"The Mean Genes message is optimistic . . . a self-help book for the merely average human being." (The Washington Post Book World)
"An unusual cross between a social Darwinist monograph and a self-help manual." (The New Yorker)
Why do we want-and do-so many things that are bad for us? In Mean Genes Terry Burnham and Jay Phelan argue that we need to stop looking to Sigmund Freud for answers and start looking to Charles Darwin. Mean Genes reveals that our struggles for self-improvement are, in fact, battles against our own genes-genes that helped our distant ancestors flourish, but are selfish and out of place in the modern world. Using this evolutionary lens, Mean Genes brilliantly examines the issues that most affect our lives-body image, money, addiction, violence, and relationships, friendship, love, and fidelity-and offers steps to help us lead more satisfying lives.
By the nationally best-selling author of The Seven Daughters of Eve, Adam's Curse investigates the ultimate evolutionary crisis: a man-free future. How is it possible that the Y chromosome, which separated the sexes and allowed humans to rise to the apex of the animal kingdom, also threatens to destroy sexual reproduction altogether? Bryan Sykes confronts recent advances in evolutionary theory to find the answers to the questions that inexorably follow: Is there a genetic cause for men's greed, aggression, and promiscuity? Could a male homosexual gene possibly exist? A must read for anyone interested in popular science, family genealogy, and today's infertility crisis, Adam's Curse provokes a shocking debate on the nature of sexual reproduction
Imagine being able to consume 250,000 calories daily without gaining weight. If you had the metabolism of a shrew you could. And while most of us can't hold our breath for more than a few minutes, the Weddell seal can remain underwater for a full 75 minutes! Learn how humans and other creatures have evolved to gauge their need for food, water and oxygen; regulate body temperature and respond to stressful situations.
One of the major strains on our environment is population growth, and the need for more and more people to be provided for. Listen as Paul Ehrlich, author of the 1968 classic, The Population Bomb, talks about what has gotten better, what is worse, and what to do now.
Are you in charge of your love life?
If you think so, you're wrong -- hormones control our sex drives and direct our love lives. In The Alchemy of Love and Lust, Dr. Theresa Crenshaw, a renowned sex therapist and researcher, unmasks the hidden agendas of our hormones as we progress through different sexual stages -- from adolescence through old age.
Along with well-known hormones, Dr. Crenshaw introduces lesser known but potent influences that make up our "sex soup." The effects of these chemicals working together and individually offer insight into some compelling issues:
Do people become addicted to one another through scent and touch?
Can we determine our romantic destinies by altering our hormonal profiles?
Romantics needn't worry that science will eliminate the mystery of attraction. To the contrary, this program helps us discover romance, rekindle it, and keep it alive. Filled with often surprising information, The Alchemy of Love and Lust explains the effects of our sex hormones and gives us specific, practical suggestions on how to monitor them.
From the scientists who did the original research as published by The National Academy of Science and the New York Academy of Sciences, the authoratative explanation of what their revolutionary discovery means for us today and in the future-- along with the doctors' easy-to-follow instructions on how to make the miracle work for you.
What scientists are saying about melatonin: Melatonin naturally exists in our bodies and is perfectly safe; A small dose of melatonin at bedtime is all it takes; By boosing our melatonin back to the level of our youth, we can actually trick the body into thinking--and behaving-- as though we are still young.
Ongoing research across the globe suggests far-ranging health benefits: A natural nonaddictive sleeping agent that guarantees a good night's sleep; Strengthens the immune system and thereby helps strengthen the body's resistance to cancer and other diseases; Prolongs sexual vitality; Lowers blood pressure and normalizes cholesterol; Eases stress.
In 1859, Charles Darwin published a vastly important work: On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. For centuries, man had been seen as a created species, distinct from any other animal. Then, Darwin persuasively argued that mankind and other species are descended from common ancestors. His theory of "natural selection," also known as "survival of the fittest," explains how life evolved through natural processes. By the 1950s, most scientists accepted the theory. However, it upset many who believed that life was created by a supernatural God'a debate which is perpetuated today. The Science and Discovery series recreates one of history's most successful journeys'four thousand years of scientific efforts to better understand and control the physical world. Science has often challenged and upset conventional wisdom or accepted practices; this is a story of vested interests and independent thinkers, experiments and theories, change and progress. Aristotle, Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Newton, Darwin, Einstein, and many others are featured.
Modern chemistry emerged from the historical traditions of metalworking (beginning as early as the Bronze Age in 3500 BC); medicine (especially 'iatrochemistry', which emerged in the Renaissance); and alchemy (the medieval and mystical forerunner of chemistry). Alchemy was based on the Aristotelian concept of elements (earth, air, water, and fire) and Platonic ideas about pure 'essences' (i.e. ideal forms). The modern idea of a chemical element began to emerge in Robert Boyle's The Sceptical Chymist (1661). Boyle established a systematic approach to a vast subject in which detail frequently obscured basic principles. The 18th century theory of 'phlogiston' appeared to explain combustion and respiration as giving off an 'inflammable' substance. In 1774 Joseph Priestly discovered 'dephlogisticated air' (later called oxygen). In Paris, Antoine Lavoisier recognized the real significance of this discovery, and used it to revolutionize chemistry through his 1789 work Traite elementaire de chimie. A chemical theory of atoms emerged in the early 19th century, and 31 new elements were discovered between 1790 and 1830. Dmitry Mendeleyev laid out the periodic table in 1869. Chemistry was ushered into the 20th century by organic chemistry, valence theory, and the electron theory of chemical bonding. Chemistry and physics would now be linked in an alliance that has had dramatic consequences for scientific progress and the modern standard of living.
In The Lives of a Cell, Dr. Thomas opens up to the listener a universe of knowledge and perception that is perhaps not wholly unfamiliar to the research scientist; but the world he explores is one of men and women too, a world of complex interrelationships, old ironies, peculiar powers, and intricate languages that give identity to the alienated, direction to the dependent. The Lives of a Cell offers a subtle, bold vision of humankind and the world around us-a sense of what gives life-from a writer who seems to draw grace and strength from the very substance of his subject, a man of wit and imagination who takes pleasure in and gives meaning to nearly everything he beholds.
