Author: Shannon Pulaski
Publisher: Cure Media Group, LLC
ISBN: 9780999766606
Category : Biology
Languages : en
Pages : 30
Get Book Here
Book Description
By sharing the story of her genes, Mom is empowering her children to learn about their family's health history. Mom's Genes will help you start a conversation with your young children about genetics and how it plays a role in their own health. With age appropriate content, rhythm verse and vivid illustrations, Mom's Genes can help you teach your children the importance of being proactive about their health and wellness at a young age. Mom's Genes also includes interactive elements such as a search and find game, a glossary to emphasize key concepts, and a simple family tree for young children to use to explore their own family history. Mom's Genes was written by Shannon Pulaski. Just four months after giving birth to her twin daughters, Shannon discovered that she inherited a genetic mutation that greatly increased her risk of developing cancer in her lifetime. Understanding what was at risk, she made the decision to be proactive about her health and take affirmative action to reduce her risk of hereditary cancer. As a mother, Shannon Pulaski has felt compelled to share her family's health history with her children so that they can understand risk, live proactively, and become educated patients. She created Mom's Genes to help families get a conversation started about their own family's health history. To learn more, visit www.proactivegenes.com
Author: Carl Zimmer
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101984600
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 672
Get Book Here
Book Description
2019 PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award Finalist "Science book of the year"—The Guardian One of New York Times 100 Notable Books for 2018 One of Publishers Weekly's Top Ten Books of 2018 One of Kirkus's Best Books of 2018 One of Mental Floss's Best Books of 2018 One of Science Friday's Best Science Books of 2018 “Extraordinary”—New York Times Book Review "Magisterial"—The Atlantic "Engrossing"—Wired "Leading contender as the most outstanding nonfiction work of the year"—Minneapolis Star-Tribune Celebrated New York Times columnist and science writer Carl Zimmer presents a profoundly original perspective on what we pass along from generation to generation. Charles Darwin played a crucial part in turning heredity into a scientific question, and yet he failed spectacularly to answer it. The birth of genetics in the early 1900s seemed to do precisely that. Gradually, people translated their old notions about heredity into a language of genes. As the technology for studying genes became cheaper, millions of people ordered genetic tests to link themselves to missing parents, to distant ancestors, to ethnic identities... But, Zimmer writes, “Each of us carries an amalgam of fragments of DNA, stitched together from some of our many ancestors. Each piece has its own ancestry, traveling a different path back through human history. A particular fragment may sometimes be cause for worry, but most of our DNA influences who we are—our appearance, our height, our penchants—in inconceivably subtle ways.” Heredity isn’t just about genes that pass from parent to child. Heredity continues within our own bodies, as a single cell gives rise to trillions of cells that make up our bodies. We say we inherit genes from our ancestors—using a word that once referred to kingdoms and estates—but we inherit other things that matter as much or more to our lives, from microbes to technologies we use to make life more comfortable. We need a new definition of what heredity is and, through Carl Zimmer’s lucid exposition and storytelling, this resounding tour de force delivers it. Weaving historical and current scientific research, his own experience with his two daughters, and the kind of original reporting expected of one of the world’s best science journalists, Zimmer ultimately unpacks urgent bioethical quandaries arising from new biomedical technologies, but also long-standing presumptions about who we really are and what we can pass on to future generations.
Author: Abigail Tucker
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1476738254
Category : Pets
Languages : en
Pages : 256
Get Book Here
Book Description
A New York Times bestseller about how cats conquered the world and our hearts in this “deep and illuminating perspective on our favorite household companion” (Huffington Post). House cats rule bedrooms and back alleys, deserted Antarctic islands, even cyberspace. And unlike dogs, cats offer humans no practical benefit. The truth is they are sadly incompetent mouse-catchers and now pose a threat to many ecosystems. Yet, we love them still. In the “eminently readable and gently funny” (Library Journal, starred review) The Lion in the Living Room, Abigail Tucker travels through world history, natural science, and pop culture to meet breeders, activists, and scientists who’ve dedicated their lives to cats. She visits the labs where people sort through feline bones unearthed from the first human settlements, treks through the Floridian wilderness in search of house cats-turned-hunters on the loose, and hangs out with Lil Bub, one of the world’s biggest celebrities—who just happens to be a cat. “Fascinating” (Richmond Times-Dispatch) and “lighthearted” (The Seattle Times), Tucker shows how these tiny felines have used their relationship with humans to become one of the most powerful animals on the planet. A “lively read that pounces back and forth between evolutionary science and popular culture” (The Baltimore Sun), The Lion in the Living Room suggests that we learn that the appropriate reaction to a house cat, it seems, might not be aww but awe.
