Through engaging images and a witty story, this STELLA THE SILKWORM story book teaches children about the needs and environments of the silkworm. The Steve Parish kids storybook series includes: A glossary of technical or tricky words. Factual information about the native bee. A fact-file of the native bee's lifecycle. Two free downloadable worksheets. Australian Science Curriculum links. Stunning Australian photography.

The kings of ancient Champa, a civilization located in the central region of today's Vietnam, started building sacred temples in a circular valley more than 1500 years ago. The monuments, now known by the Vietnamese name M? So'n, were discovered by nineteenth-century colonial soldiers and first studied by the French architect Henri Parmentier. Bombed during the Vietnam War, the ruins of the brick towers, decorated with exquisite carvings and sculptures, were designated as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site in 1999. An Italian team has worked at the site for the last ten years, doing archaeological research and restoration work in cooperation with Vietnamese specialists. This book is the first published volume based on their efforts. The opening section consists of historical, anthropological and architectural studies of the civilization of Champa. The remainder of the book presents an unusually intimate and extensively illustrated portrait of the archaeologists' research and restoration work at M? So'n. While this book is important for specialists and students of the history and archaeology of Champa and Southeast Asia, it also tells a fascinating story that will appeal to general readers and visitors to this exceptional archaeological site.

How scientific advances in genetic modification will fundamentally change the natural world The process of manipulating the genetic material of one animal to include the DNA of another creates a new transgenic organism. Several animals, notably goats, mice, sheep, and cattle are now genetically modified in this way. In Our Transgenic Future, Lisa Jean Moore wonders what such scientific advances portend. Will the natural world become so modified that it ceases to exist? After turning species into hybrids, can we ever get back to the original, or are they forever lost? Does genetic manipulation make better lives possible, and if so, for whom? Moore centers the story on goats that have been engineered by the US military and civilian scientists using the DNA of spiders. The goat’s milk contains a spider-silk protein fiber; it can be spun into ultra-strong fabric that can be used to manufacture lightweight military body armor. Researchers also hope the transgenically produced spider silk will revolutionize medicine with biocompatible medical inserts such as prosthetics and bandages. Based on in-depth research with spiders in Florida and transgenic goats in Utah, Our Transgenic Future focuses on how these spidergoats came into existence, the researchers who maintain them, the funders who have made their lives possible, and how they fit into the larger science of transgenics and synthetics. This book is a fascinating story about the possibilities of science and the likely futures that may come.

Olga Bakich's biography of Valerii Pereleshin (1913–1992) follows the turbulent life and exquisite poetry of one of the most remarkable Russian émigrés of the twentieth century. Born in Irkutsk, Pereleshin lived for thirty years in China and for almost forty years in Brazil. Multilingual, he wrote poetry in Russian and in Portuguese and translated Chinese and Brazilian poetry into Russian and Russian and Chinese poetry into Portuguese. For many years he struggled to accept and express his own identity as a gay man within a frequently homophobic émigré community. His poems addressed his three homelands, his religious struggles, and his loves. InValerii Pereleshin: The Life of a Silkworm, Bakich delves deep into Pereleshin's poems and letters to tell the rich life story of this underappreciated writer.

First published in 1966, this revealing study looks closely into the lives of the men, women and children working in mines, workshops, factories and farms during the industrial revolution. It investigates the inventors whose new machines made the industrial revolution possible, and reflects on the new type of employer whose enterprise and energy in linking machine and labour power formed a new society. Where possible, contemporary accounts, letters, diaries and reports have been used so that the words of those living through this remarkable time can be heard - the words and thoughts of masters, workpeople, apprentice children, 'improving landlords' and farm labourers illuminate the prevailing attitudes of the period. An introductory chapter outlines previous methods of living and working and shows the first movements towards the industrial revolution. Describing successes and failures, lives of impoverishment and hardship, fortunes made and, sometimes, lost, and the effects of the new society, this enlightening study investigates how early struggles to cope with almost overwhelming problems are now seen as the beginnings of the comparatively comfortable conditions we benefit from today.