Showing titles in Biology

First there was the genetic revolution—the discovery that physical structures in the cell, including DNA and RNA, shape every organism. Now, says evolutionary biologist Richard Sternberg, we are overdue for another and more profound revolution. Recent findings reveal that genetic and even epigenetic sources alone cannot account for the rich dynamism of life—not even close. Some other informational source is required.

Piping Hot Bees and Boisterous Buzz-Runners takes listeners inside a world seldom seen even by beekeepers, shedding light on twenty of the most compelling mysteries of honey bee behavior.

AudioLearn's college-level courses presents microbiology. Developed by experienced professors and professionally narrated for easy listening, this course is a great way to explore the subject of college-level microbiology. The audiobook is focused and high-yield, covering the most important topics you might expect to learn in a typical undergraduate microbiology course. The material is accurate, up-to-date, and broken down into bite-sized chapters. There are key takeaways following each chapter to drive home key points and quizzes to review commonly tested questions.

In a fascinating tour of creativity and the brain, Nancy Andreasen, professor of psychiatry at the University of Iowa and the winner of the National Medal of Science, explores how the human brain achieves creative breakthroughs--in art, literature, music, and science--the role of genes and environment, extraordinary creativity vs. ordinary creativity, and the question of genius and insanity.

As recently as 11,000 years ago - "near time" to geologists - mammoths, mastodons, gomphotheres, ground sloths, giant armadillos, native camels and horses, the dire wolf, and many other large mammals roamed North America. In what has become one of science's greatest riddles, these large animals vanished in North and South America around the time humans arrived at the end of the last great ice age.

All life as we know it is carbon-based and reliant on sources of liquid water and energy for its survival; it is also, of course, known from just one planet: the Earth, a world perfectly suited to host life. But across a universe of at least 100 billion habitable, earthlike worlds, life cannot be restricted to just this one place. Or can it?

In The Microbiome: What Everyone Needs to Know®, Dr. Berenice Langdon provides a foundational understanding of the microbiome and what it does—and does not—do. Tracing the history of microbiome research, up to the most recent scientific advancements, she dispels common misunderstandings to better acquaint listeners with the form and function of the human body's microbial community.

Biomimetics literally means emulating biology—and in a broader sense the term covers technological advances where the original inspiration came from nature. The Earth is a vast laboratory where the mechanisms of natural selection have enabled evolutionary solutions to be developed to a wide range of problems. Science writer Brian Clegg looks at how humans have piggybacked on natural experimentation, redeploying a solution to create things that make our lives easier.

Microscopic organisms are as important to plant growth as water and light. Microbe Science for Gardeners highlights the essential role of microbes in plant biosystems and soil health, provides practical how-to gardening advice for enhancing plant microbiomes, and debunks common gardening myths.

For marine biologist Rachel Jordan, both science and Scripture are means of knowing creation and Creator. In If the Ocean Has a Soul, Rachel considers the natural world through a spiritual lens, meshing marine biology with biblical truths in a keen and current take on faith and science. In these chapters, Rachel recounts fascinating aquatic phenomena alongside the sometimes humorous, sometimes tragic stories of animals she has known.

A preeminent physicist unveils a field-defining theory of the origins and purpose of life. Why are we alive? Most things in the universe aren't. And everything that is alive traces back to things that, puzzlingly, weren't. For centuries, the scientific question of life's origins has confounded...

An award-winning scientist offers a groundbreaking new understanding of the mind-body connection and its profound impact on everything from advertising to romance. The human body is not just a passive device carrying out messages sent by the brain but rather an integral part of how we think and make decisions.

Trouet, a leading tree-ring scientist, takes us out into the field, from remote African villages to radioactive Russian forests, offering listeners an insider's look at tree-ring research, a discipline formally known as dendrochronology. Tracing her own professional journey while exploring dendrochronology's history and applications, Trouet describes the basics of how tell-tale tree cores are collected and dated with ring-by-ring precision, explaining the unexpected and momentous insights we've gained from the resulting samples.

In an age of groundbreaking scientific discovery, RNA Vaccines: A New Frontier in Science takes listeners on an illuminating journey through one of the most transformative innovations in modern medicine. From the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic to the promise of personalized therapies, RNA vaccines have reshaped our understanding of immunology, biotechnology, and global health.

This audiobook narrated by Katherine Fenton gives a sweeping account of male nurturing, explaining how and why men are biologically transformed when they care for babies.

As we continue to live through a pandemic, all eyes are on microbes: an imperceptible and pervasive threat that hangs heavy on the air and clings to surfaces. But the reality of micro-organisms is far more diverse and life-sustaining than such a notion would have us believe.

Written by professor of cognitive neuroscience at UCL Sophie Scott and composed of 10 mind-blowing yet accessible essays, The Brain guides you through the astounding complexities of the organ that makes you, you. From diving into the networks of neurons that are vital to our functioning, to the way our brains differ from one another and how neuroscience is shaping up for the future, this book is a guide to our most powerful and awe-inspiring body part.

This volume, aimed at the general audience, presents life and times of the amazing animals that inhabited Earth more than 500 million years ago. The Cambrian Period was a critical time in Earth's history. During this immense span of time nearly every modern group of animals appeared. Although life had been around for more than 2 million millennia, Cambrian rocks preserve the record of the first appearance of complex animals with eyes, protective skeletons, antennae, and complex ecologies.

Bacteria form a fundamental branch of life. They are the oldest forms of life and the most prolific of all living organisms, inhabiting every part of the Earth's surface, its ocean depths, and even such inhospitable places as boiling hot springs. In this Very Short Introduction, bacteriologist Sebastian Amyes explores the nature of bacteria, their origin and evolution, bacteria in the environment, and bacteria and disease.

Are we alone in the universe—or is life a cosmic inevitability? Life in the Cosmic Context goes beyond the conventional search for extraterrestrial biology, asking deeper questions about the very nature of life and our place in an immense, evolving cosmos. In this groundbreaking work, astrobiology becomes more than the science of life beyond Earth; it is a philosophical lens for reimagining what life itself can be. From the origins of life on Earth to the potential for entirely different biochemistries elsewhere, this book challenges listeners to rethink what is possible.