Conversations About Biology include the following five carefully-edited Ideas Roadshow Conversations featuring leading researchers with a detailed preface highlighting the connections between the different books: I. Autism: A Genetic Perspective - A conversation with Jay Gargus, Professor of Physiology, Biophysics and Pediatrics and Director of the Center for Autism Research and Translation at UC Irvine. This wide-ranging conversation examines the recent explosion in our genetic understanding of autism and its implications for the future of medicine, together with the importance of understanding the underlying molecular mechanisms in order to successfully treat a wide range of genetic disorders. Jay Gargus focuses on autism, dispelling myths associated with the condition, advocating why a treatment should be actively pursued, and illustrating what we can learn from the recent breakthrough in cystic fibrosis research. II. Learning and Memory - A conversation with Alcino Silva, Distinguished Professor of Neurobiology, Psychiatry and Psychology at the David Geffen School of Medicine and Director of the Integrated Center for Learning and Memory at UCLA. This book is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Alcino Silva who runs a learning and memory lab at UCLA that is focused on a vast number of topics, from schizophrenia and autism to learning and memory. This fascinating conversation explores how he and his colleagues focus on understanding the specific molecular mechanisms of neurobiology with the goal of being able to intervene and repair these mechanisms when they go awry. III. A Matter of Energy: Biology From First Principles - A conversation with Nick Lane, Professor of Evolutionary Biochemistry at University College London. This book is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Nick Lane.. After an inspiring story of Nick Lane’s career path, this wide-ranging conversation covers his bioenergetic view of early, evolutionary history, the origin of life and how all complex life is composed of a very particular cell type that we all share, and more. IV. Our Human Variability - A conversation with Stephen Scherer, the GlaxoSmithKline Research Chair in Genome Sciences at the Hospital for Sick Children and University of Toronto. This book is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Stephen Scherer who discusses his lifelong passion for science that culminated in his groundbreaking discovery of copy-number variation. This conversation also covers his exciting work in autism research and how copy number variation brings us a deeper understanding of both human variability and disease. V. Sleep Insights - A conversation with Matthew Walker, Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology and Founder and Director of the Center for Human Sleep Science at UC Berkeley. This book is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Matthew Walker. This extensive conversation gives a clear and compelling picture of our recent understanding of sleep's essential role in our daily lives, from reinforcing learning and memory to regulating emotion. Howard Burton is the creator and host of Ideas Roadshow and was the Founding Executive Director of Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.

Life is all around us, abundant and diverse. It is truly a marvel. But what does it actually mean to be alive, and how do we decide what is living and what is not? After a lifetime of studying life, Nobel Prize-winner Sir Paul Nurse, one of the world's leading scientists, has taken on the challenge of defining it. Written with great personality and charm, his accessible guide takes readers on a journey to discover biology's five great building blocks, demonstrates how biology has changed and is changing the world, and reveals where research is headed next. To survive all the challenges that face the human race today - population growth, pandemics, food shortages, climate change - it is vital that we first understand what life is. Never before has the question 'What is life?' been answered with such insight, clarity, and humanity, and never at a time more urgent than now. 'Paul Nurse is about as distinguished a scientist as there could be. He is also a great communicator. This book explains, in a way that is both clear and elegant, how the processes of life unfold, and does as much as science can to answer the question posed by the title. It's also profoundly important, at a time when the world is connected so closely that any new illness can sweep from nation to nation with immense speed, that all of us - including politicians - should be as well-informed as possible. This book provides the sort of clarity and understanding that could save many thousands of lives. I learned a great deal, and I enjoyed the process enormously.' -Sir Philip Pullman 'A nearly perfect guide to the wonder and complexity of existence.' -Bill Bryson 'Nurse provides a concise, lucid response to an age-old question. His writing is not just informed by long experience, but also wise, visionary, and personal. I read the book in one sitting, and felt exhilarated by the end, as though I'd run for miles - from the author's own garden into the interior of the cell, back in time to humankind's most distant ancestors, and through the laboratory of a dedicated scientist at work on what he most loves to do.' -Dava Sobel

Knowledge of Life Today presents the thoughts of Jean Gayon, a major philosopher of science in France who is recognized across the Atlantic, especially for his work in philosophy and the history of life sciences. The book is structured around Gayon's personal answers to questions put forward by Victor Petit. This approach combines scientific rigor and risk-taking in answers that go back to the fundamentals of the subject. As well as the relationship between philosophy and the history of science, Gayon discusses the main questions of the history and philosophy of biology that marked his intellectual journey: Darwin, evolutionary biology, genetics and molecular biology, human evolution, and various aspects of the relationship between biology and society in contemporary times (racism, eugenics, biotechnology, biomedicine, etc.).

Conversations About Biology is a five-part Ideas Roadshow Collection of carefully-edited Ideas Roadshow Conversations featuring leading researchers with a detailed preface highlighting the connections between the different books. All five books include a detailed essay setting up the different ideas and questions for discussion at the end of each chapter. The following experts have participated in this Collection:1. Jay Gargus, Professor of Physiology, Biophysics and Pediatrics and Director of the Center for Autism Research and Translation at UC Irvine;2. Alcino Silva, Distinguished Professor.

A game-changing book on the origins of life, called the most important scientific discovery 'since the Copernican revolution' in The Observer.

Conversations at the Intersection of Science and Society is an anthology that introduces students to important concepts in the biological sciences and explores the intersection of these concepts with philosophy, ethics, religion, politics, and public policy. Readings are organized by topic and include selections from a variety of sources and perspectives. With brief introductions to each topic, Conversations delivers a thought-provoking and engaging reading experience for students. This anthology is intended for freshman- or sophomore-level science courses for non-science majors, as well as general readers interested in a non-technical introduction to biology and its relationship to society. Conversations is classroom tested in the editors' course, "Science and Society," at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.