Mirror neurons may hold the brain's key to social interaction - each coding not only a particular action or emotion but also the recognition of that action or emotion in others. The Mirror System Hypothesis adds an evolutionary arrow to the story - from the mirror system for hand actions, shared with monkeys and chimpanzees, to the...

'When I play with my cat, who knows if I am not a pastime to her more than she is to me?' - Michel de Montaigne. Why do we live with pets? Is there something more to our relationship with them than simply companionship? What is it we look for in our pets and what does this say about us as human beings? In this fascinating book, Erica...

Evidence grows daily of the changing climate and its impact on plants and animals. Plant function is inextricably linked to climate and atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration. On the shortest and smallest scales, the climate affects the plant’s immediate environment and so directly influences physiological processes. At larger scales,...

One of the enduring concerns of moral philosophy is deciding who or what is deserving of ethical consideration. Much recent attention has been devoted to the "animal question" -- consideration of the moral status of nonhuman animals. In this book, David Gunkel takes up the "machine question": whether and to what extent...

in the human visceral pleura is the sole reliable criterion for the statement that it belongs to the ‘thick type’, while all observed animals have a ‘thin’ type VP. The mesothelium and underlying structures of the SM represent a highly permeable bidirectional membrane with signi?cant differences in the organ and region...

Animals have existed on Earth for many hundreds of millions of years. In that time they have evolved into a great variety of forms, exploiting nearly every habitat the planet has to offer. In the dark depths of the oceans, in the seemingly inhospitable Polar Regions, in the driest deserts, even within the bodies of other animals, there are...

Recent research by the EPA has concluded that one in six women of childbearing age have unsafe levels of mercury in their bodies, which puts 630,000 newborn babies each year at risk of neurological impairment. Mercury poses severe risks to the health of animals and...

Whether creating dynamite digital videos is your profession or just your obsession, Final Cut Express can enhance your projects. In this richly illustrated volume,...

More than 40,000 species of mites have been described, and up to 1 million may exist on earth. These tiny arachnids play many ecological roles including acting as vectors of disease, vital players in soil formation, and important agents of biological control. But despite the grand diversity of mites, even trained biologists are often unaware...

Do the movements of animals, including humans, follow patterns that can be described quantitatively by simple laws of motion? If so, then why? These questions have attracted the attention of scientists in many disciplines, and stimulated debates ranging from ecological matters to queries such as 'how can there be free will if one follows...

Immunochemical techniques have been in use for many years with early examples of bacterial strain typing dating back to the 1940s. The basis for the science is the exquisite elegance of the mammalian immune system with its ability to recognize foreign proteins and to manufacture antibody m- ecules that strongly bind to the substances that...

Pheromones and other kinds of chemical communication underlie the behavior of all animals. Building on the strengths of the first edition, widely recognized as the leading text in the subject, this is a comprehensive overview of how pheromones work. Extensively revised and expanded to cover advances made over the last ten years, the book...