Charles Darwin’s Barnacle and David Bowie’s Spider

Charles Darwin’s Barnacle and David Bowie’s Spider PDF Author: Stephen B. Heard
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300252692
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description
An engaging history of the surprising, poignant, and occasionally scandalous stories behind scientific names and their cultural significance Ever since Carl Linnaeus’s binomial system of scientific names was adopted in the eighteenth century, scientists have been eponymously naming organisms in ways that both honor and vilify their namesakes. This charming, informative, and accessible history examines the fascinating stories behind taxonomic nomenclature, from Linnaeus himself naming a small and unpleasant weed after a rival botanist to the recent influx of scientific names based on pop-culture icons—including David Bowie’s spider, Frank Zappa’s jellyfish, and Beyoncé’s fly. Exploring the naming process as an opportunity for scientists to express themselves in creative ways, Stephen B. Heard’s fresh approach shows how scientific names function as a window into both the passions and foibles of the scientific community and as a more general indicator of the ways in which humans relate to, and impose order on, the natural world.

Charles Darwin’s Barnacle and David Bowie’s Spider

Charles Darwin’s Barnacle and David Bowie’s Spider PDF Author: Stephen B. Heard
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300252692
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 254

Get Book Here

Book Description
An engaging history of the surprising, poignant, and occasionally scandalous stories behind scientific names and their cultural significance Ever since Carl Linnaeus’s binomial system of scientific names was adopted in the eighteenth century, scientists have been eponymously naming organisms in ways that both honor and vilify their namesakes. This charming, informative, and accessible history examines the fascinating stories behind taxonomic nomenclature, from Linnaeus himself naming a small and unpleasant weed after a rival botanist to the recent influx of scientific names based on pop-culture icons—including David Bowie’s spider, Frank Zappa’s jellyfish, and Beyoncé’s fly. Exploring the naming process as an opportunity for scientists to express themselves in creative ways, Stephen B. Heard’s fresh approach shows how scientific names function as a window into both the passions and foibles of the scientific community and as a more general indicator of the ways in which humans relate to, and impose order on, the natural world.

The Scientist’s Guide to Writing, 2nd Edition

The Scientist’s Guide to Writing, 2nd Edition PDF Author: Stephen B. Heard
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691219184
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
"This is a new edition of The Scientists Guide to Writing, published in 2016. As a reminder the book provided practical advice on writing, covering topics including how to generate and maintain writing momentum, tips on structuring a scientific paper, revising a first draft, handling citations, responding to peer reviews, and managing coauthorships, among other topics. For the 2nd edtition, Heard has made several changes, specifically: - expanding the chapter on writing in English for non-native speakers - adding two chapters: one on efficient and effective reading and one on selecting the right journal and how to use preprint sites. - doubled the number of exercises - various other add-ons to existing chapters, including information on reporting statistical results, handling disagreement among peer reviewers, and managing co-authorships"--

The Young Charles Darwin

The Young Charles Darwin PDF Author: Keith Stewart Thomson
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300136080
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
This book is the first to inquire into the range of influences and ideas, the mentors and rivals, and the formal and informal education that shaped Charles Darwin and prepared him for his remarkable career of scientific achievement. Keith Thomson concentrates on Darwin's early life as a schoolboy, a medical student at Edinburgh, a theology student at Cambridge, and a naturalist aboard the Beagle on its famous five-year voyage

This Red Line Goes Straight to Your Heart

This Red Line Goes Straight to Your Heart PDF Author: Madhur Anand
Publisher: Strange Light
ISBN: 0771007779
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
WINNER OF THE 2020 GOVERNOR GENERAL'S LITERARY AWARD FOR NONFICTION “Wondrously and elegantly written in language that astonishes and moves the reader…This is an important book: an emotional and intellectual tour de force.” —Jane Urquhart An experimental memoir about Partition, immigration, and generational storytelling, This Red Line Goes Straight to Your Heart weaves together the poetry of memory with the science of embodied trauma, using the imagined voices of the past and the vital authority of the present. We begin with a man off balance: one in one thousand, the only child in town whose polio leads to partial paralysis. We meet his future wife, chanting Hai Rams for Gandhiji and choosing education over marriage. On one side of the line that divides this book, we follow them as their homeland splits in two and they are drawn together, moving to Canada and raising their children in mining towns and in crowded city apartments. And when we turn the book over, we find the daughter's tale—we see how the rupture of Partition, the asymmetry of a father's leg, the virus of a mother's rage, makes its way to the next generation. Told through the lenses of biology, physics, history and poetry, this is a memoir that defies form and convention to immerse the reader in the feeling of what remains when we've heard as much of the truth as our families will allow, and we're left to search for ourselves among the pieces they've carried with them.

