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Books > Science & Mathematics > Biology, life sciences > Human biology & related topics
Break the rules, not the fast with world-renowned biohacker and New York Times bestselling author Dave Asprey. For more than a decade, the Bulletproof founder Dave Asprey has shared his unique point of view and expertise to help fans become the best versions of themselves. From living longer to getting smarter, maximising performance to practising mindfulness, Dave's followers look to him for his take on the most effective techniques to become healthier and more powerful than most doctors think is possible. Asprey has been fasting for years, long before it gained widespread popularity, and if you're a fan of The Bulletproof Diet, you have been enjoying some of the benefits of Intermittent Fasting too. In Fast This Way, Dave asks readers to forget everything they think they know about the ancient practice and takes them on a journey through cutting-edge science to examine the ways novice fasters and Intermittent Fasting loyalists can up-end their relationship with food and upgrade their fasting game beyond calorie restriction.
Fast This Way is a compelling read through the latest thinking on fasting and gives readers the manual and toolkit to make the most of their fasts and their personal biology.
A new, beautifully illustrated edition of the Number One Bestseller and Sunday Times Science Book of the Year, which takes us on a head-to-toe tour of the marvel that is the human body. Now enhanced in this new edition by hundreds of stunning photographs and illustrations, Bryson's book about the human body, how it functions and its remarkable ability to heal itself, is an instant classic. A Sunday Times and international bestseller, it is jam-packed with extraordinary facts, remarkable characters and astonishing stories.
Humans – who are we? Physically, Homo sapiens is unremarkable in the animal world – a hairless ape. But somehow, in combination, our characteristics make us remarkable. With our dexterity and brain power, we discovered ways of finding food and beating the elements not only in our home on the African savanna, but in every habitat from jungle to Arctic waste. Humans tells the story of our evolution with beautiful illustrations of our seemingly ordinary anatomy alongside colourful, mind-expanding graphics of what we have achieved with it. This book is:
This thought-provoking book presents the latest advances in understanding human evolution, challenging old myths and baked-in misconceptions – all through the lens of the human body. Each chapter tackles a different body part, showing how it has evolved and the role it has played. The story of hands, for instance, begins with the first animals with limbs, which clambered onto land 375 million years ago, but goes on to show how humans use the unique precision and power in their grasping digits – and their ability to teach one another skills – to create ever-more sophisticated technology. Visually vibrant and rich, this book features not only beautiful illustrations, but also photos of prehistoric art, tools, jewellery, and recreations of all of these made by experimental archaeologists. Humans asks intriguing universal questions about our origins and nature. When did we invent clothes? Did we always form pair bonds? How did prehistoric people cross the ocean? Are we the only animals to become self-aware? Find out who we are, where we come from, and perhaps – where we’re going.
Offering a study of biological, biomedical and biocultural
approaches, the second edition of "Human Growth and Development "is
a valued resource for researchers, professors and graduate students
across the interdisciplinary area of human development. With timely
chapters on obesity, diet / lifestyle, and genetics, this editionis
the only publication offering a biological, biomedical and
biocultural approach. The second edition of "Human Growth and
Development" includes contributions from the well-known experts in
the field and is the most reputable, comprehensive resource
available.
This book presents the first comprehensive description of the
lithic assemblages from Qafzeh Cave, one of only two Middle
Paleolithic sites in the Levant that has yielded multiple burials
of early anatomically modern Homo sapiens (AMHs). The record from
this region raises the question of possible long-term temporal
overlap between early AMHs and Neanderthals. For this reason,
Qafzeh has long been one of the pivotal sites in debates on the
origins of AMHs and in attempts to compare and contrast the two
species' adaptations and behavior.
