What are the conditions that foster true novelty and allow visionaries to set their eyes on unknown horizons? What have been the challenges that have spawned new innovations, and how have they shaped modern biology? In Dreamers, Visionaries, and Revolutionaries in the Life Sciences , editors Oren Harman and Michael R. Dietrich explore these questions through the lives of eighteen exemplary biologists who had grand and often radical ideas that went far beyond the run-of-the-mill science of their peers. From the Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, who coined the word “biology” in the early nineteenth century, to the American James Lovelock, for whom the Earth is a living, breathing organism, these dreamers innovated in ways that forced their contemporaries to reexamine comfortable truths. With this collection readers will follow Jane Goodall into the hidden world of apes in African jungles and Francis Crick as he attacks the problem of consciousness. Join Mary Lasker on her campaign to conquer cancer and follow geneticist George Church as he dreams of bringing back woolly mammoths and Neanderthals. In these lives and the many others featured in these pages, we discover visions that were sometimes fantastical, quixotic, and even threatening and destabilizing, but always a challenge to the status quo.

What are the conditions that foster true novelty and allow visionaries to set their eyes on unknown horizons? What have been the challenges that have spawned new innovations, and how have they shaped modern biology? In Dreamers, Visionaries, and Revolutionaries in the Life Sciences , editors Oren Harman and Michael R. Dietrich explore these questions through the lives of eighteen exemplary biologists who had grand and often radical ideas that went far beyond the run-of-the-mill science of their peers. From the Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, who coined the word “biology” in the early nineteenth century, to the American James Lovelock, for whom the Earth is a living, breathing organism, these dreamers innovated in ways that forced their contemporaries to reexamine comfortable truths. With this collection readers will follow Jane Goodall into the hidden world of apes in African jungles and Francis Crick as he attacks the problem of consciousness. Join Mary Lasker on her campaign to conquer cancer and follow geneticist George Church as he dreams of bringing back woolly mammoths and Neanderthals. In these lives and the many others featured in these pages, we discover visions that were sometimes fantastical, quixotic, and even threatening and destabilizing, but always a challenge to the status quo.

The significance of human individuality is such that each human functions as a unique "molecular" unit of the mass of humanity. Understanding the natural basis for the uniqueness of the individual has long been an objective. The possibilities have been analyzed by Julian Huxley, by A. E. Needham, by Roger Williams, and by others. With his books Biochemical Individuality and Free and Unequal, Roger Williams has done as much as anyone to focus atten tion on this complex of questions. Although scheduled to partici pate in this program, Roger Williams* was unable to attend due to illness. He asked, however, that a quotation be included in the proceedings. This quotation from Chraka is presented early in this book. While metabolic bases for individuality have received a con siderable investigation and discussion by Williams and others, the case for underlying determinants and derivative consequences have not been examined as fully. The specificities that abound in our living world can be traced to the manner in which molecules fit with each other. While numerous studies having other objectives can be cited in support of molecularly based specificities, a few of the leaders in the development of the understanding of physical aspects of biological information present here some of their latest inferences. Several of the participants discuss some of the conse quences at higher levels. Examination of the fascinating cases of reunited identical twins are seen as providing a capstone to the hierarchical treatment.

A fascinating tribute to the forefathers of two of today’s most exciting scientific fields Thanks to Max Delbruck and George Gamow, today we have mapped the human genome and understand the ramifications of the Big Bang. In his characteristically inviting and elegant style, Gino Segre brings to life the story of these two great scientists and their long friendship and offers an accessible inside look the people behind the scenes of science—the collaboration and competition, the quirks and failures, the role of intuition and luck, and the sense of wonder and curiosity that keeps these extraordinary minds going.

