Biotechnology

The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology

For over three decades, Ray Kurzweil has been one of the most respected and provocative advocates of the role of technology in our future. In his classic The Age of Spiritual Machines, he argued that computers would soon rival the full range of human intelligence at its best. Now he examines the next step in this inexorable evolutionary process: the union of human and machine, in which the knowledge and skills embedded in our brains will be combined with the vastly greater capacity, speed, and knowledge-sharing ability of our creations.

The Complete Joy of Homebrewing Third Edition (Harperresource Book)

Charlie Papazian, master brewer and founder and president of the American Homebrewer's Association and Association of Brewers, presents a fully revised edition of his essential guide to homebrewing. This third edition of the best-selling and most trusted homebrewing guide includes a complete update of all instructions, recipes, charts, and guidelines. Everything you need to get started is here, including classic and new recipes for brewing stouts, ales, lagers, pilseners, porters, specialty beers, and honey meads.

The Complete Joy of Homebrewing, third edition, includes:

• Getting your home brewery together: the basics -- malt, hops, yeast, and water
• Ten easy lessons for making your first batch of beer
• Creating world-class styles of beer (IPA, Belgian wheat, German Kölsch and Bock, barley wine, American lagers, to name a few)
• Using fruit, honey, and herbs for a spicier, more festive brew
• Brewing with malt extracts for an unlimited range of strengths and flavors
• Advanced brewing techniques using specialty hops or the all-grain method or mash extracts
• A complete homebrewer's glossary, troubleshooting tips, and an up-to-date resource section
• And much, much more

Be sure to check out Charlie's The Homebrewer's Companion for over 60 additional recipes and more detailed charts and tables, techniques, and equipment information for the advanced brewer.

Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature

This profound and accessible book details how science is studying nature's best ideas to solve our toughest 21st–century problems.

If chaos theory transformed our view of the universe, biomimicry is transforming our life on Earth. Biomimicry is innovation inspired by nature – taking advantage of evolution's 3.8 billion years of R\'9126D since the first bacteria. Biomimics study nature's best ideas: photosynthesis, brain power, and shells – and adapt them for human use. They are revolutionising how we invent, compute, heal ourselves, harness energy, repair the environment, and feed the world.

Science writer and lecturer Janine Benyus names and explains this phenomenon. She takes us into the lab and out in the field with cutting–edge researchers as they stir vats of proteins to unleash their computing power; analyse how electrons zipping around a leaf cell convert sunlight into fuel in trillionths of a second; discover miracle drugs by watching what chimps eat when theyᱥ sick; study the hardy prairie as a model for low–maintenance agriculture; and more.

Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fourth Edition

Molecular Biology of the Cell is the classic in-depth text reference in cell biology. By extracting the fundamental concepts from this enormous and ever-growing field, the authors tell the story of cell biology, and create a coherent framework through which non-expert readers may approach the subject. Written in clear and concise language, and beautifully illustrated, the book is enjoyable to read, and it provides a clear sense of the excitement of modern biology. Molecular Biology of the Cell sets forth the current understanding of cell biology (completely updated as of Autumn 2001), and it explores the intriguing implications and possibilities of the great deal that remains unknown.
The hallmark features of previous editions continue in the Fourth Edition. The book is designed with a clean and open, single-column layout. The art program maintains a completely consistent format and style, and includes over 1,600 photographs, electron micrographs, and original drawings by the authors. Clear and concise concept headings introduce each section. Every chapter contains extensive references. Most important, every chapter has been subjected to a rigorous, collaborative revision process where, in addition to incorporating comments from expert reviewers, each co-author reads and reviews the other authors' prose. The result is a truly integrated work with a single authorial voice.

Biomedical Informatics: Computer Applications in Health Care and Biomedicine (Health Informatics)

The practice of modern medicine requires sophisticated information technologies with which to manage patient information, plan diagnostic procedures, interpret laboratory results, and conduct research. This book, inspired by a Stanford University training program developed to introduce health professionals to computer applications in modern medical care, fills the need for a high quality text in computers and medicine, and meets the growing demand by practitioners, researchers, and students for a comprehensive introduction to key topics in the field. The work is designed for a broad audience interested in the intersection of computer science and medicine.

Completely revised and expanded, the Third Edition (previously titled "Medical Informatics") includes several new chapters filled with brand new material. This book will provide both a conceptual framework and a practical approach for the implementation and management of IT used to improve the delivery of health care. Designed for use by professors and students of medical informatics and for practicing professionals, this book will focus on the role of computers in the provision of medical services. Biomedial Informatics, Third Edition, provides the conceptual base needed to comprehend and utilize medical informatics through easy to understand examples that demonstrate how computers assist in the delivery of health care. This text also includes pointers to additional literature, chapter summaries, and concise definition of recurring terms for self-study or classroom use.

Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters (P.S.)

Science writer Matt Ridley has found a way to tell someone else's story without being accused of plagiarism. Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters delves deep within your body (and, to be fair, Ridley's too) looking for dirt dug up by the Human Genome Project. Each chapter pries one gene out of its chromosome and focuses on its role in our development and adult life, but also goes further, exploring the implications of genetic research and our quickly changing social attitudes toward this information. Genome shies away from the "tedious biochemical middle managers" that only a nerd could love and instead goes for the A-material: genes associated with cancer, intelligence, sex (of course), and more.

