This book, by a leading thinker with 30 years experience in the field, is the first devoted to fibrous composites in biology. It tackles a major unsolved problem in developmental biology - how does chemistry create architecture outside cells? Fibrous composites occur in all skeletal systems including plant cell walls, insect cuticles, moth eggshells, bone and cornea. They function like man-made fibreglass, with fibres set in a matrix. The fibrous molecules are long, extracellular and water-insoluble and to be effective they must be orientated strategically. The underlying hypothesis of this book is that the fibres are orientated by self-assembly just outside the cells during a mobile liquid crystalline phase prior to stabilization. The commonest orientations of the fibres are plywood laminates (orthogonal and helicoidal), and as parallel fibres. These may be imitated in vitro by liquid crystalline chemicals. The book takes an interdisciplinary approach and will be relevant to biologist
This book is a lucid, straightforward introduction to the concepts and techniques of statistical physics that students of biology, biochemistry, and biophysics must know. It provides a sound basis fo
Life is often a matter of gambles, pay-offs, and trade-offs, just like a game. This book takes readers on a tour through the games and computer simulations that are actually helping to advance knowled
Excited states and free radicals are involved in the normal physiology of living systems, in pathological processes (including lipid peroxidation, inflammation, Parkinson's disease, cancer, and aging)
Janice VanCleave's A+ Projects in Biology Are you having a hard time coming up with a good idea for the science fair? Do you want to earn extra credit in your biology class? Or do you just want to kn
Examines plant and animal life, minerals, and other riches below the surface of the ocean, and the potential havoc that humans can wreak in harvesting resources from the seas
The enormous amount of data generated by the Human Genome Project and otherlarge-scale biological research has created a rich and challenging domain for research in artificialintelligence. These origi
This textbook for advanced level courses in oceanography focuses on the interaction of ecological and physical processes that govern the ocean. The book begins with an introduction to ecology, using f
Reprints of important papers published in various journals in the 40 years ending with 1990. Grouped under sections on: infrastructure; cells; energetics; information generation and transfer; experime
Describes the amazing variety of plants and animals living in a tropical rain forest, and looks at each layer of the ecosystem from the treetops to the forest floor
Following in the fashion of Stephen Jay Gould and Peter Medawar, one of the world's leading scientists examines how "pure science" is in fact shaped and guided by social and political needs and assump
Nobel laureate Erwin SchrAdinger's What is Life?, one of the great science classics of the twentieth century appears here together with Mind and Matter.
Lake Titicaca, because of its area and volume and its situation at high attitude within the tropics, is a unique hydrological site in the world. It should be noted that it stands at the transition p
A Focus on Peatlands and Peat Mosses surveys the fens and bogs of the Upper Midwest, examining how plant life is directly affected by coldness, waterlogged peat accumulations, and habitats that become
Although science may claim to be "objective," scientists cannot avoid the influence of their own values on their research. In The State of Nature, Gregg Mitman examines the relationship between issues
Although science may claim to be "objective," scientists cannot avoid the influence of their own values on their research. In The State of Nature, Gregg Mitman examines the relationship between issues
