Search results for ""Author Rob DeSalle""
Cambridge University Press Understanding Race
The human species is very young, but in a short time it has acquired some striking, if biologically superficial, variations across the planet. As this book shows, however, none of those biological variations can be understood in terms of discrete races, which do not actually exist as definable entities. Starting with a consideration of evolution and the mechanisms of diversification in nature, this book moves to an examination of attitudes to human variation throughout history, showing that it was only with the advent of slavery that considerations of human variation became politicized. It then embarks on a consideration of how racial classifications have been applied to genomic studies, demonstrating how individualized genomics is a much more effective approach to clinical treatments. It also shows how racial stratification does nothing to help us understand the phenomenon of human variation, at either the genomic or physical levels.
£13.18
Columbia University Press Troublesome Science: The Misuse of Genetics and Genomics in Understanding Race
It is well established that all humans today, wherever they live, belong to one single species. Yet even many people who claim to abhor racism take for granted that human “races” have a biological reality. In Troublesome Science, Rob DeSalle and Ian Tattersall provide a lucid and forceful critique of how scientific tools have been misused to uphold misguided racial categorizations.DeSalle and Tattersall argue that taxonomy, the scientific classification of organisms, provides an antidote to the myth of race’s biological basis. They explain how taxonomists do their science—how to identify a species and to understand the relationships among different species and the variants within them. DeSalle and Tattersall also detail the use of genetic data to trace human origins and look at how scientists have attempted to recognize discrete populations within Homo sapiens. Troublesome Science demonstrates conclusively that modern genetic tools, when applied correctly to the study of human variety, fail to find genuine differences. While the diversity that exists within our species is a real phenomenon, it nevertheless defeats any systematic attempt to recognize discrete units within it. The stark lines that humans insist on drawing between their own groups and others are nothing but a mixture of imagination and ideology. Troublesome Science is an important call for researchers, journalists, and citizens to cast aside the belief that race has a biological meaning, for the sake of social justice and sound science alike.
£27.00
Bunker Hill Publishing Inc Brain Volume 2: A 21st Century Look at a 400 Million Year Old Organ
Brain: A 21st Century Look at a 400 Million Year Old Organ (Bunker Hill Publishing; available: October 2010) is the companion volume to the highly acclaimed Bones, Brains and DNA, and is based on a new exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History that opens November 3rd, 2010. Is the brain something that works the way it is supposed to like a computer or something that works not quite as well as it is supposed to like a Rube Goldberg contraption? Brains have different purposes depending on whether you are a mouse (it's useful to smell well) or a human (you need to walk on two feet) or a whale (you need to know where you are in the ocean) and for all these purposes and others you need a brain. What kind of a brain does a fruit fly have? Do plants need brains or can they get by without one? Does a pea have a brain? What animal had the first brain? Does brain-size matter and what makes the human brains different from those of other species? Then there are the chemical questions and the electrical questions and how messages are sent around your body from the brain and signals are sent back from the nerve cells to the brain along multi-lane highways full of neurotransmitters which cope with the impulses you have sensed from the outside world. Wallace and Darwin show you how 21st century science works with CATS (No not cats!) and MRIs and all that Brain Imaging that can explore the brain in action. How we sleep, how we perceive things, how we dream, how we (and other animals) remember things, even how we think! Brain takes a 21st Century Look at the major concepts that will help the reader understand the complex structure and function of the brain, whether plants have brains and what the brains of small animals like flies and worms look like and if size matters. Brain looks at the structure of neural cells and what a synapse looks like and does as well as examine the chemical nature of how nerves work and how some molecules like dopamine work to influence the way our nervous systems work. It also looks at how the brain works and what parts of the brain might control what functions and how FMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) looks at the brain. This lavishly illustrated book examines how our brain works when we sleep, see things, perceive and remember things.
£16.95
Taylor & Francis Ltd Invertebrate Zoology: A Tree of Life Approach
Invertebrate Zoology: A Tree of Life Approach is a comprehensive and authoritative textbook adopting an explicitly phylogenetic organization. Most of the classical anatomical and morphological work has not been changed – it established the foundation of Invertebrate Zoology. With the explosion of Next-Generation Sequencing approaches, there has been a sea-change in the recognized phylogenetic relationships among and between invertebrate lineages. In addition, the merger of evolutionary and developmental biology (evo-devo) has dramatically contributed to changes in the understanding of invertebrate biology. Synthesizing these three approaches (classical morphology, sequencing data, and evo-devo studies) offers students an entirely unique perspective of invertebrate diversity.Key Features One of the first textbooks to combine classical morphological approaches and newer evo-devo and Next-Generation Sequencing approaches to address Invertebrate Zoology Organized along taxonomic lines in accord with the latest understanding of invertebrate phylogeny Will provide background in basic systematic analysis useful within any study of biodiversity A wealth of ancillary materials for students and teachers, including downloadable figures, lecture slides, web links, and phylogenetic data matrices
£43.99
Bunker Hill Publishing Inc The Great Human Journey Volume 3: Around the World in 22 Million Days
Wallace and Darwin, the Museum Mice from the Halls of the American Museum of Natural History, are off on another adventure! It's amazing what you can find in a museum and how far you can travel in a small time machine made from a yoghurt cup! Have you ever wondered where we humans all came from and how there came to be so many of us? The answers, as our two mice will show you, lie everywhere including in our own DNA. So there is the Big Picture of The Great Human Journey from the middle of Africa to Australia, America and Asia and then there's the Tiny (really tiny) Picture too of molecules and cells that we can trace inside ourselves and our Genome like long strings of letters that tell us where we came from and who our ancestors were, and where they were when and how they got there!
