Science Human Biology

Imagine knowing years in advance whether you are likely to get cancer, or having a personalized understanding of your individual genes, organs, and cells. Imagine being able to monitor your body's well-being, or have a diet tailored to your microbiome. The Secret Body reveals how these and other stunning breakthroughs and technologies are transforming our understanding of how the human body works, what it is capable of, how to protect it from disease, and how we might manipulate it in the future.

A leading ecologist argues that if humankind is to survive on a fragile planet, we must understand and obey its iron laws. Over the past century, our species has made unprecedented technological innovations with which we have sought to control nature. From river levees to enormous one-crop fields, we continue to try to reshape nature for our purposes - so much so it seems we may be in danger of destroying it.

In The Invisible History of the Human Race, Christine Kenneally draws on cutting-edge research to reveal how both historical artifacts and DNA tell us where we come from and where we may be going. While some books explore our genetic inheritance and some popular television shows celebrate ancestry, this is the first book to explore how everything from DNA to emotions to names and the stories that form our lives are all part of our human legacy.

Few of us know much about the biology of sex determination, but what could be more interesting than to discover how we are shaped into males and females? In this book, Elof Carlson tells the incredible story of the difficult quest to understand how the body forms girls and boys. Carlson's history takes us from antiquity to the present day to detail how each component of human reproduction and sexuality was identified and studied....

In Unfit for Purpose, biologist and broadcaster Adam Hart explores the mismatch between our fundamental biology and the modern world we have created. In each chapter Adam reveals the many ways in which biological adaptations that evolved to help us survive and thrive now work against us. For example, in the modern world stress is a killer, but how did 'fight or flight' instincts turn from life-savers to life-takers? Obesity might be a disease now, but is it really just a troublesome side-effect of our complex evolutionary past?

A fascinating, bite-sized insight into how human sexuality came to be the way it is now - Jared Diamond explains why we are different from the animal kingdom. Why are humans one of the few species to have sex in private? Why do humans have sex any day of the month or year, including when the female is pregnant, beyond her reproductive years, or between her fertile cycles? Why are human females one of the few mammals to go through menopause?

An eye-opening look into why our bodies work - or don’t - the way they do. From blurry vision to crooked teeth, ACLs (anterior cruciate ligaments) that tear at alarming rates and spines that seem to spend a lifetime falling apart, it’s surprising that human beings have beaten the odds as a species. After all, we’re the only survivors on our branch of the tree of life. In this funny, wide-ranging and often surprising book, biologist Alex Bezzerides tells us from where we inherited our adaptable, achy, brilliant bodies in the process of evolution.

John Parrington draws on the latest research on the human brain to show how it differs strikingly from those of other animals in its structure and function at a molecular and cellular level. And he argues that this 'shift', enlarging the brain, giving it greater flexibility and enabling higher functions such as imagination, was driven by tool use, but especially by the development of one remarkable tool - language.

At the Human Edge is a nonfiction popular science book that unravels the amazing adaptive physiological responses that our bodies undergo as we push ourselves to the physical limits in human performance. Each chapter is dedicated to a unique extreme environment, on Earth and beyond. The book captures the history, geography, legacy and the physical challenges that our physiology faces in our attempt to conquer the great outdoors.

If we are, in part, a product of our genes, can free will exist? Incisive and engaging, this indispensable tour of evolutionary biology runs the gamut of contemporary debates, from science and religion to our place in the universe.

How do you sniff out danger? What is a sense of direction or a gut instinct? You know about your five senses: hearing, sight, smell, taste and touch. But recent research has shown that we actually have at least 32. We take our senses for granted but what would be possible if we properly understood how they all work? Award-winning science Writer Emma Young has spent over a decade finding out, and in Super Senses she takes us on an exhilarating sensory journey.

Why do we marvel at the human mind’s capacity for memory, the heart’s unyielding rhythm, and the immune system’s constant vigilance? Is it all the product of chance, or does it reveal a deeper intention behind our existence? This compelling work addresses these very questions, drawing on Scripture and scientific understanding to unveil how each part of the human body—whether the nervous system, circulatory network, or our remarkable genetic code—functions with precision and unity. Blending faith and reason, “Wonderfully Made: The Harmony of Human Design” shows that biblical ...

If we are, in part, a product of our genes, can free will exist? Incisive and engaging, this indispensable tour of evolutionary biology runs the gamut of contemporary debates, from science and religion to our place in the universe.

Where Will Man Take Us? explores the changes technology is bringing about in us - as a society and as a species. What will the next generation turn into, what will it be like, how will the new Adam and Eve live and love? In this audiobook, Atul Jalan tackles nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and genetics, seamlessly weaving the future of technology with the changing dynamics of human love, morality, and ethics.

How did life begin? Why are we here? These are some of the most profound questions we can ask. For almost a century, a small band of eccentric scientists has struggled to answer these questions and explain one of the greatest mysteries of all: how and why life began on Earth. There are many different proposals and each idea has attracted passionate believers who promote it with an almost religious fervour, as well as detractors who reject it with equal passion.

Locked away, remote from the rest of the body in its own custom-built casing of skull bone, with no intrinsic moving parts, the human brain remains a tantalising mystery. But now, more than ever before, we have the expertise to tackle this mystery - the last 20 years have seen astounding progress in brain research. Susan Greenfield begins by exploring the roles of different regions of the brain.

Prepare to learn all about the human body from blood vessels to the brain and nerves to nutrients. However, this isn't another dry textbook. You'll be drawn into each topic with one of 33 amusing questions that are guaranteed to make you think about anatomy in a whole new way. Author Emma Young explains the answers with humour and plenty of science facts that you'll be racing to share with your friends and family.

Dr Jonathan Reisman - physician, adventure traveller and naturalist - allows listeners to navigate their insides like an explorer discovering a new world. Through his offbeat adventures in healthcare and travel, Reisman discovers new perspectives on the body: a trip to the Alaskan Arctic reveals that fat is not the enemy, but the hero; a stint in the Himalayas uncovers the boundary where the brain ends and the mind begins; and eating a sheep's head in Iceland offers a lesson in empathy.

A fun way to expand your knowledge with facts about the human body.

In Strange Bedfellows, David P. Barash and Judith Eve Lipton look at how biology actually promotes monogamy in some species and how these lessons apply to human beings. An accessible work of science that is relevant to our intimate daily life, Strange Bedfellows will reassure some people, surprise others, and engage everyone.