A thought-provoking series that chronicles the discussions, disputes, and debates that have divided scientists and advanced science through the ages. The origins of humanity? The causes of homosexuality? Experimentation on humans and animals? In both theory and practice, science is riven by controversy. Always has been, always will be. Controversies in Science reveals the history of humanity's disputatious pursuit of truth-the passions, the polemics, and the partisanship. ABC-CLIO's Controversies in Science series examines some of the greatest debates in the history of science's quest for truth. Edited by top scientists, philosophers, and historians, the titles explore fields as diverse as cosmology, genetics, evolution, psychiatry, and the fascinating and speculative study of extraterrestrial biology. Who are we? Where do we come from? And what limits should we place on the pursuit of answers to these questions? The truth is out there. But what routes have we taken? What routes should we take? Controversies in Science offers a road map.

Wetlands are increasingly viewed as valuable resources rather than wastelands and appreciated as reservoirs for species diversity. These two companion volumes provide the naturalist and field worker with complete descriptions and illustrations of 312 plant species found in Adirondack wetlands and sufficient information for the identification of many more. We hope you will take the books along on your next outing and begin to share our fascination with wetland plants.

Low-lying Pacific island nations are experiencing the frontline of sea-level rises and climate change and are responding creatively and making-sense in their own vernacular terms. Pacific Climate Cultures aims to bring Oceanic philosophies to the frontline of social science theorization. It explores the home-grown ways that 'climate change' becomes absorbed into the combined effects of globalization and into a living nexus of relations amongst human and non-humans, spirits and elements. Contributors to this edited volume explore diverse examples of living climate change-from floods and cyclones, through song and navigation, to new forms of art, community initiatives and cultural appropriations-and demonstrate their international relevance in understanding climate change. A Prelude by His Highness Tui Atua Efi and Afterword by Anne Salmond frame an Introduction by Tony Crook & Peter Rudiak-Gould and nine chapters by contributors including John Connell, Elfriede Hermann & Wolfgang Kempf and Cecilie Rubow. Endorsement from Professor Margaret Jolly, Australian National University: This exciting volume offers innovative insights on climate cultures across Oceania. It critically interrogates Western environmental sciences which fail to fully appreciate Oceanic knowledges and practices. It reveals how climate science can be both 'a weapon of the weak' and 'an act of symbolic violence of the powerful'. A compelling series of studies in the Cook islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea and Samoa suggest not diverse cultural constructions of 'natural facts' but processes of knowledge exchange and at best a respectful reciprocity in confronting present challenges and disturbing future scenarios. 'Home-grown' Pacific discourses and ways of living emphasise the interconnections of all life on earth and in our cosmos; they do not differentiate between the natural and the moral, between environmental and cultural transformations. These studies evoke the creative agency of Oceanic peoples, too often seen as on the vanguard of victimhood in global representations of climate change, and offer distinctive visions for all humanity in these troubling times.

Recent important discoveries and developments in nanotechnology have had a remarkable and ever-increasing impact on many industries, especially materials science, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology. Nanocarriers have been investigated for a wide variety of different medical applications. Some examples of these nanocarriers include polymersomes, liposomes, micelles and carbon-based nanomaterials. Within this book, the authors describe different features of carbon nanotubes (CNTs), survey the properties of both the multi-walled and single-walled varieties, and cover their applications in drug and gene delivery. In addition, the book explains the structure and properties of CNTs prepared by different method, and discussed their isolation and purification. The future of CNTs in the field of biomedical science will depend on minimizing their adverse effects by careful study of their structure and properties.

"Data Analysis and Presentation Skills: An Introduction for the Life and Medical Sciences" is an invaluable text allowing students to develop appropriate key skills when designing experiments, generating results, analysing data and ultimately presenting findings to academics and referees. Taking a hands-on approach, each of these key areas is introduced clearly and carefully, showing how to access and evaluate information using a variety of resources. Basic analytical theory is gradually introduced alongside practical applications to enhance student understanding.The reader is shown how to present data in charts using Microsoft Excel and statistical analysis is carefully explained showing clearly how to manipulate data in spreadsheets and analyse the results using commonly used tests. A section is also included on the use of PowerPoint as well as giving advice on how to prepare a short talk or seminar. It includes numerous relevant examples and case studies drawn from the Life Sciences. It has guidance on how to complete and present practical and project work through to postgraduate dissertation. It features clear step-by-step introduction to Microsoft Excel, presentation skills and statistical analysis. It is invaluable for all students within the Life and Medical Sciences.

This workbook offers ten investigative cases. Each case study requires students to synthesize information from multiple chapters of the text and apply that knowledge to a real-world scenario as they pose hypotheses, gather NEW! information, analyze evidence, graph data, and draw conclusions. A link to a student website is in the Study Area in MasteringBiology.

This volume contains studies on the evolution and function of lightweight constructions of planktonic and other organisms, and examples of how they can be used to create new solutions for radical innovations of lightweight constructions for technological application. The principles and underlying processes responsible for evolution and biodiversity of marine plankton organisms are highly relevant and largely unresolved issues in the field of marine science. Amongst the most promising objects for the study of evolution of stable lightweight constructions are marine organisms such as diatoms or radiolarians. Research in these fields requires interdisciplinary expertises such as in evolutionary modelling, paleontology, lightweight optimization, functional morphology, and marine ecology. Considerable effort and expert knowledge in production engineering or lightweight optimization is necessary to transfer knowledge on biogenic structures and evolutionary principles into new lightweight solutions. This book show methods and examples of how this can be achieved efficiently.

Mechanical laws of motion were applied very early for better understanding anthropomorphic action as suggested in advance by Newton "For from hence are easily deduced the forces of machines, which are compounded of wheels, pullies, levers, cords, and weights, ascending directly or obliquely, and other mechanical powers; as also the force of the tendons to move the bones of animals". In the 19th century E.J. Marey and E. Muybridge introduced chronophotography to scientifically investigate animal and human movements. They opened the field of motion analysis by being the first scientists to correlate ground reaction forces with kinetics. Despite of the apparent simplicity of a given skilled movement, the organization of the underlying neuro-musculo-skeletal system remains unknown. A reason is the redundancy of the motor system: a given action can be realized by different muscle and joint activity patterns, and the same underlying activity may give rise to several movements. After the pioneering work of N. Bernstein in the 60's on the existence of motor synergies, numerous researchers "walking on the border" of their disciplines tend to discover laws and principles underlying the human motions and how the brain reduces the redundancy of the system. These synergies represent the fundamental building blocks composing complex movements. In robotics, researchers face the same redundancy and complexity challenges as the researchers in life sciences. This book gathers works of roboticists and researchers in biomechanics in order to promote an interdisciplinary research on anthropomorphic systems at large and on humanoid robotics in particular.