Parasite Rex Book
Score: 3.5
From 17 Ratings

Parasite Rex

  • Author : Carl Zimmer
  • Publisher : Simon and Schuster
  • File Size : 11,9 Mb
  • Release Date : 2000-09-21
  • Genre: Science
  • Pages : 336
  • ISBN 10 : 9780743213714
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IMAGINE A WORLD WHERE parasites control the minds of their hosts, sending them to their destruction. IMAGINE A WORLD WHERE parasites are masters of chemical warfare and camouflage, able to cloak themselves with their hosts' own molecules. IMAGINE A WORLD WHERE parasites steer the course of evolution, where the majority of species are parasites. WELCOME TO EARTH. For centuries, parasites have lived in nightmares, horror stories, and in the darkest shadows of science. Yet these creatures are among the world's most successful and sophisticated organisms. In Parasite Rex, Carl Zimmer deftly balances the scientific and the disgusting as he takes readers on a fantastic voyage. Traveling from the steamy jungles of Costa Rica to the fetid parasite haven of southern Sudan, Zimmer graphically brings to life how parasites can change DNA, rewire the brain, make men more distrustful and women more outgoing, and turn hosts into the living dead. This thorough, gracefully written book brings parasites out into the open and uncovers what they can teach us about the most fundamental survival tactics in the universe.

Parasite Rex Book
Score: 3.5
From 17 Ratings

Parasite Rex

  • Author : Carl Zimmer
  • Publisher : Random House
  • File Size : 7,9 Mb
  • Release Date : 2003
  • Genre: Host-parasite relationships
  • Pages : 338
  • ISBN 10 : 9780099457992
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Almost every animal will at some time or another become the home of a parasite. Not only are parasites the most successful life-forms on Earth, they triggered the development of sex, shape ecosystems, and have driven the engine of evolution. Zimmer describes the frightening and amazing ingenuity these commando invaders use to devour their hosts from the inside and control their behaviour. Sacculina carcini makes its home in an unlucky crab and proceeds to eat everything but what the crab needs to put food in its mouth, which Sacculina then consumes. Single-celled Toxoplasma gondi has an even more insidious role, for it can invade the human brain and cause personality changes, making its host less afraid and more prone to danger and a violent end - so that, in the carnage, it will be able to move on to another host. Finally, Zimmer concludes that humankind itself is a new kind of parasite, one that preys on the entire earth. If we are to achieve the sophistication of the parasites on display here in vivid detail, if we are to promote the flourishing of life in all its diversity as they do, we must learn the ways nature lives with itself, the laws of Parasite Rex.

Parasite Rex Book
Score: 3.5
From 17 Ratings

Parasite Rex

  • Author : Carl Zimmer
  • Publisher : Simon and Schuster
  • File Size : 16,9 Mb
  • Release Date : 2001-11-09
  • Genre: Science
  • Pages : 336
  • ISBN 10 : 9780743200110
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A look inside the often hidden world of parasites turns the clock back to the beginning of life on Earth to answer key questions about these highly evolved and resilient life forms.

Parasites Book
Score: 4
From 1 Ratings

Parasites

  • Author : Rosemary Drisdelle
  • Publisher : Univ of California Press
  • File Size : 9,5 Mb
  • Release Date : 2010
  • Genre: Parasites
  • Pages : 276
  • ISBN 10 : 9780520259386
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The evolution and life history of parasites, their role in shaping human history, as well as future threats posed by them.

People Parasites and Plowshares Book
Score: 4
From 1 Ratings

People Parasites and Plowshares

  • Author : Dickson D. Despommier
  • Publisher : Columbia University Press
  • File Size : 16,8 Mb
  • Release Date : 2013-07-16
  • Genre: Medical
  • Pages : 240
  • ISBN 10 : 9780231535267
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Dickson D. Despommier's vivid, visceral account of the biology, behavior, and history of parasites follows the interplay between these fascinating life forms and human society over thousands of years. Despommier focuses on long-term host-parasite associations, which have evolved to avoid or even subvert the human immune system. Some parasites do great damage to their hosts, while others have signed a kind of "peace treaty" in exchange for their long lives within them. Many parasites also practice clever survival strategies that medical scientists hope to mimic as they search for treatments for Crohn's disease, food allergies, type 1 diabetes, organ transplantation, and other medical challenges. Despommier concentrates on particularly remarkable and often highly pathogenic organisms, describing their lifecycles and the mechanisms they use to avoid elimination. He details their attack and survival plans and the nature of the illnesses they cause in general terms, enabling readers of all backgrounds to steal a glimpse into the secret work of such effective invaders. He also points to the cultural contexts in which these parasites thrive and reviews the current treatments available to defeat them. Encouraging scientists to continue to study these organisms even if their threat is largely contained, Despommier shows how closer dissection of the substances parasites produce to alter our response to them could help unravel some of our most complex medical conundrums.

