This thematic collection focuses on key parasites and their vectors in Southeast Asia. Up-to-date essays invite readers to discover parasite and vector morphology, genetic diversity as well as dynamic parasite communities linked to human land-use and climate change. The authors shed light on transmission pathways and explore tick-borne diseases, intestinal protozoa, cestodes, nematodes and the multiplicity of cryptic trematode species. Particular attention is given to mosquito vectors in changing environments and the dynamic biodiversity of vertebrate hosts, including mammals, birds and fish. The richly illustrated chapters are completed by new approaches in diagnostic methods, treatment and prevention to protect humans and animals from tropical parasite infections. Not only parasitologists and experts in tropical medicine but also public health officials and travelers will find this volume highly informative.

Providing an appealing chronology of "all things dinosaur," this book covers these ancient creatures' roles and surprising importance in science, religion, and society at large. This exhaustive, up-to-date book contains more than 2,000 entries about dinosaurs and dinosaur-related topics. It provides not only detailed information about their discovery, underlying science, and recent technologies and theories but also encompasses all of the facets of dinosaurs in society-for example, their use in consumer marketing and promotion, popularization of dinosaurs in the media, as "proof" for both evolutionists and creationists to substantiate their claims about life's origins, and as cultural artifacts. Organized chronologically, the book offers an informative and entertaining timeline of how dinosaurs have appeared in science, religion, and society since they were discovered in the 1800s, covering everything from dinosaur museum displays to how dinosaurs served advocates of young-Earth creationism. This fascinating work enables a broad appreciation for the surprising significance of dinosaurs in many aspects of our daily lives and modern society. Depicts the history, breadth, depth, and diversity of how humans have learned about, argued over, and made use of dinosaurs-a resource appropriate for public, school, or academic libraries Examines the events of the earliest discoveries of fossilized remains of dinosaurs and how those discoveries often became interwoven with religious ideas Includes photographs, a glossary, an appendix of geological time, and a detailed, cross-referenced index to assist researchers and general readers

Receptors in the Evolution and Development of the Brain: Matter into Mind presents the key role of receptors and their cognate ligands in wiring the mammalian brain from an evolutionary developmental biology perspective. It examines receptor function in the evolution and development of the nervous system in the large vertebrate brain, and discusses rapid eye movement sleep and apoptosis as mechanisms to destroy miswired neurons. Possible links between trophic deficits and connectional diseases including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and ALS are also discussed. This book is extremely useful to those with an interest in the molecular and cellular neurosciences, including those in cognitive and clinical branches of this subject, and anyone interested in how the incredibly complex human brain can build itself.

In this, the first of two ground-breaking volumes on the nature of language in the light of the way it evolved, James Hurford looks at how the world first came to have a meaning in the minds of animals and how in humans this meaning eventually came to be expressed as language. He reviews a mass of evidence to show how close some animals, especially primates and more especially apes, are to the brink of human language. Apes may not talk to us but they construct rich cognitive representations of the world around them, and here, he shows, are the evolutionary seeds of abstract thought - the means of referring to objects, the memory of events, even elements of the propositional thinking philosophers have hitherto reserved for humans. What then, he asks, is the evolutionary path between the non-speaking minds of apes and our own speaking minds? Why don't apes communicate the richness of their thoughts to each other? Why do humans alone have a unique disposition to reveal their thoughts in complex detail? Professor Hurford searches a wide range of evidence for the answers to these central questions, including degrees of trust, the role of hormones, the ability to read minds, and the willingness to cooperate.
Expressing himself congenially in consistently colloquial language the author builds up a vivid picture of how mind, language, and meaning evolved over millions of years. His book is a landmark contribution to the understanding of linguistic and thinking processes, and the fullest account yet published of the evolution of language and communication.
"A wonderful read - lucid, informative, and entertaining, while at the same time never talking down to the reader by sacrificingargumentation for the sake of 'simplicity'. Likely to be heralded as the major publication dealing with language evolution to date. Frederick J. Newmeyer, University of Washington