We are visual animals. But before we can see the world in its true splendor, our brains, just like our computers, have to sort and organize raw data, and then transform that data to produce new images of the world. Beginning Python Visualization: Crafting Visual Transformation Scripts, Second Edition discusses turning many types of...

Bella and Edward, and their family and friends, have faced countless dangers and philosophical dilemmas in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight novels. This book is the first to explore them, drawing on the wisdom of philosophical heavyweights to...

In the latter part of the 19th century Emil von Behring and Shibasaburo Kitasato showed that serum from human patients (or animals, typically horses) who had recovered from an infectious disease (typhus, diphtheria, etc) could be used to prevent or treat the same disease in other humans (indeed hyperimmune horse serum is still used to treat...

How did the zebra really get its stripes, and the giraffe its long neck? What is the science behind camel humps, leopard spots, and other animal oddities? Such questions have fascinated us for centuries, but the expanding field of evo-devo (evolutionary developmental biology) is now providing, for the first time, a wealth of insights and...

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...

Fully integrated and comprehensive in its coverage, Root Genomics and Soil Interactions examines the use of genome-based technologies to understand root development and adaptability to biotic and abiotic stresses and changes in the soil environment. Written by an international team of experts in the field, this timely review highlights...

For tens of thousands of years the human race used their muscles and the labor of animals to build a world that differed little from that known by all their ancestors. But in 1776 James Watt installed the fi rst of his improved steam engines in a commercial enterprise, kicking off the industrial revolution.

The 1800s were...

Invertebrate Medicine, Second Edition offers a thorough update to the most comprehensive book on invertebrate husbandry and veterinary care.  Including pertinent biological data for invertebrate species, the book’s emphasis is on providing state-of-the-art information on medicine and the clinical condition. ...

• A wide range of topics are covered, ranging in complexity, offering something for every Unity 4...

Estuaries are among the most biologically productive ecosystems on the planet--critical to the life cycles of fish, other aquatic animals, and the creatures which feed on them. Estuarine Ecology, Second Edition, covers the physical and chemical aspects of estuaries, the biology and ecology of key organisms, the flow of organic matter...

Principles of Environmental Physics: Plants, Animals, and the Atmosphere, 4e, provides a basis for understanding the complex physical interactions of plants and animals with their natural environment. It is the essential reference to provide environmental and ecological scientists and researchers with the physical principles, analytic...