Parasitology Book
Score: 5
From 1 Ratings

Parasitology

  • Author : Alan Gunn
  • Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
  • File Size : 8,5 Mb
  • Release Date : 2012-04-30
  • Genre: Medical
  • Pages : 474
  • ISBN 10 : 9780470684245
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Parasitology: An Integrated Approach, provides a concise, student-friendly account of parasites and parasite relationships that is supported by case studies and suggestions for student projects. The book focuses strongly on parasite interactions with other pathogens and in particular parasite-HIV interactions, as well as looking at how host behaviour contributes to the spread of infections. There is a consideration of the positive aspects of parasite infections, how humans have used parasites for their own advantage and also how parasite infections affect the welfare of captive and domestic animals. The emphasis of Parasitology is on recent research throughout and each chapter ends with a brief discussion of future developments. This text is not simply an updated version of typical parastitology books but takes an integrated approach and explains how the study of parasites requires an understanding of a wide range of other topics from molecular biology and immunology to the interactions of parasites with both their hosts and other pathogens.

At the Water s Edge Book
Score: 4
From 10 Ratings

At the Water s Edge

  • Author : Carl Zimmer
  • Publisher : Simon and Schuster
  • File Size : 16,6 Mb
  • Release Date : 2014-08-26
  • Genre: Science
  • Pages : 304
  • ISBN 10 : 9781476799742
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Everybody Out of the Pond At the Water's Edge will change the way you think about your place in the world. The awesome journey of life's transformation from the first microbes 4 billion years ago to Homo sapiens today is an epic that we are only now beginning to grasp. Magnificent and bizarre, it is the story of how we got here, what we left behind, and what we brought with us. We all know about evolution, but it still seems absurd that our ancestors were fish. Darwin's idea of natural selection was the key to solving generation-to-generation evolution -- microevolution -- but it could only point us toward a complete explanation, still to come, of the engines of macroevolution, the transformation of body shapes across millions of years. Now, drawing on the latest fossil discoveries and breakthrough scientific analysis, Carl Zimmer reveals how macroevolution works. Escorting us along the trail of discovery up to the current dramatic research in paleontology, ecology, genetics, and embryology, Zimmer shows how scientists today are unveiling the secrets of life that biologists struggled with two centuries ago. In this book, you will find a dazzling, brash literary talent and a rigorous scientific sensibility gracefully brought together. Carl Zimmer provides a comprehensive, lucid, and authoritative answer to the mystery of how nature actually made itself.

A Planet of Viruses Book
Score: 4
From 11 Ratings

A Planet of Viruses

  • Author : Carl Zimmer
  • Publisher : University of Chicago Press
  • File Size : 14,6 Mb
  • Release Date : 2015-10-06
  • Genre: Science
  • Pages : 133
  • ISBN 10 : 9780226320267
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For years, scientists have been warning us that a pandemic was all but inevitable. Now it's here, and the rest of us have a lot to learn. Fortunately, science writer Carl Zimmer is here to guide us. In this compact volume, he tells the story of how the smallest living things known to science can bring an entire planet of people to a halt--and what we can learn from how we've defeated them in the past. Planet of Viruses covers such threats as Ebola, MERS, and chikungunya virus; tells about recent scientific discoveries, such as a hundred-million-year-old virus that infected the common ancestor of armadillos, elephants, and humans; and shares new findings that show why climate change may lead to even deadlier outbreaks. Zimmer’s lucid explanations and fascinating stories demonstrate how deeply humans and viruses are intertwined. Viruses helped give rise to the first life-forms, are responsible for many of our most devastating diseases, and will continue to control our fate for centuries. Thoroughly readable, and, for all its honesty about the threats, as reassuring as it is frightening, A Planet of Viruses is a fascinating tour of a world we all need to better understand.

