An essential guide to this major contemporary issue, Consanguinity in Context is a uniquely comprehensive account of intra-familial marriage. Detailed information on past and present religious, social and legal practices and prohibitions is presented as a backdrop to the preferences and beliefs of the 1100+ million people in consanguineous unions. Chapters on population genetics, and the role of consanguinity in reproductive behaviour and genetic variation, set the scene for critical analyses of the influence of consanguinity on health in the early years of life. The discussion on consanguinity and disorders of adulthood is the first review of its kind and is particularly relevant given the ageing of the global population. Incest is treated as a separate issue, with historical and present-day examples examined. The final three chapters deal in detail with practical issues, including genetic testing, education and counselling, national and international legislation and imperatives, and the future of consanguineous marriage worldwide.

Pain seems like a fairly straightforward experience - you get hurt and it, well, hurts. But how would you describe it? By the number of broken bones or stitches? By the cause - the crowning baby, the sharp knife, the straying lover? What does a 7 on a pain scale of 1 to 10 really mean? Pain is complicated. But most of the time, the way we treat pain is superficial - we seek out states of perfect painlessness by avoiding it at all costs, or suppressing it, usually with drugs. This has left us hurting all the more. Through in-depth interviews, investigation into the history of pain and original research, Ouch! paints a new picture of pain as a complex and multi-layered phenomenon. Authors Margee Kerr and Linda McRobbie Rodriguez tell the stories of sufferers and survivors, courageous kids and their brave parents, athletes and artists, people who find healing and pleasure in pain, and scientists pushing the boundaries of pain research, to challenge the notion that all pain is bad and harmful. They reveal why who defines pain matters and how history, science, and culture shape how we experience pain. Ouch! dismantles prevailing assumptions about pain and that not all pain is bad, not all pain should be avoided, and, in the right context, pain can even feel good. To build a healthier relationship with pain, we must understand how it works, how it is expressed and how we communicate and think about it. Once we understand how pain is made, we can remake it.

This completely revised edition provides a synthesis of the forces that shaped the evolution of the human growth pattern, the biocultural factors that direct its expression, the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that regulate individual development, and the biomathematical approaches needed to analyze and interpret human growth. After covering the history, philosophy and biological principles of human development, the book turns to the evolution of the human life cycle. Later chapters explore the physiological, environmental and cultural reasons for population variation in growth, and the genetic and endocrine factors that regulate individual development. Using numerous historical and cultural examples, social-economic-political-economic forces are also discussed. A new chapter introduces controversial concepts of community effects and strategic growth adjustments, and the author then integrates all this information into a truly interactive biocultural model of human development. This remains the primary text for students of human growth in anthropology, psychology, public health and education.

A fundamental and groundbreaking reassessment of how we view and manage cancer When we think of the forces driving cancer, we don't necessarily think of evolution. But evolution and cancer are closely linked because the historical processes that created life also created cancer. The Cheating Cell delves into this extraordinary relationship, and shows that by understanding cancer's evolutionary origins, researchers can come up with more effective, revolutionary treatments. Athena Aktipis goes back billions of years to explore when unicellular forms became multicellular organisms. Within these bodies of cooperating cells, cheating ones arose, overusing resources and replicating out of control, giving rise to cancer. Aktipis illustrates how evolution has paved the way for cancer's ubiquity, and why it will exist as long as multicellular life does. Even so, she argues, this doesn't mean we should give up on treating cancer-in fact, evolutionary approaches offer new and promising options for the disease's prevention and treatments that aim at long-term management rather than simple eradication. Looking across species-from sponges and cacti to dogs and elephants-we are discovering new mechanisms of tumor suppression and the many ways that multicellular life-forms have evolved to keep cancer under control. By accepting that cancer is a part of our biological past, present, and future-and that we cannot win a war against evolution-treatments can become smarter, more strategic, and more humane. Unifying the latest research from biology, ecology, medicine, and social science, The Cheating Cell challenges us to rethink cancer's fundamental nature and our relationship to it.

