Not by Genes Alone - How Culture Transformed Human Evolution
Humans are a striking anomaly in the natural world. While we are similar to other mammals in many ways, our behavior sets us apart. Our unparalleled ability to adapt has allowed us to occupy virtually every habitat on earth using an incredible variety of tools and subsistence techniques. Our societies are larger, more complex, and more cooperative than any other mammal's. In this stunning exploration of human adaptation, Peter J. Richerson and Robert Boyd argue that only a Darwinian theory of cultural evolution can explain these unique characteristics.
Microalgae have been largely cultured and commercialized as food and feed additives, and their potential as source of high-added value compounds is well known. But, in contrast to the large number of genetically modified bacteria, yeast and even higher plants, only a few species of microalgae have been genetically transformed with efficiency. Initial difficulties in the expression of foreign genes in microalgae have been progressively overcome, and powerful molecular tools for their genetic engineering are now on hand. A considerable collection of promoters and selectable marker genes and an increasing number of genomic or cDNA sequences have become available in recent years.
The Genius in All of Us - Why Everything You've Been Told about Genetics, Talent and IQ is Wrong
According to David Shenk, no one is born a genius. Nor are special talents the result of inspiration or to be attributed to "giftedness." His premise, backed by a plethora of impressive studies in disparate disciplines, is that outstanding performance in any field is mostly the result of practice. Think of the cute and amazing child violinists, graduates of the Suzuki Method. Perhaps that is too simplified. Outstanding achievement, he explains, is the result of a process, the interactions of genes and their environments: G x E, with the emphasis on the interactions. He says most all of us can display genius, thus firing up the Human Potential Movement once more.
From Genes to Genomes: Concepts and Applications of DNA TechnologyRapid advances in our understanding of genetics have required that new books contain topics such as the concept and theory of gene cloning, transgenics, genomics, and various other coverage of traditional and contemporary subjects.
Although there is an abundance of textbooks that cover introductory genetics and advanced courses in genetics, there is a noticeable gap at the intermediate (second year) level. In the past gene structure, function and expression were taught at final year /postgraduate level, but the rapid advances in our understanding of genetics has encouraged courses to change considerably.
Not a Chimp - The Hunt to Find the Genes That Make Us Human
Humans are primates, and our closest relatives are the other African apes - chimpanzees closest of all. With the mapping of the human genome, and that of the chimp, a direct comparison of the differences between the two, letter by letter along the billions of As, Gs, Cs, and Ts of the DNA code, has led to the widely vaunted claim that we differ from chimps by a mere 1.6% of our genetic code. A mere hair's breadth genetically!