This Is Your Brain on Parasites Book
Score: 3.5
From 33 Ratings

This Is Your Brain on Parasites

  • Author : Kathleen McAuliffe
  • Publisher : Mariner Books
  • File Size : 6,9 Mb
  • Release Date : 2017-04-29
  • Genre: Medical
  • Pages : 0
  • ISBN 10 : 0544947258
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A riveting investigation of the myriad ways that parasites control how creatures--including humans--act, feel, and think

Parasite Book

Parasite

  • Author : Mira Grant
  • Publisher : Orbit
  • File Size : 13,9 Mb
  • Release Date : 2013-10-29
  • Genre: Fiction
  • Pages : 512
  • ISBN 10 : 9780316218931
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A decade in the future, humanity thrives in the absence of sickness and disease. We owe our good health to a humble parasite -- a genetically engineered tapeworm developed by the pioneering SymboGen Corporation. When implanted, the Intestinal Bodyguard worm protects us from illness, boosts our immune system -- even secretes designer drugs. It's been successful beyond the scientists' wildest dreams. Now, years on, almost every human being has a SymboGen tapeworm living within them. But these parasites are getting restless. They want their own lives . . . and will do anything to get them. ParasitologyParasiteSymbiont Chimera For more from Mira Grant, check out: Newsflesh FeedDeadlineBlackout Newsflesh Short Fiction (e-only novellas)Apocalypse Scenario #683: The BoxCountdownSan Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California BrowncoatsHow Green This Land, How Blue This SeaThe Day the Dead Came to Show and TellPlease Do Not Taunt the Octopus

Evolution Book
Score: 4
From 5 Ratings

Evolution

  • Author : Carl Zimmer
  • Publisher : Random House
  • File Size : 11,6 Mb
  • Release Date : 2011-12-31
  • Genre: Science
  • Pages : 512
  • ISBN 10 : 9781448107995
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Carl Zimmer tells the story of the theory of evolution from Darwin's journey on the Beagle to the controversies of modern evolutionary theory, the understanding of the lethal resurgence of antibiotic resistant diseases and the wave of species extinctions that face us today. The result is a wonderfully accessible account of a remarkable scientific journey, from the emergence to the triumph of an idea.

Venomous Book
Score: 4
From 3 Ratings

Venomous

  • Author : Christie Wilcox
  • Publisher : Scientific American / Farrar, Straus and Giroux
  • File Size : 17,8 Mb
  • Release Date : 2016-08-09
  • Genre: Science
  • Pages : 256
  • ISBN 10 : 9780374712211
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A thrilling tale of encounters with nature’s masters of biochemistry From the coasts of Indonesia to the rainforests of Peru, venomous animals are everywhere—and often lurking out of sight. Humans have feared them for centuries, long considering them the assassins and pariahs of the natural world. Now, in Venomous, the biologist Christie Wilcox investigates and illuminates the animals of our nightmares, arguing that they hold the keys to a deeper understanding of evolution, adaptation, and immunity. She reveals just how venoms function and what they do to the human body. With Wilcox as our guide, we encounter a jellyfish with tentacles covered in stinging cells that can kill humans in minutes; a two-inch caterpillar with toxic bristles that trigger hemorrhaging; and a stunning blue-ringed octopus capable of inducing total paralysis. How do these animals go about their deadly work? How did they develop such intricate, potent toxins? Wilcox takes us around the world and down to the cellular level to find out. Throughout her journey, Wilcox meets the intrepid scientists who risk their lives studying these lethal beasts, as well as “self-immunizers” who deliberately expose themselves to snakebites. Along the way, she puts her own life on the line, narrowly avoiding being envenomated herself. Drawing on her own research, Wilcox explains how venom scientists are untangling the mechanisms of some of our most devastating diseases, and reports on pharmacologists who are already exploiting venoms to produce lifesaving drugs. We discover that venomous creatures are in fact keystone species that play crucial roles in their ecosystems and ours—and for this alone, they ought to be protected and appreciated. Thrilling and surprising at every turn, Venomous will change everything you thought you knew about the planet’s most dangerous animals.

