"... Giant molecules are important in our everyday life. But, as pointed out by the authors, they are also associated with a culture. What Bach did with the harpsichord, Kuhn and Flory did with polymers. We owe a lot of thanks to those who now make this music accessible ..."Pierre-Gilles de Gennes Nobel Prize laureate in Physics (Foreword for the 1st Edition, March 1996)This book describes the basic facts, concepts and ideas of polymer physics in simple, yet scientifically accurate, terms. In both scientific and historic contexts, the book shows how the subject of polymers is fascinating, as it is behind most of the wonders of living cell machinery as well as most of the newly developed materials. No mathematics is used in the book beyond modest high school algebra and a bit of freshman calculus, yet very sophisticated concepts are introduced and explained, ranging from scaling and reptations to protein folding and evolution. The new edition includes an extended section on polymer preparation methods, discusses knots formed by molecular filaments, and presents new and updated materials on such contemporary topics as single molecule experiments with DNA or polymer properties of proteins and their roles in biological evolution.

1 V.O. Aseyev, H. Tenhu, F. Winnik: Temperature Dependence of the Colloidal Stability of Neutral Amphiphilic Polymers in Water.- 2 V.I. Lozinsky: Approaches to Chemical Synthesis of Protein-Like Copolymers.- 3 S.I. Kuchanov, A.R. Khokhlov: Role of Physical Factors in the Processes of Obtaining of Copolymers.- 4 A.Y. Grosberg, A.R. Khokhlov: After-Action of the Ideas of I.M. Lifshitz in Polymer and Biopolymer Physics.-

1 V.O. Aseyev, H. Tenhu, F. Winnik: Temperature Dependence of the Colloidal Stability of Neutral Amphiphilic Polymers in Water.- 2 V.I. Lozinsky: Approaches to Chemical Synthesis of Protein-Like Copolymers.- 3 S.I. Kuchanov, A.R. Khokhlov: Role of Physical Factors in the Processes of Obtaining of Copolymers.- 4 A.Y. Grosberg, A.R. Khokhlov: "After-Action" of the Ideas of O.M. Lifshitz in Polymer and Biopolymer Physics.-

The present volume includes most of the material of the invited lectures delivered at the NATO Advanced Study Institute "Morphogenesis through the interplay of nonlinear chemical instabilities and elastic active media" held from 2th to 14th July 2007 at the Institut d'Etudes Scientifiques de Cargese (http: //www.iesc.univ-corse.fr/), in Corsica (France). This traditional place to organize Summer Schools and Workshops in a well equipped secluded location at the border of the Mediterranean sea has, over many years now, earned an increasing deserved reputation. Non-linear dynamics of non equilibrium systems has worked its way into a great number of fields and plays a key role in the understanding of se- organization and emergence phenomena in domains as diverse as chemical reactors, laser physics, fluid dynamics, electronic devices and biological morphogenesis. In the latter case, the viscoelastic properties of tissues are also known to play a key role. The control and formulation of soft responsive or "smart" materials has been a fast growing field of material science, specially in the area of po- mer networks, due to their growing applications in bio-science, chemical sensors, intelligent microfluidic devices, ... . Nature is an important p- vider of active materials whether at the level of tissues or at that of s- cellular structures. As a consequence, the fundamental understanding of the physical mechanisms at play in responsive materials also shines light in the understanding of biological artefacts."

This text presents an introduction to the field of statistical physics of macromolecules, from the basic concepts to modern achievements. Applications in various fields of polymer physical chemistry and molecular biophysics are also covered, as are: the fundamentals of statistical theory of polymer solutions and melts; classical, sealing and renormalization group approaches; the main ideas of statistical theories of polymer liquid crystals, polymer networks and polyelectrolytes; dynamic viscoelastic behavior of polymer systems; models of house, Zimm and reptation concepts; and specific features of main biopolymers - DNA and proteins. This English edition also includes sections describing the most important recent advances such as: statistical theory of DNA gel-electrophoresis, polymers at interfaces, and dynamics of concentrated solutions of rigid polymers.

The present volume includes most of the material of the invited lectures delivered at the NATO Advanced Study Institute "Morphogenesis through the interplay of nonlinear chemical instabilities and elastic active media" held from 2th to 14th July 2007 at the Institut d'Etudes Scientifiques de Cargese (http: //www.iesc.univ-corse.fr/), in Corsica (France). This traditional place to organize Summer Schools and Workshops in a well equipped secluded location at the border of the Mediterranean sea has, over many years now, earned an increasing deserved reputation. Non-linear dynamics of non equilibrium systems has worked its way into a great number of fields and plays a key role in the understanding of se- organization and emergence phenomena in domains as diverse as chemical reactors, laser physics, fluid dynamics, electronic devices and biological morphogenesis. In the latter case, the viscoelastic properties of tissues are also known to play a key role. The control and formulation of soft responsive or "smart" materials has been a fast growing field of material science, specially in the area of po- mer networks, due to their growing applications in bio-science, chemical sensors, intelligent microfluidic devices, ... . Nature is an important p- vider of active materials whether at the level of tissues or at that of s- cellular structures. As a consequence, the fundamental understanding of the physical mechanisms at play in responsive materials also shines light in the understanding of biological artefacts."