Genetic World

Alexandra Tashen is a brilliant student, adoring daughter, merry wit, and exuberant prankster. After a blissful childhood on a Texas ranch, she learns the truth: She is a refuse, an illegal refugee smuggled into the Allied Nations as an infant. Everyone from her birth region carries a harmless but detectable bit of viral DNA from a flu vaccine. If detected by the rapid genetic testing at security screens, Alex will be returned to the Federation and a likely death.

The fourth book in the best-selling The World Walker series. Does absolute power corrupt absolutely? Maybe Seb Varden is in a good position to find out. Depending on your point of view, he has either spent a few days, six months, or 17 years playing a potentially deadly game. At stake: the freedom of the alien who saved his life, the future of all intelligent species in the universe, and his sanity. Not only does Seb not fully understand the rules, but it's just possible the game itself is rigged.

Joni, the daughter of World Walker Seb Varden, has never met her father. And the world he left behind has become a dangerous place for the last generation of Manna users. Mee and John insist Seb will return, but what if they're wrong? Could it be possible she has none of Seb Varden's powers? Or might her abilities reveal themselves as she leaves childhood behind? In her 17th year, Joni will be forced to leave those she loves, face a great evil, and finally learn the truth about her father.

As the oft-repeated and invariably accurate pearl of wisdom goes, a dog truly is man's best friend. For a long time, people have almost universally loved dogs, and it seems to have been that way for at least tens of thousands of years. When affection is abundantly and consistently expressed, this pure, unspoken, wholesome love is one that is very much requited, and then some. This bond can be demonstrated by the mere existence of pet keepers who unironically refer to themselves as “dog parents,” not merely “dog owners”.

After more than a thousand years in flight, Starship is crashing towards a new home. At its helm, a corrupted machine with unknown goals and deadly tactics. Scrappy human leftovers cluster in the middle, making plans to run if they survive the landing. War between man and machine, they believe, is inevitable. Best get away from the biggest machine in existence. For Gamma, that machine, that ship is his home, and he won’t abandon it without a fight. First up on that score, finding his friends, his partner.

From the cup of coffee that jump-starts the day to dangerously addictive drugs, the recreational use of plants with psychoactive properties has a long history among humans. But, as with many things, it turns out that other animals got there first. From parrots to primates, consuming medicinal chemicals is an instinctive behavior that helps countless organisms fight infection and treat disease. But the similarities don't end there: Like us, many creatures also consume substances that have no apparent benefit...except for inducing intoxication.

Big History, the field that studies the entire known past of our universe to give context to human existence, has so far been the domain of historians. Geologist Walter Alvarez - best known for his Impact Theory explaining dinosaur extinction - makes a compelling case for a new, science-first approach to Big History.

This new book by Spencer Wells, the internationally known geneticist, anthropologist, author, and director of the Genographic Project, focuses on the seminal event in human history: mankind's decision to become farmers rather than hunter-gatherers.

"Mrs. T struggled mightily to maintain composure.... Her head felt an overinflated balloon.... She had struggled even harder to salvage a rescue mission.... To retrieve what's needed to keep America safe from the Techno-Plague, Middle East Terrorism, and the Guardian Party." Book two's action explodes from where book one ends, relentlessly terminating old enemies as fast as new ones emerge. Can Electra keep her "secret" hidden while allowing males to play her deadly games as her array of extraordinary skills deepens? You won't find out until the last line of the last chapter!

In Star Trek, crew members travel to unusual planets, meet diverse beings, and encounter unique civilizations. Throughout these remarkable space adventures, does Star Trek reflect biology and evolution as we know it? What can the science in the science fiction of Star Trek teach us? In Live Long and Evolve, biologist and die-hard Trekkie Mohamed Noor takes fans on a fun, fact-filled scientific journey. Noor offers Trekkies, science-fiction fans, and anyone curious about how life works a cosmic gateway into introductory biology.

Since the birth of civilization, human beings have manipulated other life-forms. We have selectively bred plants and animals for thousands of years to maximize agricultural production and cater to our tastes in pets. The observation of the creation of artificial animal and plant variants was a key stimulant for Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. The ability to directly engineer the genomes of organisms first became possible in the 1970s, when the gene for human insulin was introduced into bacteria.

Some dreams can’t be ignored. Over a month has passed since Karin Makos has settled on Chamak. Together with her sister and the rest of the crew from the Nemina, she is finally able to do something useful in this war - heal the Lost that the Shadows have taken. But time is not on their side, and more than the Shadow enemy lurks in the wings. Soon, Karin finds herself fighting for her life in the forests of Nova Earth, plagued by strange, vivid dreams of her past, and racing hard to prevent the catastrophe that threatens to swallow the planet.

Offering a bold new understanding of who we are, where we came from, and where we are going, noted ecologist Mark Bertness argues that human beings and their civilization are the products of the same self-organization, evolutionary adaptation, and natural selection processes that have created all other life on Earth. Bertness follows the evolutionary process from the primordial soup of two billion years ago through today, exploring the ways opposing forces of competition and cooperation have led to current assemblages of people, animals, and plants.

It is indisputable that human intelligence makes our species stand out from other lives on Earth. Our brains, much more than our muscles, explain our successes in development, as well as our sometimes devastating effects on the planet. Our modern brain is an evolutionary feat in development for over 520 million years and is the key to everything that makes us the entirety of humanity. But while the human brain is remarkable, what happens if people stop being intelligent?

Brady knew two things: It was the end of the world, and the Greens had won. 2084 was going to be an interesting year. All he needed to do was break out of jail first. Sattva Systems™ had transformed Nanotechnology and Fusion Power to avert the oncoming climate change catastrophe. Still, they were thwarted by the old industries at every turn. Leaving Bodhi Sattva - its charismatic owner, with no choice but to team up with the Green Revolutionaries to bring down the internet and capitalism. He would lead them into a new era with his one-hundred-year plan to save the planet.

It’s been a little over two years since Judas infected the world. Mankind was no match for a virus with a stronger will to survive. The sick wander aimlessly, with a hunger that is never satisfied. The only hope for humanity lies within the immune. A group of survivors set out to rebuild in spite of the apocalypse, but they are faced with the reality that man is the most dangerous threat when they are no rules.

Darwin developed the theory of sexual selection to explain why the animal world abounds in stunning beauty, from the brilliant colors of butterflies and fishes to the songs of birds and frogs. He argued that animals have "a taste for the beautiful" that drives their potential mates to evolve features that make them more sexually attractive and reproductively successful. But if Darwin explained why sexual beauty evolved in animals, he struggled to understand how.

In a twisted game of life and death, dominance and destruction, humanity and colonizers - outside survivors struggle to find footing and reclaim what they've lost. Mary soon discovers she is the key - but will she be able to use her deadly gifts to defeat those who have created her?

An end-of-times sci-fi thriller. The concluding novel in the Alt Truths duology. So, Richard and Sarah find themselves the unwitting "ingredients" in Perry’s latest attempts to create a melting pot of world happiness. But the boy isn’t the only savant, and when our hapless heroes discover an African war criminal is using a "super-savant" to impose his version of global order, it looks as if Utopia is going to have to wait.

In a near-future world dominated by The Directorate, a sinister regime, Alex and Mia find love amidst oppression. Alex, born with "Inferior Genes", possesses a secret that could change everything. Together, they join the underground resistance and uncover the regime's dark secrets. Their daring mission to expose The Directorate's tyranny takes them to the heart of its power. Betrayals and sacrifices test their love, but they emerge victorious, ushering in a new era where individuality and freedom reign.