'A big-picture forecast of how medicine stands on the threshold of a revolution that will radically change all of our lives' The Times Welcome to a revolution in the science of you! This landmark new book from award-winning scientist Daniel M. Davis explores the future of the human body. Imagine taking drugs to help you acquire new skills, or knowing years in advance the precise likelihood of developing specific cancers, or following a diet and health regime tailored to your microbiome, or even having continuous monitoring of your body's workings and well-being. Written by an award-winning scientist, this landmark book shows how these radical and disconcerting possibilities have been made real. It is at once a gripping drama of scientific ingenuity, discovery and collaboration, and a vision of the human body of dizzying complexity and wonder. 'The startling new discoveries...are radically altering our understanding of how we function and what our future holds' BRIAN COX 'Thrilling' BILL BRYSON 'Brilliant' TIM SPECTOR 'Extraordinary' ALICE ROBERTS

Urban Evolutionary Biology fills an important knowledge gap on wild organismal evolution in the urban environment, whilst offering a novel exploration of the fast-growing new field of evolutionary research. The growing rate of urbanization and the maturation of urban study systems worldwide means interest in the urban environment as an agent of evolutionary change is rapidly increasing. We are presently witnessing the emergence of a new field of research in evolutionary biology. Despite its rapid global expansion, the urban environment has until now been a largely neglected study site among evolutionary biologists. With its conspicuously altered ecological dynamics, it stands in stark contrast to the natural environments traditionally used as cornerstones for evolutionary ecology research. Urbanization can offer a great range of new opportunities to test for rapid evolutionary processes as a consequence of human activity, both because of replicate contexts for hypothesis testing, but also because cities are characterized by an array of easily quantifiable environmental axes of variation and thus testable agents of selection. Thanks to a wide possible breadth of inference (in terms of taxa) that may be studied, and a great variety of analytical methods, urban evolution has the potential to stand at a fascinating multi-disciplinary crossroad, enriching the field of evolutionary biology with emergent yet incredibly potent new research themes where the urban habitat is key. Urban Evolutionary Biology is an advanced textbook suitable for graduate level students as well as professional researchers studying the genetics, evolutionary biology, and ecology of urban environments. It is also highly relevant to urban ecologists and urban wildlife practitioners.

This book traces the social and environmental determinants of human infectious diseases from the Neolithic to the present day. Despite recent high profile discoveries of new pathogens, the major determinants of these emerging infections are ancient and recurring. These include changing modes of subsistence, shifting populations, environmental disruptions, and social inequalities. The recent labeling of the term "re-emerging infections" reflects a re-emergence, not so much of the diseases themselves, but rather a re-emerging awareness in affluent societies of long-standing problems that were previously ignored. An Unnatural History of Emerging Infections illustrates these recurring problems and determinants through an examination of three major epidemiological transitions. The First Transition occurred with the Agricultural Revolution beginning 10,000 years ago, bringing a rise in acute infections as the main cause of human mortality. The Second Transition first began with the Industrial Revolution; it saw a decline in infectious disease mortality and an increase in chronic diseases among wealthier nations, but less so in poorer societies. These culminated in today's "worst of both worlds syndrome" in which globalization has combined with the challenges of the First and Second Transitions to produce a Third Transition, characterized by a confluence of acute and chronic disease patterns within a single global disease ecology. This accessible text is suitable for advanced undergraduate and graduate level students and researchers in the fields of epidemiology, disease ecology, anthropology, health sciences, and the history of medicine. It will also be of relevance and use to undergraduate students interested in the history and social dynamics of infectious diseases.