Readers unfamiliar with the jargon of genetic research needn't fear; Ridley provides a quick, clear guide to the few words and concepts he must use to translate hard science into English. His writing is informal, relaxed, and playful, guiding the reader so effortlessly through our 23 chromosomes that by the end we wish we had more. He believes that the Human Genome Project will be as world-changing as the splitting of the atom; if so, he is helping us prepare for exciting times--the hope of a cure for cancer contrasts starkly with the horrors of newly empowered eugenicists. Anyone interested in the future of the body should get a head start with the clever, engrossing Genome. --Rob Lightner

Arguably the most significant scientific discovery of the new century, the mapping of the twenty-three pairs of chromosomes that make up the human genome raises almost as many questions as it answers. Questions that will profoundly impact the way we think about disease, about longevity, and about free will. Questions that will affect the rest of your life.

Genome offers extraordinary insight into the ramifications of this incredible breakthrough. By picking one newly discovered gene from each pair of chromosomes and telling its story, Matt Ridley recounts the history of our species and its ancestors from the dawn of life to the brink of future medicine. From Huntington's disease to cancer, from the applications of gene therapy to the horrors of eugenics, Matt Ridley probes the scientific, philosophical, and moral issues arising as a result of the mapping of the genome. It will help you understand what this scientific milestone means for you, for your children, and for humankind.

An Introduction to Systems Biology: Design Principles of Biological Circuits (Chapman & Hall/Crc Mathematical and Computational Biology)

Thorough and accessible, this book presents the design principles of biological systems, and highlights the recurring circuit elements that make up biological networks. It provides a simple mathematical framework which can be used to understand and even design biological circuits. The textavoids specialist terms, focusing instead on several well-studied biological systems that concisely demonstrate key principles.

An Introduction to Systems Biology: Design Principles of Biological Circuits builds a solid foundation for the intuitive understanding of general principles. It encourages the reader to ask why a system is designed in a particular way and then proceeds to answer with simplified models.

Microcosm: E. coli and the New Science of Life

•Within days of being born, we are infected with billions of E. coli. They will inhabit each and every one of us until we die. E. coli is notorious for making people gravely ill, but engineered strains of the bacteria save millions of lives each year.

•Despite its microscopic size, E.coli contains more than four thousand genes that operate a staggeringly sophisticated network of millions of molecules.

•Scientists are rebuilding E. coli from the ground up, redefining our understanding of life on Earth.

In the tradition of classics like Lewis Thomas's Lives of a Cell, Carl Zimmer has written a fascinating and utterly accessible investigation of what it means to be alive. Zimmer traces E. coli's remarkable history, showing how scientists used it to discover how genes work and then to launch the entire biotechnology industry. While some strains of E. coli grab headlines by causing deadly diseases, scientists are retooling the bacteria to produce everything from human insulin to jet fuel.

Microcosm is the story of the one species on Earth that science knows best of all. It's also a story of life itself--of its rules, its mysteries, and its future.

Biomaterials Science, Second Edition: An Introduction to Materials in Medicine

The second edition of this bestselling title provides the most up-to-date comprehensive review of all aspects of biomaterials science by providing a balanced, insightful approach to learning biomaterials. This reference integrates a historical perspective of materials engineering principles with biological interactions of biomaterials. Also provided within are regulatory and ethical issues in addition to future directions of the field, and a state-of-the-art update of medical and biotechnological applications.

All aspects of biomaterials science are thoroughly addressed, from tissue engineering to cochlear prostheses and drug delivery systems. Over 80 contributors from academia, government and industry detail the principles of cell biology, immunology, and pathology. Focus within pertains to the clinical uses of biomaterials as components in implants, devices, and artificial organs. This reference also touches upon their uses in biotechnology as well as the characterization of the physical, chemical, biochemical and surface properties of these materials.

* Provides comprehensive coverage of principles and applications of all classes of biomaterials

* Integrates concepts of biomaterials science and biological interactions with clinical science and societal issues including law, regulation, and ethics

* Discusses successes and failures of biomaterials applications in clinical medicine and the future directions of the field

* Cover the broad spectrum of biomaterial compositions including polymers, metals, ceramics, glasses, carbons, natural materials, and composites

* Endorsed by the Society for Biomaterials

The Cartoon Guide to Genetics (Updated Edition)

Having trouble deciphering your genetic code? Do dominant genes make you feel recessive? Let reigning nonfiction cartoonist Larry Gonick and microbiologist Mark Wheelis ease your way through Mendelian genetics, molecular biology, and the basics of genetic engineering. Gonick's drawings range from a moderately detailed look at ribosomes in action to loony pictures of dancing scientists, talking peas, and opinionated fruit flies. Matthew Meselson, co-discoverer of the "one gene-one protein" principle, says, "it puts textbooks to shame"--and he's right. --Mary Ellen Curtin

Illustrates, simplifies, and humor-coats the important principles of classical and modern genetics and their experimental bases, with amusing anecdotes about how the ancients tried to explain inheritance and sex determination.