This textbook introduces biology as an interdisciplinary science, linking physics and chemistry to biological processes that operate within the laws of thermodynamics. Based on an evolutionary narrative, the focus is on the molecular composition and the biochemistry of cells. By grounding biology in its molecular foundations, this approach reveals unifying principles underlying life's diversity and provides a conceptual framework for biological complexity. Core concepts include macromolecu...

In the natural sciences today, research and teaching are often carried out on the assumption of evolution.The evolution theory is at present one of the main basic concepts of the scientific community. However, there are at least 75 scientific arguments that invalidate the evolution theory. 95 Theses Against Evolution makes it clear that alternative concepts are necessary, such as ID (intelligent design). This book shows that ID is much more credible than evolution.Though unresolved questio...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The legendary biologist and bestselling author mounts a timely and passionate defense of science and clear thinking with this career-spanning collection of essays, including twenty pieces published in the United States for the first time.For decades, Richard Dawkins has been a brilliant scientific communicator, consistently illuminating the wonders of nature and attacking faulty logic. Science in the Soul brings togethe...

**A FINALIST FOR THE PULITZER PRIZENAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, SMITHSONIAN, AND WALL STREET JOURNALA major reimagining of how evolutionary forces work, revealing how mating preferences—what Darwin termed "the taste for the beautiful"—create the extraordinary range of ornament in the animal world.**In the great halls of science, dogma holds that Darwin's theory of natural selection explains every branch ...

Darwin's theory of evolution was for more than a century dogged by a major problem: the evidence proving the connections between the main groups of organisms was nowhere to be found.By the 1970s this absence of 'transitional fossils' was hotly debated; some palaeontologists wondered if these 'missing links' had been so quick that no trace of them was left. However, during the past three decades fossils of walking whales from Pakistan, feathered dinosaurs from China, fish with feet f...

This "excellent guide to the history of our planet" offers a bugs-eye view of evolution, biodiversity, and todays ecological crises ( The Guardian, UK).According to entomologist Scott Richard Shaw, dinosaurs never ruled the earth—and neither do humans. The true potentates of our planet are, and always have been, insects. Starting in the shallow oceans of ancient Earth and ending in the far reaches of outer space—where insect-like aliens may also reign—

Eminent historian Paul Johnson provides a rich, succinct portrait of Charles DarwinCharles Darwin is arguably the most influential scientist of all time. His Origin of Species forever changed our concept of the world’s creation.Darwin’s revolutionary career is the perfect vehicle for historian Paul Johnson. Marked by the insightful observation, spectacular wit, and highly readable prose for which Johnson is so well regarded, Darwin brings the gentl...

Everybody wants it. But what exactly is happiness? The pursuit of happiness has been recognized by everyone from poets to politicians as what makes the world go round. The world's largest and fastest-growing industries - alcohol, pharmaceuticals, mind altering drugs, self-help books, counselling, travel and tourism - all profit heavily from our intent to become completely happy with our lives. In the first comprehensive book to address this most basic of human desires, Daniel Nettle explor...

MIT engineering professor Evan Blake has discovered a strange object in London. It looks like a vinyl LP record, yet plays a seemingly unlimited amount of jazz, which appeals to Evan as a jazz musician. The previous owner, cellist and composer Nigel Thompson, had heard classical music coming from the same disc. Evan examines the device and finds highly advanced nanotechnology at work. He concludes it must be of extraterrestrial origin, designed to resemble an object familiar to humans, and...

An in-depth look at the origin and evolutionary radiation of the synapsids.About 320 million years ago a group of reptiles known as the synapsids emerged and forever changed Earth's ecological landscapes. This book discusses the origin and radiation of the synapsids from their sail-backed pelycosaur ancestor to their diverse descendants, the therapsids or mammal-like reptiles, that eventually gave rise to mammals. It further showcases the remarkable evolutionary his...

The Earth that sustains us today was born out of a few remarkable, near-catastrophic revolutions, started by biological innovations and marked by global environmental consequences. The revolutions have certain features in common, such as an increase in complexity, energy utilization, and information processing by life. This book describes these revolutions, showing the fundamental interdependence of the evolution of life and its non-living environment. We would not exist unless these uphea...

The Artful Species explores the idea that our aesthetic responses and art behaviors are connected to our evolved human nature. Our humanoid forerunners displayed aesthetic sensibilities hundreds of thousands of years ago and the art standing of prehistoric cave paintings is virtually uncontested. In Part One, Stephen Davies analyses the key concepts of the aesthetic, art, and evolution, and explores how they might be related. He considers a range of issues, including whether anima...