more than a century of prohibition has resulted in confusion about its status: Is it healthy? Is it medicinal? Will it make you crazy?In this fun, illuminating book, cannabis journalist Amanda Siebert delves deep into the latest research to separate marijuana fact from fiction, revealing ten evidence-based ways this potent little plant can improve your life. She speaks with some of the world’s top researchers, medical professionals, and consultants to answer questions such as: Can cannabis help you get a full night’s sleep? Does it aid in exercise and weight loss? Can it really cure cancer? She also offers practical advice for enjoying its benefits, including easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions for consumption and dosage, as well as examples of real people who have used this drug to enhance their lives. Cannabis, it turns out, could be life-changing: it can enrich any diet, slow down aging, and even spice things up in the bedroom.

    But it's not, perhaps, the story you expect.Gavin Francis is a GP who works in both urban and rural communities, splitting his time between Edinburgh and the islands of Orkney. When the pandemic ripped through our society he saw how it affected every walk of life: the anxious teenager, the isolated care home resident, the struggling furloughed worker and homeless ex-prisoner, all united by their vulnerability in the face of a global disaster. And he saw how the true cost of the virus was measured not just in infections, or deaths, or ITU beds, but in the consequences of the measures taken against it.In this deeply personal account of nine months spent caring for a society in crisis, Francis will take you from rural village streets to local clinics and communal city stairways. And in telling this story, he reveals others: of loneliness and hope, illness and recovery, and of what we can achieve when we care for each other.

    He seized the opportunity to do something "noble." Using an electric saw, Harvey sliced through the skull and gingerly removed the organ that would both define and haunt the rest of his life. Harvey struck a controversial deal with Einstein's family to keep the brain, swearing to safeguard it from souvenir hunters and publicity seekers, and to make it available only for serious scientific inquiry. Not a neuroscientist himself, he became the unlikely custodian of this object of intense curiosity and speculation, and the self-styled bulwark against the relentless power of Einstein's growing celebrity. Bridging the post-war era and the new millennium, Possessing Genius is the first comprehensive account of the circuitous path the brain took with Harvey during the decades it remained in his possession. Harvey permitted Einstein's gray matter to be sliced, diced, probed, prodded, and weighed by those hoping to solve the enigma and locate the source of genius itself. The brain was more than a subject of scientific investigation, it was a kind of holy relic; the history of its adventures since 1955 reflects the vicissitudes and vanities underpinning what we believe makes us human. Abraham has gathered together all of the fascinating details and documents of the brain's saga--including previously unpublished correspondence between Harvey and Otto Nathan, the executor of Einstein's estate—and from them woven a story that is both deeply engrossing and highly illuminating.