Author: Suzanne Simard
Publisher: Knopf
ISBN: 0525656103
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 368
Get Book Here
Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • From the world's leading forest ecologist who forever changed how people view trees and their connections to one another and to other living things in the forest—a moving, deeply personal journey of discovery Suzanne Simard is a pioneer on the frontier of plant communication and intelligence; her TED talks have been viewed by more than 10 million people worldwide. In this, her first book, now available in paperback, Simard brings us into her world, the intimate world of the trees, in which she brilliantly illuminates the fascinating and vital truths--that trees are not simply the source of timber or pulp, but are a complicated, interdependent circle of life; that forests are social, cooperative creatures connected through underground networks by which trees communicate their vitality and vulnerabilities with communal lives not that different from our own. Simard writes--in inspiring, illuminating, and accessible ways—how trees, living side by side for hundreds of years, have evolved, how they learn and adapt their behaviors, recognize neighbors, compete and cooperate with one another with sophistication, characteristics ascribed to human intelligence, traits that are the essence of civil societies--and at the center of it all, the Mother Trees: the mysterious, powerful forces that connect and sustain the others that surround them. And Simard writes of her own life, born and raised into a logging world in the rainforests of British Columbia, of her days as a child spent cataloging the trees from the forest and how she came to love and respect them. And as she writes of her scientific quest, she writes of her own journey, making us understand how deeply human scientific inquiry exists beyond data and technology, that it is about understanding who we are and our place in the world.
Author: Abigail Tucker
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1501192876
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 336
Get Book Here
Book Description
"Everyone knows how babies are made, but scientists are only just beginning to understand the making of a mother. Mom Genes reveals the hard science behind our tenderest maternal impulses, tackling questions such as whether a new mom's brain ever really bounces back, why mothers are destined to mimic their own moms (or not), and how maternal aggression makes females the world's most formidable creatures."--Publisher's description.
Author: Florence Louise Marlow
Publisher: Morgan & Claypool Publishers
ISBN: 161504051X
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 221
Get Book Here
Book Description
Eggs of all animals contain mRNAs and proteins that are supplied to or deposited in the egg as it develops during oogenesis. These maternal gene products regulate all aspects of oocyte development, and an embryo fully relies on these maternal gene products for all aspects of its early development, including fertilization, transitions between meiotic and mitotic cell cycles, and activation of its own genome. Given the diverse processes required to produce a developmentally competent egg and embryo, it is not surprising that maternal gene products are not only essential for normal embryonic development but also for fertility. This review provides an overview of fundamental aspects of oocyte and early embryonic development and the interference and genetic approaches that have provided access to maternally regulated aspects of vertebrate development. Some of the pathways and molecules highlighted in this review, in particular, Bmps, Wnts, small GTPases, cytoskeletal components, and cell cycle regulators, are well known and are essential regulators of multiple aspects of animal development, including oogenesis, early embryogenesis, organogenesis, and reproductive fitness of the adult animal. Specific examples of developmental processes under maternal control and the essential proteins will be explored in each chapter, and where known conserved aspects or divergent roles for these maternal regulators of early vertebrate development will be discussed throughout this review. Table of Contents: Introduction / Oogenesis: From Germline Stem Cells to Germline Cysts / Oocyte Polarity and the Embryonic Axes: The Balbiani Body, an Ancient Oocyte Asymmetry / Preparing Developmentally Competent Eggs / Egg Activation / Blocking Polyspermy / Cleavage/ Mitosis: Going Multicellular / Maternal-Zygotic Transition / Reprogramming: Epigenetic Modifications and Zygotic Genome Activation / Dorsal-Ventral Axis Formation before Zygotic Genome Activation in Zebrafish and Frogs / Maternal TGF-β and the Dorsal-Ventral Embryonic Axis / Maternal Control After Zygotic Genome Activation / Compensation by Stable Maternal Proteins / Maternal Contributions to Germline Establishment or Maintenance / Perspective / Acknowledgments / References
Author: Terry Burnham
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0465046983
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 274
Get Book Here
Book Description
Short, sassy, and bold, Mean Genes uses a Darwinian lens to examine the issues that most deeply affect our lives: body image, money, addiction, violence, and the endless search for happiness, love, and fidelity. But Burnham and Phelan don't simply describe the connections between our genes and our behavior; they also outline steps that we can take to tame our primal instincts and so improve the quality of our lives. Why do we want (and do) so many things that are bad for us? We vow to lose those extra five pounds, put more money in the bank, and mend neglected relationships, but our attempts often end in failure. Mean Genes reveals that struggles for self-improvement are, in fact, battles against our own genes -- genes that helped our cavewoman and caveman ancestors flourish but that are selfish and out of place in the modern world. Why do we like junk food more than fruit? Why is the road to romance so rocky? Why is happiness so elusive? What drives us into debt? An investigation into the biological nature of temptation and the struggle for control, Mean Genes answers these and other fundamental questions about human nature while giving us an edge to lead more satisfying lives.