These original contributions by symbiosis biologists and evolutionary theorists address the adequacy of the prevailing neo-Darwinian concept of evolution in the light of growing evidence that hereditary symbiosis, supplemented by the gradual accumulation of heritable mutation, results in the origin of new species and morphological novelty. A departure from mainstream biology, the idea of symbiosis—as in the genetic and metabolic interactions of the bacterial communities that became the earliest eukaryotes and eventually evolved into plants and animals—has attracted the attention of a growing number of scientists. These original contributions by symbiosis biologists and evolutionary theorists address the adequacy of the prevailing neo-Darwinian concept of evolution in the light of growing evidence that hereditary symbiosis, supplemented by the gradual accumulation of heritable mutation, results in the origin of new species and morphological novelty. They include reports of current research on the evolutionary consequences of symbiosis, the protracted physical association between organisms of different species. Among the issues considered are individuality and evolution, microbial symbioses, animal­bacterial symbioses, and the importance of symbiosis in cell evolution, ecology, and morphogenesis. Lynn Margulis, Distinguished Professor of Botany at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, is the modern originator of the symbiotic theory of cell evolution. Once considered heresy, her ideas are now part of the microbiological revolution. Contributors Peter Atsatt, Richard C. Back, David Bermudes, Paola Bonfante-Fasolo, René Fester, Lynda J. Goff, Anne-Marie Grenier, Ricardo Guerrero, Robert H. Haynes, Rosmarie Honegger, Gregory Hinkle, Kwang W. Jeon, Bryce Kendrick, Richard Law, David Lewis, Lynn Margulis, John Maynard Smith, Margaret J. McFall-Ngai, Paul Nardon, Kenneth H. Nealson, Kris Pirozynski, Peter W. Price, Mary Beth Saffo, Jan Sapp, Silvano Scannerini, Werner Schwemmler, Sorin Sonea, Toomas H. Tiivel, Robert K. Trench, Russell Vetter

In this modern era of mathematical modeling, applications have become increasingly complicated. As the complexity grows, it becomes more and more difficult to draw meaningful conclusions about the behavior of theoretical models and their relations to reality. Alongside methods that emphasize quantitative properties and the testing of scientific details, there is a need for approaches that are more qualitative. These techniques attempt to cover whole families of models in one bold stroke, in a manner that allows robust conclusions to be drawn about them. Loop analysis and time averaging provide a means of interpreting the properties of systems from the network of interactions within the system. The authors' methodology concentrates on graphical representation to guide experimental design, to identify sources of external variability from the statistical pattern of variables, and to make management decisions. Although most of the examples are drawn from ecology, the methods are relevant to all of the pure and applied sciences. This relevance is enhanced by case studies from such diverse areas as physiology, resource management, the behavioral sciences, and social epidemiology. The book will be useful to a broad readership from the biological and social sciences as well as the physical sciences and technology. It will interest undergraduate and graduate students along with researchers active in these disciplines. Here the reader will find a strong rationale for maintaining a holistic approach, revealing what insights and advantages are retained by the broader perspective and, more explicitly, by the synergistic effects that cannot be discerned by reducing systems to their smallest parts.

Partial table of contents: NEUROPEPTIDES AND THE STRESS RESPONSE. Brain Corticotropin Releasing Factor and Development (T. Insel, et al.). Opioids, Stress, and the Developing Brain (I. Zagon & P. McLaughlin). THE ADRENAL MEDULLA AND STRESS. Catecholamines and Stress in the Newborn (T. Slotkin & F. Seidler). Endogeneous Neuropeptides Maintain Adrenal Catecholamine Output during Stress (B. Livett, et al.). IMMUNOBIOLOGY OF STRESS. Shock Induced Immunosuppression: Naltrexone Sensitive and Insensitive Parameters (J. Cunnick, et al.). Regulation of Interleukin-2 Expression by Dexamethasone in a Mouse T Cell Line (B. Sorg, et al.). PHYSICAL CONSEQUENCES OF STRESS. Enzymatic and Morphological Adaptation to Physical Exercise in Young Middle Aged, and Old Mice: A Model for Physical Stress (A. Reznick, et al.). Gastric Erosion Formation by Stress: Brain Stem Mechanisms (H. Weiner, et al.). STRESS AND BEHAVIOR. Information-Induced Stress in Humans (S. Breznitz). Affect Specific Retrieval from Archival Memory (H. Weingartner, et al.). Index.

First published in 1988 and now known as a classic. In this book Stephen Fry describes, in bench-top detail, techniques for the study of primary cell walls in higher plants. Deepening interest in the chelistry and metabolism of cell walls reflects the breadth of their significance in biology. Walls play crutial roles in morphogenesis, growth, disease-resistance, recognition, signalling, digestibility, nutrition and decay. Scientists interested in questions concerning these processes need to know about methods of cell wall analysis. This book was written with these people in mind. There are 11 chapters as follows: 1. Introduction to the growing plant cell wall 2. Radioactive labelling of cell walls 3. Wall polymers: extraction and fractionation 4. Wall polymers: chemical characterisation 5. Wall biosyntesis 6. Wall enzymes 7. Wall architecture 8. Wall turnover and sloughing 9. Biologically-active wall oligosaccharides 10. Wall tightening and loosening: growth 11. Wall degradation "Stephen Fry has written an invaluable book on the analytical techniques available in this important research field. This is an excellent book for the typical modern biologist." J. Experimental Biology "This book will be of considerable value to anyone engaged in the analysis of plant cell walls." Ann. Botany "For those who intend to do any practical cell wall analysis this book will be an invaluable laboratory manual." Plant Pathology "As a practical guide to wall analysis this book will be a most valuable tool." Times Higher Education Supplement

