Social Biology

Though you may not be able to see them with the naked eye, parasites inhabit our everyday lives. From headlice to bird droppings, litterboxes to unfiltered water, you have brushed up against the most common way of life on our planet. In this unique book, John Janovy Jr., one of the world's preeminent experts on parasites, reveals what can humans learn from the most reviled yet misunderstood animals on Earth: lice, tapeworms, flukes, and maggots that can eat a lizard from the inside, and how these lessons help us negotiate our own complicated world.

The immune system holds the key to human health. In The Beautiful Cure, leading immunologist Professor Daniel Davis describes the scientific quest to understand how it works - and how it is affected by stress, sleep, age and our state of mind - and explains how this knowledge is now unlocking a revolutionary new approach to medicine and well-being.

It happens everywhere: offices, schools, even your own backyard. And, seemingly, anything can trigger it: cell phones, sirens, bad music, constant distractions, your boss, or even your spouse. We all know certain things get under our skin. Can science explain why? NPR's Joe Palca and Flora Lichtman take you on a scientific quest through psychology, evolutionary biology, anthropology, and other disciplines to uncover the truth about being annoyed.

Important and provocative, The Undead examines why even with the tools of advanced technology, what we think of as life and death, consciousness and nonconsciousness, is not exactly clear - and how this problem has been further complicated by the business of organ harvesting.

Through riveting personal stories and the latest research, Harvard evolutionary biologist Carole Hooven shows how testosterone drives the behaviour of the sexes apart and how understanding the science behind this hormone is empowering for all.

In Sex Robots and Vegan Meat, award-winning journalist and documentary maker Jenny Kleeman takes us on a journey into the world of the people who are changing what it means to be human. Focusing on the central pillars of the human experience - birth, food, sex, and death - Kleeman examines the people who are driving some truly amazing, and perhaps worrying, innovations.

For most of human history nature was held to be sacred and our God or gods were believed to be present everywhere in nature. When people in the West began to separate God and nature in the 17th century, it was not just a profound breach with thousands of years of accumulated wisdom and experience: it was also the root of how we have come to plunder the natural world and to promote our individual selves in unhealthy and destructive ways. Karen Armstrong argues that if we want to avert the looming environmental catastrophe, it is not enough to change our behaviour.

A compelling investigation into one of our most coveted and cherished ideals, and the efforts of modern science to penetrate the mysterious nature of this timeless virtue. We all recognize wisdom, but defining it is more elusive. In this fascinating journey from philosophy to science, Stephen S. Hall gives us a dramatic history of wisdom, from its sudden emergence in four different locations (Greece, China, Israel, and India) in the fifth century B.C. to its modern manifestations.

As Laurel spent three years traveling the world in search of emotionally disturbed animals and the people who care for them, she discovered numerous stories of recovery: parrots that learn how to stop plucking their feathers, dogs that cease licking their tails raw, polar bears that stop swimming in compulsive circles, and great apes that benefit from the help of human psychiatrists. How do these animals recover?

Human beings have been battling one another since time immemorial. But why war and terrorism? Why are men almost always the killers, and why are war and sex so inextricably linked? Why do we kill members of our own species intentionally, when few other animals do so?

In this young readers edition of the New York Times bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-winning The Sixth Extinction, Elizabeth Kolbert tells us why and how human beings have altered life on the planet in a way no species has before.

This book explores the underlying nature of the Seven Deadly Sins, their neuroscientific and psychological basis, their origin in our genes, and how certain medical disorders may give rise to them. We meet individuals whose physical and psychological conditions have given rise to these sins, where brain injury or psychological experiences have given rise to “immoral” actions, how illness has simply exposed what lies within us. We see how the origins of the definition of these traits as sins lie in evolutionary imperatives to preserve the tribe, to ensure the wellbeing of our societies.

Since the dawn of time, humans have worshipped the sun. And with good reason. Our biology is set up to work in partnership with the sun. From our sleep cycles to our immune systems and our mental health, access to sunlight is crucial for living a happy and fulfilling life. New research suggests that our sun exposure over a lifetime - even before we were born - may shape our risk of developing a range of different illnesses, from depression to diabetes. Chasing the Sun explores the extraordinary significance of sunlight.

We are a wonder of evolution. Powerful yet dextrous, instinctive yet thoughtful, we are expert communicators and innovators. Our exceptional abilities have created the civilisation we know today. But we're also deeply flawed. Our bodies break, choke and fail, whether we're kings or peasants. Diseases thwart our boldest plans. Our psychological biases have been at the root of terrible decisions in both war and peacetime. This extraordinary contradiction is the essence of what it means to be human - the sum total of our frailties and our faculties.

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.

Is the five-second rule legitimate? Are electric hand dryers really bacteria blowers? How gross is backwash? When it comes to food safety and germs, there are as many common questions as there are misconceptions. And yet there has never been a book that clearly examines the science behind these important issues - until now.

Internationally respected neuroscientist Dr. Guloglu takes us on a scientific journey through who, how, and why we love, and provides illuminating explanations to all love-related questions in an easy and relatable style. Based on hundreds of exclusive scientific studies, this well-researched book offers the neuroscience insights you need to improve your dating life and romantic relationships. In this comprehensive practical guide you’ll find: How do our brain and hormones change when we fall in and out of love? What are the features that make someone attractive, and why? How do ...

The term "gender" was first distinguished from "sex" in the 1950s when psychologists began to discuss the idea of "gender roles", behaviors and responsibilities given to people by a society rather than flowing from their biology. Since then, leaders across disciplines have sought to better understand the roles of biology, psychology, and culture on gender. New language has emerged alongside rich scientific inquiry and research. Increased visibility of transgender and nonbinary communities has brought awareness to a range of gender diverse experiences....

We need something in real-time, something that reflects our civilization and culture. That something is politics, Thus, we must start by adding the dimension of science to the study of politics. This is why this audiobook, The Biology of Politics, was written.

The Survival of the Richest: An Analysis of the Relationship between the Sciences of Biology, Economics, Finance, and Survivalism is Dr. Anthony M. Criniti, IV’s remarkable follow-up to his acclaimed book The Necessity of Finance. Exploring in greater depth how the sciences of economics and finance are necessary for their respective entities to survive, this book integrates some of the hardest concepts of several very important fields of scientific inquiry.