£16.95
Yale University Press The Brain: Big Bangs, Behaviors, and Beliefs
What evolutionary process could have resulted in the unique and amazing human brain? New research by neuroscientists, paleontologists, and others reveals startling answers. After several million years of jostling for ecological space, only one survivor from a host of hominid species remains standing: us. Human beings are extraordinary creatures, and it is the unprecedented human brain that makes them so. In this delightfully accessible book, the authors present the first full, step-by-step account of the evolution of the brain and nervous system.Tapping the very latest findings in evolutionary biology, neuroscience, and molecular biology, Rob DeSalle and Ian Tattersall explain how the cognitive gulf that separates us from all other living creatures could have occurred. They discuss the development and uniqueness of human consciousness, how human and nonhuman brains work, the roles of different nerve cells, the importance of memory and language in brain functions, and much more. Our brains, they conclude, are the product of a lengthy and supremely untidy history—an evolutionary process of many zigs and zags—that has accidentally resulted in a splendidly eccentric and creative product.
£16.99
Yale University Press A Natural History of Beer
A celebration of beer—its science, its history, and its impact on human culture “Curatorial eminences Rob DeSalle and Ian Tattersall serve up a potent scientific brew. . . . A marvellous paean to the pint, and to the researchers probing its depths.”—Barbara Kiser, Nature “Forced to choose between this book and a pint of hazy IPA, I would be at a loss. Better to consume them at the same time—both will go down easily, and leave you in an improved condition.”—Bill McKibben What can beer teach us about biology, history, and the natural world? From ancient Mesopotamian fermentation practices to the resurgent American craft brewery, Rob DeSalle and Ian Tattersall peruse the historical record and traverse the globe for engaging and often surprising stories about beer. They explain how we came to drink beer, what ingredients combine to give beers their distinctive flavors, how beer’s chemistry works at the molecular level, and how various societies have regulated the production and consumption of beer. Drawing from such diverse subject areas as animal behavior, ecology, history, archaeology, chemistry, sociology, law, genetics, physiology, neurobiology, and more, DeSalle and Tattersall entertain and inform with their engaging stories of beer throughout human history and the science behind it all. Readers are invited to grab a beer and explore the fascinating history of its creation.
£22.50
Columbia University Press Conservation Genetics in the Age of Genomics
Genome sequencing enables scientists to study genes over time and to test the genetic variability of any form of life, from bacteria to mammals. Thanks to advances in molecular genetics, scientists can now determine an animal's degree of inbreeding or compare genetic variation of a captive species to wild or natural populations. Mapping an organism's genetic makeup recasts such terms as biodiversity and species and enables the conservation of rare or threatened species, populations, and genes. By introducing a new paradigm for studying and preserving life at a variety of levels, genomics offers solutions to previously intractable problems in understanding the biology of complex organisms and creates new tools for preserving the patterns and processes of life on this planet. Featuring a number of high-profile researchers, this volume introduces the use of molecular genetics in conservation biology and provides a historical perspective on the opportunities and challenges presented by new technologies. It discusses zoo-, museum-, and herbarium-based biological collections, which have expanded over the past decade, and covers the promises and problems of genomic and reproductive technology. The collection concludes with the philosophical and legal issues of conservation genetics and their potential effects on public policy.
£72.00
Yale University Press Distilled: A Natural History of Spirits
An imaginative natural history survey of the wide world of spirits, from whiskey and gin to grappa and moonshine In this follow-up book to A Natural History of Wine and A Natural History of Beer, authors Rob DeSalle and Ian Tattersall yet again use alcoholic beverages as a lens through which to gain a greater appreciation of natural history. This volume considers highly alcoholic spirits in the context of evolution, ecology, history, primatology, molecular biology, physiology, neurobiology, chemistry, and even astrophysics. With the help of illustrator Patricia Wynne, DeSalle and Tattersall address historical and cultural aspects and ingredients, the distillation process, and spirits and their effects. They also call on an international group of colleagues to contribute chapters on brandy, vodka, tequila, whiskies, gin, rum, eaux-de-vie, schnapps, baiju, grappa, ouzo, and cachaça. Covering beverages from across the globe and including descriptions of the experience of tasting each drink, this book offers an accessible and comprehensive exploration of the scientific dimensions of spirits.
£20.00
Yale University Press A Natural History of Beer
A celebration of beer—its science, its history, and its impact on human culture “Curatorial eminences Rob DeSalle and Ian Tattersall serve up a potent scientific brew. . . . A marvellous paean to the pint, and to the researchers probing its depths.”—Barbara Kiser, Nature “Forced to choose between this book and a pint of hazy IPA, I would be at a loss. Better to consume them at the same time—both will go down easily, and leave you in an improved condition.”—Bill McKibben What can beer teach us about biology, history, and the natural world? From ancient Mesopotamian fermentation practices to the resurgent American craft brewery, Rob DeSalle and Ian Tattersall peruse the historical record and traverse the globe for engaging and often surprising stories about beer. They explain how we came to drink beer, what ingredients combine to give beers their distinctive flavors, how beer’s chemistry works at the molecular level, and how various societies have regulated the production and consumption of beer. Drawing from such diverse subject areas as animal behavior, ecology, history, archaeology, chemistry, sociology, law, genetics, physiology, neurobiology, and more, DeSalle and Tattersall entertain and inform with their engaging stories of beer throughout human history and the science behind it all. Readers are invited to grab a beer and explore the fascinating history of its creation.
£12.02