Rapid advances in high-throughput genome sequencing technologies foreshadow a near-future in which millions of individuals will gain affordable access to their complete genome sequence. This promises to offer unprecedented insights into the fundamental biological nature of ourselves and our species: where we came from, how we begin our lives, how we develop and grow, how we interact with our environment, how we get sick, how we get well, and how we age. Personal genomics is an essential component of the inevitable transition towards personalized health and medicine. As the medical establishment begins to explore and evaluate the role of personal genomics in health and medicine, both clinicians and patients alike will gain from becoming well versed in both the power and the pitfalls of personal genomic information. Furthermore, it is likely that all students of the biomedical sciences will soon be required to gain crucial understanding in the emerging field of personal genomics. Exploring Personal Genomics provides a novel, inquiry-based approach to the understanding and interpretation of the practical, medical, physiological, and societal aspects of personal genomic information. The material is presented in two parts: the first provides readers of all backgrounds with a fundamental understanding of the biology of human genomes, information on how to obtain and understand digital representations of personal genomic data, tools and techniques for exploring the personal genomics of ancestry and genealogy, discovery and interpretation of genetic trait associations, and the role of personal genomics in drug response. The second part offers more advanced readers an understanding of the science, tools, and techniques for investigating interactions between a personal genome and the environment, connecting DNA to physiology, and assessing rare variants and structural variation. This book aims to support undergraduate and graduate studies in medicine, genetics, molecular biology, and bioinformatics. Additionally, the design of the content is such that medical practitioners, professionals working in the biomedical sciences or related fields, and motivated lay individuals interested in exploring their personal genetic data should find it relevant and approachable.
Because of their vital role in the emergence of humanity, tools and their uses have been the focus of considerable worldwide study. This volume brings together international research on the use of tools among primates and both prehistoric and modern humans. The book represents leading work being done by specialists in anatomy, neurobiology, prehistory, ethnology, and primatology. Whether composed of stone, wood, or metal, tools are a prolongation of the arm that acquire precision through direction by the brain. The same movement, for example, may have been practiced by apes and humans, but the resulting action varies according to the extended use of the tool. It is therefore necessary, as the contributors here make clear, to understand the origin of tools, and also to describe the techniques involved in their manipulation, and the possible uses of unknown implements. Comparison of the techniques of chimpanzees with those of prehistoric and modern peoples has made it possible to appreciate the common aspects and to identify the differences. The transmission of ability has also been studied in the various relevant societies: chimpanzees in their natural habitat and in captivity, hunter-gatherers, and workmen in prehistoric and in modern times. In drawing together much valuable research, this work will be an important and timely resource for social and behavioral psychologists, anthropologists, paleontologists, and animal behaviorists.
The Shape of Thought: How Mental Adaptations Evolve presents a road map for an evolutionary psychology of the twenty-first century. It brings together theory from biology and cognitive science to show how the brain can be composed of specialized adaptations, and yet also an organ of plasticity. Although mental adaptations have typically been seen as monolithic, hard-wired components frozen in the evolutionary past, The Shape of Thought presents a new view of mental adaptations as diverse and variable, with distinct functions and evolutionary histories that shape how they develop, what information they use, and what they do with that information. The book describes how advances in evolutionary developmental biology can be applied to the brain by focusing on the design of the developmental systems that build it. Crucially, developmental systems can be plastic, designed by the process of natural selection to build adaptive phenotypes using the rich information available in our social and physical environments. This approach bridges the long-standing divide between "nativist" approaches to development, based on innateness, and "empiricist" approaches, based on learning. It shows how a view of humans as a flexible, culturally-dependent species is compatible with a complexly specialized brain, and how the nature of our flexibility can be better understood by confronting the evolved design of the organ on which that flexibility depends.
As Senegal prepares to celebrate fifty years of independence from
French colonial rule, academic and policy circles are engaged in a
vigorous debate about its experience in nation building. An
important aspect of this debate is the impact of globalization on
Senegal, particularly the massive labor migration that began
directly after independence. From Tokyo to Melbourne, from Turin to
Buenos Aires, from to Paris to New York, 300,000 Senegalese
immigrants are simultaneously negotiating their integration into
their host society and seriously impacting the development of their
homeland.
Why is there a resurgence of racism in contemporary societies? How do ideas about race and ethnicity serve to construct forms of social and political identity? These are some of the key questions addressed in this important book. Drawing on comparative sources, this study analyses some of the most important aspects of racism within the context of contemporary social relations, introducing both students and practitioners to questions of key importance in the study of racism.
