Biology & Chemistry Audiobooks | Science & Technology

For two years the COVID-19 pandemic has upended the world. The physician and medical historian Jacalyn Duffin presents a global history of the virus, with a focus on Canada. Duffin describes the frightening appearance of the virus and its identification by scientists in China; subsequent outbreaks on cruise ships; the relentless spread to Europe, the Americas, Africa, and elsewhere; and the immediate attempts to confront it. COVID-19 next explores the scientific history of infections generally, and the discovery of coronaviruses in particular. Taking a broad approach, the book explains the advent of tests, treatments, and vaccines, as well as the practical politics behind interventions, including quarantines, barrier technologies, lockdowns, and social and financial supports. In concluding chapters Duffin analyzes the outcome of successive waves of COVID-19 infection around the world: the toll of human suffering, the successes and failures of control measures, vaccine rollouts, and grassroots opposition to governments’ attempts to limit the spread and mitigate social and economic damages. Closing with the fraught search for the origins of COVID-19, Duffin considers the implications of an “infodemic” and provides an cautionary outlook for the future.

Jacalyn Duffin (Author), Jacalyn Duffin (Narrator)

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A Slacker's Guide to Genetics: A Beginner's Guide to Genetics

This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice. Discover the fascinating world of genetics in this comprehensive and engaging guide, which delves into the very core of life itself. From the simplest organisms to the complexities of the human body, this book unravels the mysteries of heredity, molecular biology, and evolution, providing readers with a deeper understanding of the intricate workings of life. Written in a friendly and conversational tone, this guide is designed to be accessible to readers of all backgrounds, from curious novices to seasoned enthusiasts. Subtle humor is sprinkled throughout, making the learning experience both enjoyable and informative. Each chapter is meticulously crafted to build upon the previous one, ensuring a coherent and captivating journey through the world of genetics. In this book, you will explore the history of genetic research, from Mendel's groundbreaking work with pea plants to the awe-inspiring advances in biotechnology and genome editing. Along the way, you will encounter the renowned scientists who have shaped our understanding of genetics, and gain insights into the ethical considerations that accompany the ever-evolving field. You will also discover key terms and concepts that will help you navigate the complex world of genetics, as well as additional resources to further your understanding and satisfy your curiosity. This book will inspire you to delve deeper into the subject, spark your imagination, and fuel your passion for genetics. Embark on an extraordinary journey through the microscopic world that lies at the heart of every living organism, and unlock the secrets that govern the blueprint of life. This book will leave you with a newfound appreciation for the incredible science of genetics and the wonders of the natural world.

William Webb (Author), Digital Voice Mike G (Narrator)

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The Huxleys: An Intimate History of Evolution

This momentous biography tells the story of the Huxleys: the Victorian natural historian T. H. Huxley ('Darwin's Bulldog') and his grandson, the scientist, conservationist, and zoologist Julian Huxley. Between them, they communicated to the world the great modern story of the theory of evolution by natural selection. In The Huxleys, celebrated historian Alison Bashford writes about these omnivorous intellects together, almost as if they were a single man whose long, vital life bookended the colossal shifts in world history from the age of sail to the Space Age, and from colonial wars to world wars to the cold war. The Huxleys' specialty was evolution in all its forms-at the grandest level of species, deep time, the Earth, and at the most personal and intimate. They illuminated the problems and wonders of the modern world and they fundamentally shaped how we see ourselves. But perhaps their greatest subject was themselves. Bashford's engaging, brilliantly ambitious book interweaves the Huxleys' momentous public achievements with their private triumphs and tragedies. The result is the history of a family, but also a history of humanity grappling with its place in nature. This book shows how much we owe-for better or worse-to the unceasing curiosity, self-absorption, and enthusiasms of a small, strange group of men and women.

Alison Bashford (Author), Jennifer M. Dixon (Narrator)

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Curious Minds: The Power of Connection

Curious about something? Google it. Look at it. But is curiosity simply information seeking? According to this exhilarating, genre-bending book, what's left out of the conventional understanding of curiosity are the wandering tracks, the weaving concepts, the knitting of ideas, and the thatching of knowledge systems-the networks, the relations between ideas and between people. Curiosity, say Perry Zurn and Dani Bassett, is a practice of connection: it connects ideas into networks of knowledge, and it connects knowers themselves, both to the knowledge they seek and to each other. Zurn and Bassett-identical twins who write that their book 'represents the thought of one mind and two bodies'-harness their respective expertise in the humanities and the sciences to get irrepressibly curious about curiosity. They identify three styles of curiosity-the busybody, who collects stories, creating loose knowledge networks; the hunter, who hunts down secrets or discoveries, creating tight networks; and the dancer, who takes leaps of creative imagination, creating loopy ones. Investigating what happens in a curious brain, they offer an accessible account of the network neuroscience of curiosity. The book performs the very curiosity that it describes, inviting listeners to participate-to be curious with the book and not simply about it.