The 18th volume in this annual review begins with a preface by one of the editors, Randy Schekman (U. of California, Berkeley), concerning the obligation of scientists to see that funds allotted for research in response to terrorism are invested wisely, and to offer advice to legislative representat

The 18th volume in this annual review begins with a preface by one of the editors, Randy Schekman (U. of California, Berkeley), concerning the obligation of scientists to see that funds allotted for research in response to terrorism are invested wisely, and to offer advice to legislative representat

Rapid advances in the physical and biological sciences and in related technologies have brought about equally farreaching changes in mathematical research. Focusing on control theory, invariant imbedding, dynamic programming, and quasilinearization, Mr. Bellman explores with ease and clarity the mathematical research problems arising from scientific questions in engineering, physics, biology, and medicine. Special attention is paid in these essays to the use of the digital computer in obtaining the numerical solution of numerical problems, its influence in the formulation of new and old scientific problems in new terms, and to some of the effects of the computer revolution on educational and social systems. The new opportunities for mathematical research presage, Bellman concludes, a renaissance of mathematics in human affairs by involving it closely in the problems of society.

Menaḥem Mendel Schneerson (1902-1994) was the seventh and seemingly last Rebbe of the Habad-Lubavitch dynasty. Marked by conflicting tendencies, Schneerson was a radical messianic visionary who promoted a conservative political agenda, a reclusive contemplative who built a hasidic sect into an international movement, and a man dedicated to the exposition of mysteries who nevertheless harbored many secrets. Schneerson astutely masked views that might be deemed heterodox by the canons of orthodoxy while engineering a fundamentalist ideology that could subvert traditional gender hierarchy, the halakhic distinction between permissible and forbidden, and the social-anthropological division between Jew and Gentile. While most literature on the Rebbe focuses on whether or not he identified with the role of Messiah, Elliot R. Wolfson, a leading scholar of Jewish mysticism and the phenomenology of religious experience, concentrates instead on Schneerson's apocalyptic sensibility and his promotion of a mystical consciousness that undermines all discrimination. For Schneerson, the ploy of secrecy is crucial to the dissemination of the messianic secret. To be enlightened messianically is to be delivered from all conceptual limitations, even the very notion of becoming emancipated from limitation. The ultimate liberation, or true and complete redemption, fuses the believer into an infinite essence beyond all duality, even the duality of being emancipated and not emancipated--an emancipation, in other words, that emancipates one from the bind of emancipation. At its deepest level, Schneerson's eschatological orientation discerned that a spiritual master, if he be true, must dispose of the mask of mastery. Situating Habad's thought within the evolution of kabbalistic mysticism, the history of Western philosophy, and Mahayana Buddhism, Wolfson articulates Schneerson's rich theology and profound philosophy, concentrating on the nature of apophatic embodiment, semiotic materiality, hypernomian transvaluation, nondifferentiated alterity, and atemporal temporality.

Published in 1938: The new volume presents a full and profusely illustrated account of progress made during the eighteenth century in Mathematics, Mechanics, Astronomy, Physics, Meteorology, Geography, Chemistry, Biology, Medicine, Psychology, Demography, Economics, Philosophy, and Technology.

These companion volumes, long out of print, are now presented together for the first time so that the reader may better grasp their essential unity. In Ether, God and Devil, Wilhelm Reich describes the process of functional thinking and reveals how the inner logic of this objective thought technique led him to the discovery of cosmic orgone energy. In Cosmic Superimposition , Reich steps beyond the character structure of man to an understanding of how man is rooted in nature. The super-imposition of two orgone-energy systems which is demonstrable in the genital embrace is revealed as a common functioning principal that exists in all of nature. Concluding this work, Reich returns to the human sphere "to ponder about the greatest riddle of all: the ability of man to think, and by mere thinking to know what nature is and how it works."