"The great auk is one of the most tragic and documented examples of extinction. A flightless bird that bred primarily on the remote islands of the North Atlantic, the last of its kind were killed in Iceland in 1844. G?sli P?lsson draws on firsthand accounts from the Icelanders who hunted the last great auks to bring to life a bygone age of Victorian scientific exploration while offering vital insights into the extinction of species. P?lsson vividly...

Living things are always evolving to become better adapted to the world around them. This has led to the incredible speed of the cheetah, the fangs of the king cobra, and even bacteria that lives near the hottest vents on Earth! This volume highlights some of the most extreme examples of living things surviving, from long distance migration to supersenses. A colorful, vibrant design accompanies main content that support life science and biology curricula....

For decades, scientists have tried to unlock the secrets of ancient DNA. But life's genetic blueprint is incredibly fragile, and researchers have struggled to find DNA in fossils that could survive millions of years. Then, one maverick scientist had the controversial idea to look for DNA not in fossils or frozen ancient tissue - but in dirt. Join the hunt as scientists decipher the oldest DNA ever found, and reveal for the first time the genes of...

"Every living creature contributes towards the richness and beauty of our planet. Each one has a reason to exist, from the giant panda to the pygmy possum, and if we lose them, it will be forever. Extinctopedia tells a complex story, not just of those who are extinct, but also of those in greatest peril, with explanations of what threatens their survival. It is also a story of hope-hope for animals who have been rediscovered, hope in the form of newly-discovered...

"Biology is undergoing a quiet but profound transformation. Several aspects of the standard picture of how life works-the idea of the genome as a blueprint, of genes as instructions for building an organism, of proteins as precisely tailored molecular machines, of cells as entities with fixed identities, and more--have been exposed as incomplete, misleading, or wrong. In How Life Works, Philip Ball explores the new biology, revealing life to be a...

"A groundbreaking exploration of the science of why and how we age and die-from Nobel Prize-winning molecular biologist Venki Ramakrishnan"--

"What lies beneath the surface of the ocean has mystified humankind for millennia. Today, we have explored more of the surface of the Moon than we have of the deep sea. What thrives in these mysterious depths, how did these life forms evolve from ancient life, and how has this environment changed over time as our planet has developed? Organized by ocean depth and with "fossil fanatic" science writer Riley Black as our guide, Deep Water explains the...

"Joseph LeDoux offers a new framework for understanding how biological processes give rise to the sense of being an independent personality in the world. Theorizing the intricate interdependence of the bodily, neural, cognitive, and conscious realms, Ledoux explores the evolution of the human as an "ensemble of being" unique among Earth's animals"--

"In Kingdom of Play, critically acclaimed science writer David Toomey takes us on a fast-paced and entertaining tour of playful animals and the scientists who study them. From octopuses on Australia's Great Barrier Reef to meerkats in the Kalahari Desert to brown bears on Alaska's Aleutian Islands, we follow adventurous researchers as they design and conduct experiments seeking answers to new, intriguing questions: When did play first appear in animals?...

"Twenty years after his expedition around the world, Charles Darwin is writing On the Origin of Species. He wants to gather new information about animal life, particularly on continents he barely set foot. Who else than young naturalists eager for discovery could help the renowned schole to complete the writing of his most famous work?"--