Breathing Life into Biology PDF Download

Author: John Stewart
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1527534685
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 243

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Book Description
This book shows that contemporary biology is focused almost exclusively on genes and molecules. This approach, despite giving rise to exciting developments, such as DNA sequencing and genetic engineering, does not take into account the living organisms themselves. This text redresses this imbalance: firstly, by providing a sketch of a fully-fledged theory of what living organisms are; and then putting this theory to work by recounting the story of the evolution of living organisms on Earth.

Author: Claude A. Piantadosi
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199748071
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
The range of environments in which people can survive is extensive, yet most of the natural world cannot support human life. The Biology of Human Survival identifies the key determinants of life or death in extreme environments from a physiologist's perspective, integrating modern concepts of stress, tolerance, and adaptation into explanations of life under Nature's most austere conditions. The book examines how individuals survive when faced with extremes of immersion, heat, cold or altitude, emphasizing the body's recognition of stress and the brain's role in optimizing physiological function in order to provide time to escape or to adapt. In illustrating how human biology adapts to extremes, the book also explains how we learn to cope by blending behavior and biology, first by trial and error, then by rigorous scientific observation, and finally by technological innovation. The book describes life-support technology and how it enables humans to enter once unendurable realm, from the depths of the ocean to the upper reaches of the atmosphere and beyond. Finally, it explores the role that advanced technology might play in special environments of the future, such as long journeys into space.

Author: Fredrick Galbiso
Publisher: Independently Published
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 58

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Book Description
The book provides the reader with a basic understanding of different divisions of biology and explains each of these divisions in a simplistic manner. Here's what this book contains: - What exactly does the study of biology include - How can biology help us understand our past - Which branches of biology is relevant to our present - What implications biology has on our future - Delve into the world of genetics - Understand the how and why of human evolution - Know the men and women who have spearheaded breakthroughs in biology

Author: Edward Regis
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0195383419
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
This book provides an introduction to the work of the scientists who were attempting literally to create life from scratch, starting with molecular components that they hope to assemble into the world's first synthetic living cell. The book also examines how scientists have unlocked the "three secrets of life," describes the key role played by ATP ("the ultimate driving force of all life"), and outlines the many attempts to explain how life first arose on earth, a puzzle that has given birth to a wide range of theories.

Author: Pier Luigi Luisi
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316571661
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 479

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Book Description
Addressing the emergence of life from a systems biology perspective, this new edition has undergone extensive revision, reflecting changes in scientific understanding and evolution of thought on the question 'what is life?'. With an emphasis on the philosophical aspects of science, including the epistemic features of modern synthetic biology, and also providing an updated view of the autopoiesis/cognition theory, the book gives an exhaustive treatment of the biophysical properties of vesicles, seen as the beginning of the 'road map' to the minimal cell - a road map which will develop into the question of whether and to what extent synthetic biology will be capable of making minimal life in the laboratory. Fully illustrated, accessibly written, directly challenging the reader with provocative questions, offering suggestions for research proposals, and including dialogues with contemporary authors such as Humberto Maturana, Albert Eschenmoser and Harold Morowitz, this is an ideal resource for researchers and students across fields including bioengineering, evolutionary biology, molecular biology, chemistry and chemical engineering.

Author: Matt
Publisher:
ISBN: 9783384254245
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description

Author: Steven F. Perry
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199238464
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
Oxygen uptake for metabolic energy demand and the elimination of the resulting carbon dioxide is one of the essential processes in all higher life forms; in the case of animals, everything from protozoans to insects and vertebrates including humans.� Respiratory Biology of Animals provides a contemporary and truly integrative approach to the topic, adopting a strong evolutionary theme. It covers aerobic metabolism at all levels, from gas exchange organs such as skin, gills, and lungs to mitochondria - the site of cellular respiration. The book also describes the functional morphology and physiology of the circulatory system, which often contains gas-carrying pigments and is important for pH regulation in the organism. A final section describes the evolution of animal respiratory systems. Throughout the book, examples are selected from the entire breadth of the animal kingdom, identifying common themes that transcend taxonomy. Respiratory Biology of Animals is an accessible supplementary text suitable for both senior undergraduate and graduate students taking courses in respiratory biology, comparative animal physiology, and environmental physiology. It is also of relevance and use to the many professional academics requiring a concise but authoritative overview of the topic.

Author: Denis Noble
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191578800
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 169

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Book Description
What is Life? Decades of research have resulted in the full mapping of the human genome - three billion pairs of code whose functions are only now being understood. The gene's eye view of life, advocated by evolutionary biology, sees living bodies as mere vehicles for the replication of the genetic codes. But for a physiologist, working with the living organism, the view is a very different one. Denis Noble is a world renowned physiologist, and sets out an alternative view to the question - one that becomes deeply significant in terms of the living, breathing organism. The genome is not life itself. Noble argues that far from genes building organisms, they should be seen as prisoners of the organism. The view of life presented in this little, modern, post-genome project reflection on the nature of life, is that of the systems biologist: to understand what life is, we must view it at a variety of different levels, all interacting with each other in a complex web. It is that emergent web, full of feedback between levels, from the gene to the wider environment, that is life. It is a kind of music. Including stories from Noble's own research experience, his work on the heartbeat, musical metaphors, and elements of linguistics and Chinese culture, this very personal and at times deeply lyrical book sets out the systems biology view of life.

Author: Daniel D. Chiras
Publisher: Jones & Bartlett Learning
ISBN: 1284166155
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 640

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Book Description
Dan Chiras once again offers a refreshing and student-friendly introduction to the structure, function, health, and homeostasis of the human body in a modernized ninth edition of Human Biology. This acclaimed text explores life from a variety of levels and perspectives, including cellular/molecular, by body system, through disease, and within the environment.

Author: Andrés Moya
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 331916970X
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 100

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Book Description
This book explores the exciting world of theoretical biology and is divided into three sections. The first section examines the roles played by renowned scientists such as Jacob, Monod, Rosen, Turing, von Bertalanffy, Waddington and Woodger in developing the field of theoretical biology. The second section, aided with numerous examples, supports the idea that logic and computing are suitable formal languages to describe and understand biological phenomena. The third and final section is, without doubt, the most intellectually challenging and endeavors to show the possible paths we could take to compute a cell - the basic unit of life - or the conditions required for a predictive theory of biological evolution; ultimately, a theory of life in the light of modern Systems Biology. The work aims to show that modern biology is closer than ever to making Goethe's dream come true and that we have reached a point where synthetic and analytical traditions converge to shed light on the living being as a whole.