Good-bye, Great Britain

Good-bye, Great Britain PDF Author: Kathleen Burk
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300057288
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 298

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Book Description
In this authoritative and gripping book--the first full account of the 1976 International Monetary Fund crisis--Kathleen Burk and Alec Cairncross peel back the surface of the most searing economic crisis of postwar Britain to reveal its historical roots and contemporary context. During the spring of 1976, the plummeting value of the British pound against the U.S. dollar triggered a traumatic economic and political crisis. International confidence in the pound collapsed; an article in the Wall Street Journal, headlined "Good-bye, Great Britain," urged investors to get out of sterling. Refused aid by the London and New York markets, the Labour Government under Prime Minister James Callaghan was forced to turn for help to the IMF--a highly unusual move for a developed Western economy. Fearing that the economic crisis would drive Britain into a left-wing siege economy which would endanger NATO and the EEC, the United States and Germany used the IMF loan as a means to force Britain to make major domestic policy changes; when the IMF mission arrived in London in November 1976, it was announced that the price for the loan included deep cuts in domestic spending. Burk and Cairncross uncover the maneuvers of the Labour Government to evade IMF conditions. They also examine underlying economic factors, the political agenda, the rise of monetarist ideas, and the Keynesian response. Juxtaposing narrative with analysis, they provide surprising answers to critical questions and reveal how the breakdown of the post-war consensus on the macroeconomic management paved the way for the triumph of Thatcherism.

A Field Guide to the Southeast Coast & Gulf of Mexico

A Field Guide to the Southeast Coast & Gulf of Mexico PDF Author: Noble S. Proctor
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300113285
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 418

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Book Description
DIVA uniquely comprehensive and beautiful guide to more than 600 species of fauna and flora along the coasts of the southeastern United States and the Gulf of Mexico/div

Coral Reefs

Coral Reefs PDF Author: Peter F. Sale
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300258690
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
An eye-opening introduction to the complexity, wonder, and vital roles of coral reefs When mass coral bleaching and die-offs were first identified in the 1980s, and eventually linked to warming events, the scientific community was sure that such a dramatic and unambiguous signal would serve as a warning sign about the devastating effects of global warming. Instead, most people ignored that warning. Subsequent decades have witnessed yet more degradation. Reefs around the world have lost more than 50 percent of their living coral since the 1970s. In this book, distinguished marine ecologist Peter F. Sale imparts his passion for the unexpected beauty, complexity, and necessity of coral reefs. By placing reefs in the wider context of global climate change, Sale demonstrates how their decline is more than simply a one-off environmental tragedy, but rather an existential warning to humanity. He offers a reframing of the enormous challenge humanity faces as a noble venture to steer the planet into safe waters that might even retain some coral reefs.

A Field Guide to the Ants of New England

A Field Guide to the Ants of New England PDF Author: Aaron M. Ellison
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300169302
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 422

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Book Description
This book is the first user-friendly regional guide devoted to ants—the “little things that run the world.” Lavishly illustrated with more than 500 line drawings, 300-plus photographs, and regional distribution maps as composite illustrations for every species, this guide will introduce amateur and professional naturalists and biologists, teachers and students, and environmental managers and pest-control professionals to more than 140 ant species found in the northeastern United States and eastern Canada. The detailed drawings and species descriptions, together with the high-magnification photographs, will allow anyone to identify and learn about ants and their diversity, ecology, life histories, and beauty. In addition, the book includes sections on collecting ants, ant ecology and evolution, natural history, and patterns of geographic distribution and diversity to help readers gain a greater understanding and appreciation of ants.

A Field Guide to Long Island Sound

A Field Guide to Long Island Sound PDF Author: Patrick J. Lynch
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300220359
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 413

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Book Description
Cover -- Half-title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Preface -- Regional map -- Introduction -- Physical coast -- Weather and water -- Human history -- Shallows -- Depths -- Beaches and dunes -- Rocky shores -- Salt marshes -- Coastal forests -- Connecticut locations -- New York locations -- Bibliography -- Illustration Credits -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- V -- W -- Y

The Art of Naming

The Art of Naming PDF Author: Michael Ohl
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262537036
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
From Tyrannosaurus rex to Heteropoda davidbowie: scientific naming as a joyful and creative act. Tyrannosaurus rex. Homo sapiens. Heteropoda davidbowie. Behind each act of scientific naming is a story. In this entertaining and illuminating book, Michael Ohl considers scientific naming as a joyful and creative act. There are about 1.8 million discovered and named plant and animal species, and millions more still to be discovered. Naming is the necessary next step after discovery; it is through the naming of species that we perceive and understand nature. Ohl explains the process, with examples, anecdotes, and a wildly varied cast of characters. He describes the rules for scientific naming; the vernacular isn't adequate. These rules—in standard binomial nomenclature, the generic name followed by specific name—go back to Linnaeus; but they are open to idiosyncrasy and individual expression. A lizard is designated Barbaturex morrisoni (in honor of the Doors' Jim Morrison, the Lizard King); a member of the horsefly family Scaptia beyonceae. Ohl, a specialist in “winged things that sting,” confesses that among the many wasp species he has named is Ampulex dementor, after the dementors in the Harry Potter novels. Scientific names have also been deployed by scientists to insult other scientists, to make political statements, and as expressions of romantic love: “I shall name this beetle after my beloved wife.” The Art of Naming takes us on a surprising and fascinating journey, in the footsteps of the discoverers of species and the authors of names, into the nooks and crannies and drawers and cabinets of museums, and through the natural world of named and not-yet-named species.