In The Oxford Handbook of Language Evolution, sixty leading scholars present critical accounts of every aspect of the field. Its five parts are devoted to insights from comparative animal behaviour; the biology of language evolution; the prehistory of language; the development of a linguistic species; and language creation, transmission, and change. Research on language evolution has burgeoned over the last three decades. Interdisciplinary activity has produced fundamental advances in the understanding of language evolution and in the evolution of human andanimal communication more generally. This book presents a wide-ranging summation of work in all the disciplines involved. It highlights the links between different lines of research, shows what has been achieved, and considers promising directions for the future. The Oxford Handbook of Language Evolution will be valued by everyone interested in one of the most productive and fascinating fields in natural and cognitive science.

Can virtuous behavior be explained by nature, and not by human rational choice? "It's the animal in us," we often hear when we've been bad. But why not when we're good? Primates and Philosophers tackles this question by exploring the biological foundations of one of humanity's most valued traits: morality. In this provocative book, renowned primatologist Frans de Waal argues that modern-day evolutionary biology takes far too dim a view of the natural world, emphasizing our "selfish" genes and reinforcing our habit of labeling ethical behavior as humane and the less civilized as animalistic. Seeking the origin of human morality not in evolution but in human culture, science insists that we are moral by choice, not by nature. Citing remarkable evidence based on his extensive research of primate behavior, de Waal attacks "Veneer Theory," which posits morality as a thin overlay on an otherwise nasty nature. He explains how we evolved from a long line of animals that care for the weak and build cooperation with reciprocal transactions. Drawing on Darwin, recent scientific advances, and his extensive research of primate behavior, de Waal demonstrates a strong continuity between human and animal behavior. He probes issues such as anthropomorphism and human responsibilities toward animals. His compelling account of how human morality evolved out of mammalian society will fascinate anyone who has ever wondered about the origins and reach of human goodness. Based on the Tanner Lectures de Waal delivered at Princeton University's Center for Human Values in 2004, Primates and Philosophers includes responses by the philosophers Peter Singer, Christine M. Korsgaard, and Philip Kitcher and the science writer Robert Wright. They press de Waal to clarify the differences between humans and other animals, yielding a lively debate that will fascinate all those who wonder about the origins and reach of human goodness.

Taking medication is a common occurrence for many people, whether it is to soothe an aching head, regulate blood sugars, or to treat life threatening conditions, such as HIV or cancer. In the UK alone, over 900 million prescriptions are dispensed every year. Overseeing all of this are pharmacists: experts in medicines and their use. The Integrated Foundations of Pharmacy series supports those who are at the beginning of their journey to become a pharmacist. The reader will begin to understand how a drug molecule is made; the process that turns it into a medicine; the role the pharmacist has when dispensing that medicine; and what happens in the body when it is taken. Most importantly, the series shows how each of these aspects are integrated, reflecting the most up-to-date teaching practices. Therapeutics and Human Physiology: how medicines work introduces the range of physiological processes occurring in the different body systems, and shows how they respond to drugs that are administered. Online Resource Centre The Online Resource Centre to accompany Therapeutics and Human Physiology: how medicines work features: For registered adopters of the book: - Figures from the book, available to download. For students: - Self-assessment questions to help the reader to check and reinforce understanding of the material introduced in each chapter.

This volume presents the lithic assemblage from Howburn in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, which at present is the oldest prehistoric settlement in Scotland (12,700-12,000 BC), and the only Hamburgian settlement in Britain. The site also included a scatter from the Late Upper Palaeolithic Federmesser- Gruppen period (12,000-10,800 BC), as well as lithics from the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. The book focuses on the Hamburgian finds, which are mainly based on the exploitation of flint from Doggerland, the then dry bed of the North Sea. The Hamburgian tools include tanged arrowheads, scrapers, piercers, burins, and other implement forms which show similarities with tools of the same age on the European continent. The shape of one scatter suggests that the Palaeolithic settlers lived in tent-like structures. The Palaeolithic finds from Howburn shed light on several important general trends, such as the ‘acclimatization’ of pioneer settlers, as well as the development of regional differences following the initial Late Glacial recolonization of Scotland. Palaeo-environmental work focused on whether there was a small lake (‘Loch Howburn’) in front of the terrace on which the camp was situated, and it was concluded that there was indeed a lake there, but it was neither contemporary with the Hamburgian, nor the Federmesser-Gruppen settlement. Most likely, ‘Loch Howburn’ dates to the Loch Lomond stadial.

