Genetic Politic

In his new book The Strange Case of the Rickety Cossack, human paleoanthropologist Ian Tattersall argues that a long tradition of "human exceptionalism" in paleoanthropology has distorted the picture of human evolution. Drawing partly on his own career - from young scientist in awe of his elders to crotchety elder statesman - Tattersall offers an idiosyncratic look at the competitive world of paleoanthropology.

Survival of the fittest or survival of the nicest? Since the dawn of time man has contemplated the mystery of altruism, but it was Darwin who posed the question most starkly. From the selfless ant to the stinging bee to the man laying down his life for a stranger, evolution has yielded a goodness that in theory should never be. Set against the sweeping tale of 150 years of scientific attempts to explain kindness, The Price of Altruism tells for the first time the moving story of the eccentric American genius George Price (1922-1975), as he strives to answer evolution's greatest riddle.

This dynamic chronicle of the race to find the "missing links" between humans and apes transports readers into the highly competitive world of fossil hunting and into the lives of the ambitious scientists intent on pinpointing the dawn of humankind. The quest to find where and when the earliest human ancestors first appeared is one of the most exciting and challenging of all scientific pursuits.

Robert Ardrey guides the listener on a remarkable journey of discovery through 20 million years of man's prehistory: from the days when his ancestors first emerged from the forests of Africa during the benevolent warmth and rains of the Miocene, through the unremitting drought of the Pliocene and the dramatic climactic shifts of the Pleistocene, down to those few thousand years past when man emerged at last onto the stage of recorded history as a fully evolved hunting animal.

Without our domesticated plants and animals, human civilization as we know it would not exist. We would still be living at subsistence level as hunter-gatherers if not for domestication. It is no accident that the cradle of civilization - the Middle East - is where sheep, goats, pigs, cattle, and cats commenced their fatefully intimate associations with humans.

From paleontology, dinosaurs, and fossils to the fascinating and strange phenomena of life on Earth today, come the inspiration for this collection of Stephen Jay Gould's best essays. Fads to fungus, baseball to beeswax, Gould always circles back to the great themes of time, change, and history. Gould's inimitable style makes history and science accessible and relevant to all.

For generations, we've been taught that women and men differ in profound and important ways. Women are more sensitive and emotional, whereas men are more aggressive and sexual, because this or that region in the brains of women is smaller or larger than in men, or because they have more or less of this or that hormone. This story seems to provide us with a neat biological explanation for much of what we encounter in day-to-day life. But is it true? According to neuroscientist Daphna Joel, it's not.

In December 1929, in a cave near Peking, a group of anthropologists and archaeologists that included a young French Jesuit priest named Pierre Teilhard de Chardin uncovered a prehuman skull. The find quickly became known around the world as Peking Man and was acclaimed as the missing link between erect hunting apes and our Cro-Magnon ancestors. It also became a provocative piece of evidence in the roiling debate over creationism versus evolution.

How did humans, a species of self-centered apes, come to care about others? Since Darwin, scientists have tried to answer this question using evolutionary theory. In The Kindness of Strangers, psychologist Michael E. McCullough shows why they have failed and offers a new explanation instead. From the moment nomadic humans first settled down until the aftermath of the Second World War, our species has confronted repeated crises that we could only survive by changing our behavior.

Bill McKibben, examines the dangers inherent in an array of technologies that threaten not just our survival, but our identity. Imagine a future where lab workers can reprogram human embryos to make our children "smarter" or "more sociable" or "happier." Enough examines such possibilities, and explains how we can avoid their worst consequences while still enjoying the fruits of our new scientific understandings.

The United States is embarking on a medical revolution. Supporters of personalized, or precision, medicine—the tailoring of health care to our genomes—have promised to usher in a new era of miracle cures. Advocates of this gene-guided health-care practice foresee a future where skyrocketing costs can be curbed by customization and unjust disparities are vanquished by biomedical breakthroughs. Progress, however, has come slowly, and with a price too high for the average citizen.

A biography of J. B. S. Haldane, the brilliant and eccentric British scientist whose innovative predictions inspired Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.

Los genes no son los responsables de la desigualdad pero llevan impresas las marcas que ha dejado a lo largo de nuestra historia. La creciente desigualdad en el siglo XXI es un grave problema social y sus causas y consecuencias provocan debates y controversias que implican desde agentes sociales y políticos hasta economistas. En Desigualdad, Carles Lalueza-Fox ofrece una visión totalmente nueva de este tema al examinar las huellas genéticas dejadas por la desigualdad en los humanos a lo largo de su historia.

In the near future, an ambitious scientific experiment brings Abraham Lincoln back to life through his genetic clone, Abram Cocklin. "Clone of Liberty: A Journey to Presidential Destiny" by Frank Villavicencio intertwines historical legacy with futuristic innovation, exploring themes of leadership, ethics, and destiny. Abram, raised by Ethan and Lena Cocklin, carries the weight of his genetic heritage while navigating a world in political and social turmoil.

Sasquatch! Mothman! Nessie! The Jackalope! Many cryptids are famous, but which ones are real? Search beyond blurry photos and sketchy eye-witness accounts to examine physical evidence of cryptids that shows... how we know they are real.

Thomas stole a serum, trying to better his life. When someone steals it from him, it leaves him questioning the people who hired him. What is the serum? Did he just help them release a deadly virus? Rick was just a janitor. During the outbreak of a deadly virus, his wife speaks her mind and gets the two of them kidnapped. Now she's dead. Thomas and Rick separately search for answers. They join a group searching for the same thing as they are. The group knows who released the virus. Did this man do it? Or was it someone else? Why would someone intentionally release a deadly virus?

Thirty-year-old UNPOL officer Richard Warren has been embedded with the BBC, and not seeing eye-to-eye with journalist Sarah Dyer is just the start of his problems. News of an Ebola pandemic is being withheld, and when it’s discovered Sarah’s savant brother is involved, Richard’s determination to expose the truth takes an unexpected turn. But what if the truth must never be known?

As you read these words, planet Earth teems with trillions of life-forms, all going about their own business: eating, reproducing, thriving.... Yet the life of almost every single organism draws nearer to certain death. On the other hand, "suicide" inside the mitochondria that live within us results in the death of millions of cells each second for our own good! Why is death such a universal companion to life on Earth? Why haven't animals evolved to break free of its shackles?

Helena Greenwood, a doctor with a Ph.D. in chemical pathology, was working in biotechnology when she was the victim of sexual assault. She survived and was scheduled to testify against her attacker until she was found brutally murdered in her garden. Everyone believed the killer was her past attacker; but there was not enough evidence to convict him, until ten years later when a local District Attorney working the "cold cases" used Helena's own DNA research to finally bring her killer to justice.

After ancient Rome fell to the barbarian hordes and its light went out, 500 years of economic and cultural deterioration followed in Europe - The Dark Ages. In the 14th century, the most brutal pandemic to ravage mankind finally pulled this part of the world out of the darkness. The Black Death decimated over 60 percent of the population, creating an immediate surplus of goods and land, which catapulted Europe into a new age of the rebirth: The Renaissance.