Cricket in the Genes
Title | Cricket in the Genes PDF eBook |
Author | Martin Rogers |
Publisher | |
Pages | 264 |
Release | 2018-09-20 |
Genre | |
ISBN | 9780648363101 |
Biography of Tasmanian cricketer George Bailey and the cricketing heritage begun with George's great-great-grandfather George Herbert Bailey in the late 1800s.
The Sports Gene
Title | The Sports Gene PDF eBook |
Author | David Epstein |
Publisher | Penguin |
Pages | 370 |
Release | 2014-04-29 |
Genre | Sports & Recreation |
ISBN | 161723012X |
The New York Times bestseller – with a new afterword about early specialization in youth sports – from the author of Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World. The debate is as old as physical competition. Are stars like Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, and Serena Williams genetic freaks put on Earth to dominate their respective sports? Or are they simply normal people who overcame their biological limits through sheer force of will and obsessive training? In this controversial and engaging exploration of athletic success and the so-called 10,000-hour rule, David Epstein tackles the great nature vs. nurture debate and traces how far science has come in solving it. Through on-the-ground reporting from below the equator and above the Arctic Circle, revealing conversations with leading scientists and Olympic champions, and interviews with athletes who have rare genetic mutations or physical traits, Epstein forces us to rethink the very nature of athleticism.
The Selfish Gene
Title | The Selfish Gene PDF eBook |
Author | Richard Dawkins |
Publisher | Oxford University Press, USA |
Pages | 372 |
Release | 1989 |
Genre | Medical |
ISBN | 9780192860927 |
Science need not be dull and bogged down by jargon, as Richard Dawkins proves in this entertaining look at evolution. The themes he takes up are the concepts of altruistic and selfish behaviour; the genetical definition of selfish interest; the evolution of aggressive behaviour; kinshiptheory; sex ratio theory; reciprocal altruism; deceit; and the natural selection of sex differences. 'Should be read, can be read by almost anyone. It describes with great skill a new face of the theory of evolution.' W.D. Hamilton, Science
Control: The Dark History and Troubling Present of Eugenics
Title | Control: The Dark History and Troubling Present of Eugenics PDF eBook |
Author | Adam Rutherford |
Publisher | W. W. Norton & Company |
Pages | 171 |
Release | 2022-11-15 |
Genre | Science |
ISBN | 1324035617 |
How did an obscure academic idea pave the way to the Holocaust within just fifty years? Control is a book about eugenics, what geneticist Adam Rutherford calls “a defining idea of the twentieth century.” Inspired by Darwin’s ideas about evolution, eugenics arose in Victorian England as a theory for improving the British population, and quickly spread to America, where it was embraced by presidents, funded by Gilded Age monopolists, and enshrined into racist American laws that became the ideological cornerstone of the Third Reich. Despite this horrific legacy, eugenics looms large today as the advances in genetics in the last thirty years—from the sequencing of the human genome to modern gene editing techniques—have brought the idea of population purification back into the mainstream. Eugenics has “a short history, but a long past,” Rutherford writes. The first half of Control is the history of an idea, from its roots in key philosophical texts of the classical world all the way into their genocidal enactment in the twentieth century. The second part of the book explores how eugenics operates today, as part of our language and culture, as part of current political and racial discussions, and as an eternal temptation to powerful people who wish to improve society through reproductive control. With disarming wit and scientific precision, Rutherford explains why eugenics still figures prominently in the twenty-first century, despite its genocidal past. And he confronts insidious recurring questions—did eugenics work in Nazi Germany? And could it work today?—revealing the intellectual bankruptcy of the idea, and the scientific impossibility of its realization.
Paleofantasy: What Evolution Really Tells Us about Sex, Diet, and How We Live
Title | Paleofantasy: What Evolution Really Tells Us about Sex, Diet, and How We Live PDF eBook |
Author | Marlene Zuk |
Publisher | W. W. Norton & Company |
Pages | 310 |
Release | 2013-03-18 |
Genre | Science |
ISBN | 039308986X |
“With…evidence from recent genetic and anthropological research, [Zuk] offers a dose of paleoreality.” —Erin Wayman, Science News We evolved to eat berries rather than bagels, to live in mud huts rather than condos, to sprint barefoot rather than play football—or did we? Are our bodies and brains truly at odds with modern life? Although it may seem as though we have barely had time to shed our hunter-gatherer legacy, biologist Marlene Zuk reveals that the story is not so simple. Popular theories about how our ancestors lived—and why we should emulate them—are often based on speculation, not scientific evidence. Armed with a razor-sharp wit and brilliant, eye-opening research, Zuk takes us to the cutting edge of biology to show that evolution can work much faster than was previously realized, meaning that we are not biologically the same as our caveman ancestors. Contrary to what the glossy magazines would have us believe, we do not enjoy potato chips because they crunch just like the insects our forebears snacked on. And women don’t go into shoe-shopping frenzies because their prehistoric foremothers gathered resources for their clans. As Zuk compellingly argues, such beliefs incorrectly assume that we’re stuck—finished evolving—and have been for tens of thousands of years. She draws on fascinating evidence that examines everything from adults’ ability to drink milk to the texture of our ear wax to show that we’ve actually never stopped evolving. Our nostalgic visions of an ideal evolutionary past in which we ate, lived, and reproduced as we were “meant to” fail to recognize that we were never perfectly suited to our environment. Evolution is about change, and every organism is full of trade-offs. From debunking the caveman diet to unraveling gender stereotypes, Zuk delivers an engrossing analysis of widespread paleofantasies and the scientific evidence that undermines them, all the while broadening our understanding of our origins and what they can really tell us about our present and our future.
The Invisible History of the Human Race
Title | The Invisible History of the Human Race PDF eBook |
Author | Christine Kenneally |
Publisher | ReadHowYouWant.com |
Pages | 477 |
Release | 2015-01-29 |
Genre | Science |
ISBN | 1458798704 |
A New York Times Notable Book of 2014 We are doomed to repeat history if we fail to learn from it, but how are we affected by the forces that are invisible to us? What role does Neanderthal DNA play in our genetic makeup? How did the theory of eugenics embraced by Nazi Germany first develop? How is trust passed down in Africa, and silence inherited in Tasmania? How are private companies like Ancestry.com uncovering, preserving and potentially editing the past? In The Invisible History of the Human Race, Christine Kenneally reveals that, remarkably, it is not only our biological history that is coded in our DNA, but also our social history. She breaks down myths of determinism and draws on cutting - edge research to explore how both historical artefacts and our DNA tell us where we have come from and where we may be going.
Developmental Systems: Insects
Title | Developmental Systems: Insects PDF eBook |
Author | S. J. Counce |
Publisher | |
Pages | 640 |
Release | 1972 |
Genre | Nature |
ISBN |
The causal analysis of insect embryogenesis; The development of spatial patterns in the integument of insects; The imaginal discs of drosophila; Role of hormones in insect development; The morphogenesis of patterns in drosophila.