In Women After All, anthropologist Melvin Konner traces the arc of evolution to explain the relationships between women and men. Drawing on colorful examples from the natural world the octopus, the black widow spider, and coral reef fish, which can switch from male to female in a single reproductive career he sheds light on our biologically different human identities and the poignant exceptions that challenge the male/female divide. We meet hunter-gatherers in Botswana whose culture gave women a prominent place, inventing the working mother and respecting women s voices around the fire. History upset this balance as a dense world of war fostered extreme male dominance. But our species has been recovering over the past two centuries, and an unstoppable move toward equality is afoot. It will not be the end of men, but it will be the end of male supremacy and a better, wiser world for women and men alike."
If you're intrigued by the question "What makes us human?", strap in for this whirlwind tour of the highlights of anthropology From the first steps of our prehistoric ancestors, to the development of complex languages, to the intricacies of religions and cultures across the world, diverse factors have shaped the human species as we know it. Anthropology strives to untangle this fascinating web of history to work out who we were in the past, what that means for human beings today and who we might be tomorrow. This pocket-sized introduction includes accessible primers on: Influential anthropologists such as Franz Boas, Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict The key branches of anthropology, from physical and linguistic anthropology to archaeology How anthropologists study topics such as communication, identity, sex and gender, religion and culture How we can approach one of life's most enduring questions: what is it that truly makes us human? This illuminating little book will introduce you to the key thinkers, themes and theories you need to know to understand the development of human beings, and how our history has informed the way we live today. A perfect gift for anyone taking their first steps into the world of anthropology, as well as for those who want to brush up their knowledge.
William LaFleur (1936-2010), an eminent scholar of Japanese studies, left behind a substantial number of influential publications, as well as several unpublished works. The most significant of these examines debates concerning the practice of organ transplantation in Japan and the United States, and is published here for the first time. This provocative book challenges the North American medical and bioethical consensus that considers the transplantation of organs from brain dead donors as an unalloyed good. It joins a growing chorus of voices that question the assumption that brain death can be equated facilely with death. It provides a deep investigation of debates in Japan, introducing numerous Japanese bioethicists whose work has never been treated in English. It also provides a history of similar debates in the United States, problematizing the commonly held view that the American public was quick and eager to accept the redefinition of death. A work of intellectual and social history, this book also directly engages with questions that grow ever more relevant as the technologies we develop to extend life continue to advance. While the benefits of these technologies are obvious, their costs are often more difficult to articulate. Calling attention to the risks associated with our current biotech trajectory, LaFleur stakes out a highly original position that does not fall neatly onto either side of contemporary US ideological divides.
Plants provide the food, shelter, medicines, and biomass that underlie sustainable life. One of the earliest and often overlooked uses of plants is the production of smoke, dating to the time of early hominid species. Plant-derived smoke has had an enormous socio-economic impact throughout human history, being burned for medicinal and recreational purposes, magico-religious ceremonies, pest control, food preservation, and flavoring, perfumes, and incense. In ten illustrated chapters, this global compendium documents and describes approximately 2,000 global uses for over 1,400 plant species. The Uses and Abuses of Plant-Derived Smoke is accessibly written and provides a wealth of information not only on human uses, but also on conservation issues and the role of smoke, fire, and heat in promoting seed germination in biodiversity hot spots. Divided into nine main categories of use, the compendium lists plant-derived smoke's the medicinal, historical, ceremonial, ritual and recreational uses. Plant use in the production of incense and to preserve and flavor foods and beverages is also included. Each entry includes full binomial names and family, an identification of the person who named the plant, as well as numerous references to and other scholarly texts. Of particular interest will be plants such as Tobacco (Nicotiana tabaccum), Boswellia spp (frankincense), and Datura stramonium (smoked as a treatment for asthma all over the world), all of which are described in great detail. In addition, this is one of the first ethnobotanical books to include a section on plant conservation. It addresses issues of over-harvest and invasiveness, the two primary conservation concerns with human-exploited species. |
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