The human body is a complicated and beautiful machine, governed by the laws of physics and chemistry. By understanding its physiology - how it performs its varied functions - it is possible to build strategies for diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease. In this latest edition, expanded and restructured coverage of sensory physiology and the respiratory system, a new comprehensive glossary of key terms, and additional online learning resources make Human Physiology even more student-friendly than its predecessors. Human Physiology provides clear explanations of the principles that govern the body's physiological processes and shows how these can be applied. This is the ideal course companion for any student needing a solid foundation in the subject for a future career in human biology, biomedical science, or medicine. Online resources Student resources - Numerical and clinical problems - Multiple choice questions - Web links Lecturer resources - Figures from the book

The secrets of our genetic heritage are finally being unlocked. The massive scientific effort to sequence the human genome is in fact just the beginning of a long journey as the extraordinary genetic diversity that exists between individuals becomes clear. Work in this field is yielding profound insights into the wider implications for understanding biology, human health and history. It promises much: to understand our evolutionary origins, to define us as individuals, to predict our risk of disease and to more effectively understand, treat and prevent illness. Genetics can help us understand both rare inherited disorders and common multifactorial diseases like asthma, heart diseases and diabetes. Huge investments are being made and great advances have been achieved, but the challenges remain daunting. This book provides an authoritative overview of this topical and very rapidly advancing field of biomedical research.
Human Genetic Diversity provides a concise, authoritative overview of human genetic diversity. It documents the insights that human genetics have brought to an understanding of human evolution and history, focusing on the implications of human genetic diversity for disease susceptibility and treatment. The book describes the genetic basis for diseases such as HIV, AIDS, Crohn's disease, asthma and type I diabetes. It also examines the emerging field of pharmacogenomics and individualized medicine.
Human genetic variation has implications across a broad range of disciplines (both biological and medical) and this text neatly consolidates work in diverse fields to highlight common themes and principles. An accessible style and the extensive use of illustrations promote its relevance to a broad audience ranging from those interested in human and population genetics to molecular biologists, evolutionary biologists, biological anthropologists and individuals working in the health sciences and clinical medicine.

From the author of the groundbreaking New York Times bestseller The Female Brain, here is the eagerly awaited follow-up book that demystifies the puzzling male brain.

Dr. Louann Brizendine, the founder of the first clinic in the country to study gender differences in brain, behavior, and hormones, turns her attention to the male brain, showing how, through every phase of life, the "male reality" is fundamentally different from the female one. Exploring the latest breakthroughs in male psychology and neurology with her trademark accessibility and candor, she reveals that the male brain:

• is a lean, mean, problem-solving machine. Faced with a personal problem, a man will use his analytical brain structures, not his emotional ones, to find a solution.
• thrives under competition, instinctively plays rough and is obsessed with rank and hierarchy.
• has an area for sexual pursuit that is 2.5 times larger than the female brain, consuming him with sexual fantasies about female body parts.
• experiences such a massive increase in testosterone at puberty that he perceive others' faces to be more aggressive.

The Male Brain finally overturns the stereotypes. Impeccably researched and at the cutting edge of scientific knowledge, this is a book that every man, and especially every woman bedeviled by a man, will need to own.