Dani S. Bassett, Perry Zurn (Author), Daniel Henning (Narrator)

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Eight Little Piggies: Reflections in Natural History

Among scientists who write, no one illuminates as well as Stephen Jay Gould does the wonderful workings of the natural world. Now in a new volume of collected essays-his sixth since Ever Since Darwin-Gould speaks of the importance of unbroken connections within our own lives and to our ancestral generations. Along with way, he opens to us the mysteries of fish tails, frog calls, and other matters, and shows once and for all why we must take notice when a seemingly insignificant creature is threatened, like the land snail Partula from Moorea, whose extinction he movingly relates.

Stephen Jay Gould (Author), Jonathan Sleep (Narrator)

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Curious Species: How Animals Made Natural History

Can corals build worlds? Do rattlesnakes enchant? What is a raccoon, and what might it know? Animals and the questions they raised thwarted human efforts to master nature during the so-called Enlightenment-a historical moment when rigid classification pervaded the study of natural history, people traded in people, and imperial avarice wrapped its tentacles around the globe. Whitney Barlow Robles makes animals the unruly protagonists of eighteenth-century science through journeys to four spaces and ecological zones: the ocean, the underground, the curiosity cabinet, and the field. Her forays reveal a forgotten lineage of empirical inquiry, one that forced researchers to embrace uncertainty. This tumultuous era in the history of human-animal encounters still haunts modern biologists and ecologists as they who struggle to fathom animals today. In an eclectic fusion of history and nature writing, Robles alternates between careful historical investigations and probing personal narratives. These excavations of the past and present of distinct nonhuman creatures reveal the animal foundations of human knowledge and show why tackling our current environmental crisis first requires looking back in time.

Whitney Barlow Robles (Author), Daniela Acitelli (Narrator)

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How Life Works: A User’s Guide to the New Biology

A cutting-edge new vision of biology that will revise our concept of what life itself is, how to enhance it, and what possibilities it offers - from Science Book Prize winner and former Nature editor Philip Ball. Biology is undergoing a quiet but profound transformation. Several aspects of the standard picture of how life works have been exposed as incomplete, misleading, or wrong. In How Life Works, Philip Ball explores the new biology, revealing life to be a far richer, more ingenious affair than we had guessed. With this knowledge come new possibilities. Today we can redesign and reconfigure living systems, tissues, and organisms. We can reprogram cells, for instance, to carry out new tasks and grow into structures not seen in the natural world. Some researchers believe that ultimately we will be able to regenerate limbs and organs, and perhaps even create new life forms that evolution has never imagined. Incorporating the latest research and insights, How Life Works is a sweeping journey into this new frontier of the nature of life, a realm that will reshape our understanding of life as we know it.

Philip Ball (Author), Philip Ball, TBD (Narrator)

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Secret Life of the City: How Nature Thrives in the Urban Wild

Come along on an informative, whirlwind tour of urban species and discover that you are surrounded by wild nature, even in your own backyard. When biologist Hanna Bjørgaas spots a fairy cup lichen in Antarctica, she is surprised to recognize it from her own backyard in Oslo. When she returns home, she embarks on a journey into urban nature, visiting city parks, cemeteries, and concrete rooftops to investigate the species that live in urban spaces. Along the way, she meets corvids, songbirds, ants, pigeons, bats, sparrows, fungi, and linden trees-and the experts who study their surprising abilities to survive, and thrive, in the city. As Bjørgaas discovers, urban nature-and its unique mixture of species that have never lived together before in Earth's history-is valuable. More than half of the world's human population lives in densely populated areas-and plants and animals have followed us into cities. Secret Life of the City invites us to pay more attention to the sounds, sights, and smells of urban nature right outside our door. A treasure trove of fascinating flora and fauna, this wonderful book offers a plea to save our city plants, animals, and fungi before we lose them, too.

