Genetic Science

Astrobiology is an exciting new subject, and one, arguably, more interdisciplinary than any other. Astrobiologists seek to understand the origin and evolution of life on Earth in order to illuminate and guide the search for life on other planets. In this Very Short Introduction, David C. Catling introduces the subject through our understanding of the factors that allowed life to arise and persist on our own planet, and for the signs we are looking for in the search for extraterrestrial life.

There is one thing every enemy of Bethany Anne finds out: They will be ground under her heels. Now, something is heating up between Bethany Anne and Michael, and it isn’t her anger over him leaving her behind. Well, much. Further, the Patriarch is learning there might be someone worth sticking around for in his future. If she would just stop being so hard-headed.

Public Law 10927 was clear and direct. Parents were permitted to watch the genetic alterations of their gametes by skilled surgeons...only no one ever requested it. When Lizbeth and Harvey Durant decided to invoke the Law, when Dr. Potter did not rearrange the most unusual genetic structure of their future son, barely an embryo growing in the State's special vat---the consequences of these decisions threatened to be catastrophic.

In a world where global power dynamics shift between the United States, China, and Russia, an unexpected force emerges from the shadows, shattering the delicate balance. Once thought to be a forgotten regime, they resurface to plunge the world into chaos. Despite their previous failed attempts at world domination, they refuse to fade away after the aftermath of World War II. Instead, they embark on a sinister path, meticulously preserving the DNA of their leader for a future resurrection. Little did they know the horrors they would unleash upon humanity. Their intention was to recreate ...

What makes you the way you are - and what makes each of us different from everyone else? In Innate, leading neuroscientist and popular science blogger Kevin Mitchell traces human diversity and individual differences to their deepest level: in the wiring of our brains.

If, as Darwin suggests, evolution relentlessly encourages the survival of the fittest, why are humans compelled to live in cooperative, complex societies? In this fascinating examination of the roots of human trust and virtue, a zoologist and former American editor of The Economist reveals the results of recent studies that suggest that self-interest and mutual aid are not at all incompatible. In fact, he points out, our cooperative instincts may have evolved as part of mankind's natural selfish behavior - by exchanging favors we can benefit ourselves as well as others.

The thug ran his hand down the warm curve of her thigh, and it wasn’t until an impossibly strong hand gripped his arm that he realized the girl, was no girl at all. Still, if not for bad timing he might have left the room alive... Things aren’t always as they seem. The girl in the box is unbelievably beautiful and while Ivan Petrovic knows she’s a Synthetic, he experiences cognitive dissonance trying to reconcile her appearance and what she actually is.

For five centuries, human life has been restricted to Earth, while posthuman descendants called alloys freely explore the galaxy. But when the Earthlike planet of Meru is discovered, two unlikely companions venture forth to test the habitability of this unoccupied new world and the future of human-alloy relations. For Jayanthi, the adopted human child of alloy parents, it’s an opportunity to rectify the ancient reputation of her species as avaricious and destructive, and to give humanity a new place in the universe.

The study of human evolution is advancing rapidly. Newly discovered fossil evidence is adding ever more pieces to the puzzle of our past, while revolutionary technological advances in the study of ancient DNA are completely reshaping theories of early human populations and migrations. In this Very Short Introduction, Bernard Wood traces the history of paleoanthropology from its beginnings in the 18th century to the very latest fossil finds.

It's been three years Bethany Anne and her team have been building, trying their best to stay off the radar and not fight with those they are trying to save. The emotions have boiled to the surface. The is a line drawn in the sand, and some idiots just have to step across it. Those that thought the cat didn't have claws are about to find out how very, very wrong they are.

Jack Sigler, call sign King, field leader for a black ops organization known as Endgame, is accustomed to feeling capable of handling most any situation. It is a confidence forged in the fires of battle against both monsters and madmen. But the introduction of Asya, a sister he never knew existed, and the kidnapping of his parents has him reeling.

Mike Cohen has it all figured out. A successful venture capitalist, he’s got billions in the bank, a lifestyle any New Yorker would kill for, and - if he plays his cards right - a shot with his cute, punky coworker. But everything changes when the life-altering technology he's developing lands him in the middle of a global conspiracy, and the only way to save himself, his loved ones, and his tech is to embed the highly experimental Brainocytes in his own brain. Brainocytes transform the human experience, making you smarter, faster, and more powerful.

Section K Replication Alluthan Clone, or Krac as he is now called, has one focus in his life: protect the descendants of the Freedom Five who rule Earth's council. Things become personal when insurgents target a special member of the Freedom Five, Gracie Jones-Jefe and her family. When Violet Jefe is kidnapped, Krac swears to do everything he can to bring the precocious little girl, who is the image of her mother, home safely and kill those who took her.

The renowned biologist Paul Nurse has spent his career revealing how living cells work. In What Is Life?, he takes up the challenge of describing what it means to be alive in a way that every listener can understand. It is a shared journey of discovery; step-by-step Nurse illuminates five great ideas that underpin biology - the Cell, the Gene, Evolution by Natural Selection, Life as Chemistry, and Life as Information.

Survival isn’t easy on a planet controlled by a rogue AI, but beating the odds is Sergeant Pace Nix’s speciality. Pace and his war dog Riot were betrayed by the survivors living in the sewer city called Low Town. Disarmed, taken captive, and handed over to NERO the AI system that controls everyone on Rastamus III. It’s ultimate goal is to spread to other worlds, but it needs the passengers of the NGO ship The Philadelphia that crashed on NERO’s world to help navigate the galaxy. But they all underestimated who Pace is, and the extreme violence he is truly capable of. Ghost ...

Now that the truth of the genetic experiments on Mars has been revealed, new missions are on their way to gain control of this extraordinary technology. In the process, they seek to exploit and enslave the colonists—turning them into nothing more than lab rats. Worse, these newcomers are well armed, and prepared to go to war with each other to win control of the colony and its people.

Blending cutting-edge ideas with incisive spiritual insights, Evolutionaries is the first popular presentation of an emerging school of thought called "evolutionary spirituality". Carter Phipps, the former executive editor of EnlightenNext magazine, asserts that evolution is not only a scientific but also a spiritual idea in an audiobook whose message has the power to bring new meaning and purpose to life as we know it.

Misanthropic psychologist Dr. Grace Park is placed on the Deucalion, a survey ship headed to an icy planet in an unexplored galaxy. Her purpose is to observe the thirteen human crew members aboard the ship - all specialists in their own fields - as they assess the colonization potential of the planet, Eos. But frictions develop as Park befriends the androids of the ship, preferring their company over the baffling complexity of humans, while the rest of the crew treats them with suspicion and even outright hostility.

The exciting final three volumes of the Free Trader in one package! New enemies abound from the southern tip to the northernmost settlement and onward into space. Braden, Micah, the Golden Warrior, and Fealona lead the charge against those who would tear the fabric of a rebuilt society.

When a death in the family pulls King away, and the rest of the team is sent on a mission, Fort Bragg is attacked by a strange and overwhelming force. When the dust settles, Fiona is gone. The attack is part of a larger offensive. Around the world, the last speakers of ancient languages are being systematically exterminated. As they fight to find the mastermind behind the killings and Fiona's kidnapping, the team is hunted by strange creatures that defy explanation.