"This book reconstructs what the earliest grammars might have been and shows how they could have led to the languages of modern humankind.
"Like other biological phenomena, language cannot be fully understood without reference to its evolution, whether proven or hypothesized," wrote Talmy Givon in 2002. As the languages spoken 8,000 years ago were typologically much the same as they are today and as no direct evidence exists for languages before then, evolutionary linguists are at a disadvantage compared to their counterparts in biology. Bernd Heine and Tania Kuteva seek to overcome this obstacle by combining grammaticalization theory, one of the main methods of historical linguistics, with work in animal communication and human evolution. The questions they address include: do the modern languages derive from one ancestral language or from more than one? What was the structure of language like when it first evolved? And how did the properties associated with modern human languages arise, in particular syntax and the recursive use of language structures? The authors proceed on the assumption that if language evolution is the result of language change then the reconstruction of the former can be explored by deploying the processes involved in the latter. Their measured arguments and crystal-clear exposition will appeal to all those interested in the evolution of language, from advanced undergraduates to linguists, cognitive scientists, human biologists, and archaeologists.

A thorough yet concise account of cancer biology, this book emphasises the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in the transformation of normal into malignant cells, the invasiveness of cancer cells into host tissues, and the metastatic spread of cancer cells in the host organism. It also defines the fundamental pathophysiological changes that occur in tumour tissue and in the host animal or patient. The approach throughout the book is to discuss the historical development of a field, citing the key experimental advances to the present day, and to evaluate the current evidence that best supports or rules out concepts of the molecular and cellular mechanisms regulating cancer cell behaviour. For all the areas of fundamental cancer research, an effort has been made to relate basic research findings to the clinical disease states. The book is well illustrated with schematic diagrams and actual research data to demonstrate points made in the text, and there is an extensive, up-to-date bibliography.

This book addresses central questions in the evolution of language: where it came from; how it relates to primate communication; how and why it evolved; how it came to be culturally transmitted; and how languages diversified. The chapters are written from the perspective of the latest work in linguistics, neuroscience, psychology, and computer science, and reflect the idea that various cognitive, physical, neurological, social, and cultural prerequisites led to the development of full human language. Some of these evolutionary changes were preadaptations for language, while others were adaptive changes allowing the development of particular linguistic characteristics. The authors consider a broad spectrum of ideas about the conditions that led to the evolution of protolanguage and full language. Some examine changes that occurred in the course of evolution to Homo sapiens; others consider how languages themselves have adapted by evolving to be learnable. Some chapters look at the workings of the brain, and others deploy sophisticated computer simulations that model such aspects as the emergence of speech sounds and the development of grammar. All make use of the latest methods and theories to probe into the origins and subsequent development of the only species that has language. The book will interest a wide range of linguists, cognitive scientists, biologists, psychologists, neuroscientists, and experts in artificial intelligence, as well as all those fascinated by issues, puzzles, and problems raised by the evolution of language.

In 2001, scientists were finally able to determine the full human genome sequence, and with the discovery began a genomic voyage back in time. Since then, we have sequenced the full genomes of many of mankind's primitive relatives at a remarkable rate. The genome of the common chimpanzee (2005), macaque (2007) and orangutan (2011) have already been identified, and the identification of other primate genomes is underway, including the bonobo, gorilla, and baboon. Researchers are beginning to unravel our full genetic history, comparing it with closely related species to answer age old questions about how and when we evolved. For the first time, we are finding our own ancestors in our genome and are thereby gleaning new information about our evolutionary past.
In Ancestors in Our Genome, geneticist Eugene Harris presents us with the complete and up-to-date account of the evolution of the human genome. Written from the perspective of population genetics, the book traces human origins back to their earliest source among our earliest human ancestors, and explains some of the challenging questions that scientists are currently attempting to answer. For example, what does the high level of discordance among the gene trees of humans and the African great apes tell us about our respective separations from our common ancestor? Was this process fast or slow, and when and why did it occur? How can we explain the fact that evolutionary relationships among copies of specific genes from individual primate species can differ from the evolutionary relationships of the species themselves? Harris draws upon extensive experience researching primate evolution in order to deliver a lively and thorough history of human evolution. Ancestors in Our Genome is the most complete discussion of our current understanding of the human genome available.