The Leafcutter Ants Civilization by Instinct Book
Score: 4
From 2 Ratings

The Leafcutter Ants Civilization by Instinct

  • Author : Bert Hölldobler
  • Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
  • File Size : 20,8 Mb
  • Release Date : 2010-11-15
  • Genre: Science
  • Pages : 160
  • ISBN 10 : 9780393340877
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From the Pulitzer Prize-winning authors of The Ants comes this dynamic and visually spectacular portrait of Earth's ultimate superorganism. The Leafcutter Ants is the most detailed and authoritative description of any ant species ever produced. With a text suitable for both a lay and a scientific audience, the book provides an unforgettable tour of Earth's most evolved animal societies. Each colony of leafcutters contains as many as five million workers, all the daughters of a single queen that can live over a decade. A gigantic nest can stretch thirty feet across, rise five feet or more above the ground, and consist of hundreds of chambers that reach twenty-five feet below the ground surface. Indeed, the leafcutters have parlayed their instinctive civilization into a virtual domination of forest, grassland, and cropland—from Louisiana to Patagonia. Inspired by a section of the authors' acclaimed The Superorganism, this brilliantly illustrated work provides the ultimate explanation of what a social order with a half-billion years of animal evolution has achieved.

I Contain Multitudes Book
Score: 4
From 12 Ratings

I Contain Multitudes

  • Author : Ed Yong
  • Publisher : HarperCollins
  • File Size : 18,7 Mb
  • Release Date : 2016-08-09
  • Genre: Science
  • Pages : 368
  • ISBN 10 : 9780062368621
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New York Times Bestseller New York Times Notable Book of 2016 • NPR Great Read of 2016 • Named a Best Book of 2016 by The Economist, Smithsonian, NPR's Science Friday, MPR, Minnesota Star Tribune, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, The Guardian, Times (London) From Pulitzer Prize winner Ed Yong, a groundbreaking, wondrously informative, and vastly entertaining examination of the most significant revolution in biology since Darwin—a “microbe’s-eye view” of the world that reveals a marvelous, radically reconceived picture of life on earth. Every animal, whether human, squid, or wasp, is home to millions of bacteria and other microbes. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ed Yong, whose humor is as evident as his erudition, prompts us to look at ourselves and our animal companions in a new light—less as individuals and more as the interconnected, interdependent multitudes we assuredly are. The microbes in our bodies are part of our immune systems and protect us from disease. In the deep oceans, mysterious creatures without mouths or guts depend on microbes for all their energy. Bacteria provide squid with invisibility cloaks, help beetles to bring down forests, and allow worms to cause diseases that afflict millions of people. Many people think of microbes as germs to be eradicated, but those that live with us—the microbiome—build our bodies, protect our health, shape our identities, and grant us incredible abilities. In this astonishing book, Ed Yong takes us on a grand tour through our microbial partners, and introduces us to the scientists on the front lines of discovery. It will change both our view of nature and our sense of where we belong in it.

Soul Made Flesh Book
Score: 4
From 6 Ratings

Soul Made Flesh

  • Author : Carl Zimmer
  • Publisher : Simon and Schuster
  • File Size : 9,7 Mb
  • Release Date : 2014-08-26
  • Genre: Science
  • Pages : 384
  • ISBN 10 : 9781476799759
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In this unprecedented history of a scientific revolution, award-winning author and journalist Carl Zimmer tells the definitive story of the dawn of the age of the brain and modern consciousness. Told here for the first time, the dramatic tale of how the secrets of the brain were discovered in seventeenth-century England unfolds against a turbulent backdrop of civil war, the Great Fire of London, and plague. At the beginning of that chaotic century, no one knew how the brain worked or even what it looked like intact. But by the century's close, even the most common conceptions and dominant philosophies had been completely overturned, supplanted by a radical new vision of man, God, and the universe. Presiding over the rise of this new scientific paradigm was the founder of modern neurology, Thomas Willis, a fascinating, sympathetic, even heroic figure at the center of an extraordinary group of scientists and philosophers known as the Oxford circle. Chronicled here in vivid detail are their groundbreaking revelations and the often gory experiments that first enshrined the brain as the physical seat of intelligence -- and the seat of the human soul. Soul Made Flesh conveys a contagious appreciation for the brain, its structure, and its many marvelous functions, and the implications for human identity, mind, and morality.