0
Your cart

Your cart is empty

Books > Science & Mathematics > Biology, life sciences > Developmental biology

Buy Now

Learning From the Octopus - How Secrets from Nature Can Help Us Fight Terrorist Attacks, Natural Disasters, and Disease (Hardcover) Loot Price: R1,093
Discovery Miles 10 930
Learning From the Octopus - How Secrets from Nature Can Help Us Fight Terrorist Attacks, Natural Disasters, and Disease...

Learning From the Octopus - How Secrets from Nature Can Help Us Fight Terrorist Attacks, Natural Disasters, and Disease (Hardcover)

Rafe Sagarin

 (sign in to rate)
Loot Price R1,093 Discovery Miles 10 930 | Repayment Terms: R102 pm x 12*

Bookmark and Share

Expected to ship within 18 - 22 working days

Despite the billions of dollars we've poured into foreign wars, homeland security, and disaster response, we are fundamentally no better prepared for the next terrorist attack or unprecedented flood than we were in 2001. Our response to catastrophe remains unchanged: add another step to airport security, another meter to the levee wall. This approach has proved totally ineffective: reacting to past threats and trying to predict future risks will only waste resources in our increasingly unpredictable world. In Learning from the Octopus , ecologist and security expert Rafe Sagarin rethinks the seemingly intractable problem of security by drawing inspiration from a surprising source: nature. Biological organisms have been living- and thriving- on a risk-filled planet for billions of years. Remarkably, they have done it without planning, predicting, or trying to perfect their responses to complex threats. Rather, they simply adapt to solve the challenges they continually face. Military leaders, public health officials, and business professionals would all like to be more adaptable, but few have figured out how. Sagarinargues that we can learn from observing how nature is organized, how organisms learn, how they create partnerships, and how life continually diversifies on this unpredictable planet. As soon as we dip our toes into a cold Pacific tidepool and watch what we thought was a rock turn into an octopus, jetting away in a cloud of ink, we can begin to see the how human adaptability can mimic natural adaptation. The same mechanisms that enabled the octopus's escape also allow our immune system to ward off new infectious diseases, helped soldiers in Iraq to recognize the threat of IEDs, and aided Google in developing faster ways to detect flu outbreaks. While we will never be able to predict the next earthquake, terrorist attack, or market fluctuation, nature can guide us in developing security systems that are not purely reactive but proactive, holistic, and adaptable. From the tidepools of Monterey to the mountains of Kazakhstan, Sagarin takes us on an eye-opening tour of the security challenges we face, and shows us how we might learn to respond more effectively to the unknown threats lurking in our future.

General

Imprint: BasicBooks
Country of origin: United States
Release date: March 2012
First published: March 2012
Authors: Rafe Sagarin
Dimensions: 165 x 242 x 24mm (L x W x T)
Format: Hardcover - Cloth over boards
Pages: 320
ISBN-13: 978-0-465-02183-3
Categories: Books > Science & Mathematics > Biology, life sciences > Developmental biology
Books > Science & Mathematics > Biology, life sciences > Life sciences: general issues > Ecological science, the Biosphere
Books > Science & Mathematics > Biology, life sciences > Life sciences: general issues > Evolution
Promotions
LSN: 0-465-02183-2
Barcode: 9780465021833

Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate? Let us know about it.

Does this product have an incorrect or missing image? Send us a new image.

Is this product missing categories? Add more categories.

Review This Product

No reviews yet - be the first to create one!

You might also like..

Signal Transduction in Cancer and…
Lorenzo Galluzzi, Thomas S. Postler Hardcover R5,782 Discovery Miles 57 820
Immunopathology of Celiac Disease…
Lorenzo Galluzzi Hardcover R5,120 Discovery Miles 51 200
Advances in Genetics, Volume 107
Dhavendra Kumar Hardcover R3,723 Discovery Miles 37 230
Systems Medicine - Integrative…
Olaf Wolkenhauer Hardcover R32,235 Discovery Miles 322 350
Biology of T Cells - Part A, Volume 341
Lorenzo Galluzzi, Nils-Petter Rudqvist Hardcover R5,128 Discovery Miles 51 280
Microfluidics in Cell Biology: Part A…
Matthieu Piel, Daniel Fletcher, … Hardcover R4,343 Discovery Miles 43 430
International Review of Cell and…
Lorenzo Galluzzi Hardcover R5,125 Discovery Miles 51 250
G Protein-Coupled Receptors: Emerging…
Arun K. Shukla Hardcover R5,103 Discovery Miles 51 030
Fly Models of Human Diseases, Volume 121
Leslie Pick Hardcover R4,834 Discovery Miles 48 340
Human Growth and Development
Noel Cameron, Lawrence Schell Hardcover R2,447 Discovery Miles 24 470
Current Topics in Developmental Biology…
Gerald P. Schatten Hardcover R5,151 Discovery Miles 51 510
Current Topics in Developmental Biology…
Gerald P. Schatten Hardcover R4,510 Discovery Miles 45 100

See more

Partners