Hanna Hagen Bjørgaas (Author), Mary Helen Gallucci (Narrator)

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HowExpert Guide to Microbiology: 101 Tips to Learn about the History, Applications, Research, Univer

If you want to learn about the history, applications, research, universities, and careers in microbiology, then check out HowExpert Guide to Microbiology. HowExpert Guide Microbiology is a compilation of all the major aspects of microbiology for one to get to know microbiology in the best way possible. It includes all minor and major points regarding Microbiology, from a basic introduction to depth and complexity. A very simple yet scientific writing style is adopted for the better understanding of the readers because the main aim of this book is to acknowledge every individual irrespective of the scientific background, to grasp the beauty of microbiology. This book consists of 5 chapters, i.e., Introduction to Microbiology, History of Microbiology, Applications of Microbiology, Research (which is real-life and detailed research under the category food microbiology), Scope and Career in Microbiology. Chapter No 1, “Introduction to Microbiology,” contains most of the weightage of this book as this is the most vital and comprehensive chapter; it lays the base of this book. One can get most of the important and basic knowledge in this chapter. While Chapter No 4, “Research,” is the most complex part of the book and the most interesting one too. By going through it, you’ll feel like a researcher. This is a complete and detailed sample for you to learn about the research. This book is a complete guide for Microbiology. Check out HowExpert Guide to Microbiology to learn about the history, applications, research universities, and careers in microbiology!

Howexpert, Sehrish Siddique (Author), Tom Jaramillo (Narrator)

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Determined: Life Without Free Will

Brought to you by Penguin. In a masterful synthesis of science and philosophy, one of the world's pre-eminent behavioural scientists demonstrates that free will is a powerful and dangerous illusion. The result is a new way to think about choice, identity, responsibility, justice, morality and how we live together. Behind every thought, action and experience there lies a chain of biological and environmental causes, stretching back from the moment a neuron fires to the dawn of our species and beyond. Nowhere in this infinite sequence is there a place where free will could play a role. Without free will, it makes no more sense to punish people for antisocial behaviour than it does to scold a car for breaking down. It is no one's fault they are poor or overweight or unsuccessful, nor do people deserve praise for their talent or hard work; 'grit' is a myth. This mechanistic view of human behaviour challenges our most powerful instincts, but history suggests that we have already made great strides toward it: where once we saw demonic possession or cowardice, for example, now we diagnose illness or trauma and offer help. Determined confronts us with our true nature: who and what we are is biology and nothing more. Disturbing and liberating in equal measure, it explores the far-reaching implications for society of accepting this reality. Monumentally difficult as it may be, the reward will be a far more just and humane world. ©2023 Robert M Sapolsky (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Robert M. Sapolsky (Author), Kaleo Griffith (Narrator)

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Seven Steps to Managing Your Aging Memory: What's Normal, What's Not, and What to Do About It, Secon

As you age, you may find yourself worrying about your memory. Where did I put those car keys? What time was my appointment? What was her name again? With more than 41 million Americans over the age of 65 in the United States, the question becomes how much (or, perhaps, what type) of memory loss is to be expected as one gets older and what should trigger a visit to the doctor. Seven Steps to Managing Your Aging Memory addresses these key concerns and more, such as: - What are the signs that suggest your memory problems are more than just part of normal aging? - Is it normal to have concerns about your memory? - What are the markers of mild cognitive impairment, dementia, Alzheimer's, and other brain diseases? - How should you talk about your memory concerns to your doctor? What should your doctor do to evaluate your memory? - Which healthcare professional(s) should you see? What medicines, alternative therapies, diets, and exercises actually work to improve your memory? What other resources are available when dealing with memory loss?

Andrew E. Budson Md, Andrew E. Budson, M.D., Maureen K. O'connor Psyd, Maureen K. O'connor, Psy.D. (Author), Emily Beresford (Narrator)

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Eve: How The Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution

Brought to you by Penguin. Why do women live longer than men? Why do women have menopause? Why are women more likely to get Alzheimer's? Why do girls score better at every academic subject than boys until puberty, when suddenly their scores plummet? And does the female brain really exist? In Eve, Cat Bohannon answers questions scientists should have been addressing for decades. With boundless curiosity and sharp wit, she covers the past 200 million years to explain the specific science behind the development of the female sex. Eve is not only a sweeping revision of human history, it's an urgent and necessary corrective for a world that has focused primarily on the male body for far too long. Bohannon's findings, including everything from the way C-sections in the industrialized world are rearranging women's pelvic shape to the surprising similarities between pus and breast milk, will completely change what you think you know about evolution and why Homo sapiens have become such a successful and dominant species, from tool use to city building to the development of language. ©2023 Cat Bohannon (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Cat Bohannon (Author), Cat Bohannon (Narrator)

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Biology & Chemistry Audiobooks in Science & Technology