Addresses the fundamental question of what it means to be alive from the perspective of a microbe, E. coli, that exists within all human beings, examining the germ's evolution and its important role in the history of biology.

One of our most brilliant evolutionary biologists, Richard Lewontin has also been a leading critic of those-scientists and non-scientists alike-who would misuse the science to which he has contributed so much. In The Triple Helix , Lewontin the scientist and Lewontin the critic come together to provide a concise, accessible account of what his work has taught him about biology and about its relevance to human affairs. In the process, he exposes some of the common and troubling misconceptions that misdirect and stall our understanding of biology and evolution. The central message of this book is that we will never fully understand living things if we continue to think of genes, organisms, and environments as separate entities, each with its distinct role to play in the history and operation of organic processes. Here Lewontin shows that an organism is a unique consequence of both genes and environment, of both internal and external features. Rejecting the notion that genes determine the organism, which then adapts to the environment, he explains that organisms, influenced in their development by their circumstances, in turn create, modify, and choose the environment in which they live. The Triple Helix is vintage Lewontin: brilliant, eloquent, passionate, and deeply critical. But it is neither a manifesto for a radical new methodology nor a brief for a new theory. It is instead a primer on the complexity of biological processes, a reminder to all of us that living things are never as simple as they may seem.

Everything about our existence-movement and memory, imagination and reproduction, birth, and ultimately death-is governed by our cells. They are the basis of all life in the universe, from bacteria to the most complex animals. In the tradition of the classic Lives of a Cell, but with the benefit of the latest research, Lewis Wolpert demonstrates how human life grows from a single cell into a body, an incredibly complex society of billions of cells. Wolpert goes on to examine the science behind topics that are much discussed but rarely understood stem-cell research, cloning, DNA, cancer and explains how all life on earth evolved from just one cell. Lively and passionate, this is an accessible guide to understanding the human body and life itself."

Who could have guessed that the lowly fruit fly might hold the key for decoding heredity? Or that the mouse might one day disclose astonishing evolutionary secrets? In a book infused with wisdom, wonder, and a healthy dose of wry skepticism, Nobel Prize-winning geneticist François Jacob walks us through the surprising ways of science, particularly the science of biology, in this century. Of Flies, Mice, and Men is at once a work of history, a social study of the role of scientists in the modern world, and a cautionary tale of the bumbling and brilliance, imagination and luck, that attend scientific discovery. A book about molecules, reproduction, and evolutionary tinkering, it is also about the way biologists work, and how they contemplate beauty and truth, good and evil. Animated with anecdotes from Greek mythology, literature, episodes from the history of science, and personal experience, Of Flies, Mice, and Men tells the story of how the marvelous discoveries of molecular and developmental biology are transforming our understanding of who we are and where we came from. In particular, Jacob scrutinizes the place of the scientist in society. Alternately cast as the soothsayer Tiresias, the conscienceless inventor Daedalus, or Prometheus, conveyer of dangerous knowledge, the scientist in our day must instead adopt the role of truthteller, Jacob suggests. And the crucial truth that molecular biology teaches is the one he elaborates with great clarity and grace in this book: that all animals are made of the same building blocks, by a combinatorial system that always rearranges the same elements according to new forms.

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.

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

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.

Shares information based on lectures given in 1993 about the traffic in scientific research between metaphors and machines, between software and hardware, between language and science, and about the normal process of scientific exchange.