Author: Joi L. Morris
Publisher: Prometheus Books
ISBN: 1615927735
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 397
Get Book Here
Book Description
This unique and important guidebook is a single, comprehensive source of information and advice to help women (and some men) at high risk for breast and for ovarian cancer because of family history and genetic profile. One part memoir, three parts "how to" manual, Positive Results explains in a clear and steady manner the myths and realities of "the breast cancer genes." It lays out all the options in easy-to-follow, compassionate language. It will help women and men decide if they want to pursue genetic testing, guide them in interpreting their test results, and give them a sound basis for making the life-saving decisions required to manage their risks. Authors Joi Morris and Dr. Ora Karp Gordon cover all of the latest medical options, including genetic testing for breast cancer risk, breast cancer surveillance, assessing risk, mastectomy and breast reconstruction techniques, ovarian cancer surveillance, surgery, managing menopause, and cancer risks in men who carry mutations on BRCA genes. Along the way, Joi tells her personal story and that of other women and men who have made the gut-wrenching decisions required to survive in this world of astronomical risk. At the age of forty-two, Joi learned that she has a genetic mutation on a gene known as BRCA2. The test results meant that her risk of getting breast cancer could be as high as 84 percent by age seventy, and that her risk for ovarian cancer was also high. Compounding her risk was the fact that her mother had developed breast cancer in her forties. After much research and consultation, the result of which is this book, Joi made the difficult decision of undergoing prophylactic mastectomies. This straightforward and practical approach combined with the poignant personal experience of a woman at risk facing these challenging decisions will provide readers with the feeling that they have had the benefit of a long conversation with both a trusted physician and a friend who has just gone through the same uncertainties they are facing.
Author: Lundgren
Publisher: Carson-Dellosa Publishing
ISBN: 1618103628
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 28
Get Book Here
Book Description
This Book Discusses How The Genes And Traits Of A Parent Determine What Their Offspring Will Look Like. Be It Human Or Animal, This Book Goes Into Detail About This Fascinating Topic. Young Readers Will Love The Colorful Photos And Informative Text.
Author: Sarah Hill
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0525536035
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 321
Get Book Here
Book Description
An eye-opening book that reveals crucial information every woman taking hormonal birth control should know This groundbreaking book sheds light on how hormonal birth control affects women--and the world around them--in ways we are just now beginning to understand. By allowing women to control their fertility, the birth control pill has revolutionized women's lives. Women are going to college, graduating, and entering the workforce in greater numbers than ever before, and there's good reason to believe that the birth control pill has a lot to do with this. But there's a lot more to the pill than meets the eye. Although women go on the pill for a small handful of targeted effects (pregnancy prevention and clearer skin, yay!), sex hormones can't work that way. Sex hormones impact the activities of billions of cells in the body at once, many of which are in the brain. There, they play a role in influencing attraction, sexual motivation, stress, hunger, eating patterns, emotion regulation, friendships, aggression, mood, learning, and more. This means that being on the birth control pill makes women a different version of themselves than when they are off of it. And this is a big deal. For instance, women on the pill have a dampened cortisol spike in response to stress. While this might sound great (no stress!), it can have negative implications for learning, memory, and mood. Additionally, because the pill influences who women are attracted to, being on the pill may inadvertently influence who women choose as partners, which can have important implications for their relationships once they go off it. Sometimes these changes are for the better . . . but other times, they're for the worse. By changing what women's brains do, the pill also has the ability to have cascading effects on everything and everyone that a woman encounters. This means that the reach of the pill extends far beyond women's own bodies, having a major impact on society and the world. This paradigm-shattering book provides an even-handed, science-based understanding of who women are, both on and off the pill. It will change the way that women think about their hormones and how they view themselves. It also serves as a rallying cry for women to demand more information from science about how their bodies and brains work and to advocate for better research. This book will help women make more informed decisions about their health, whether they're on the pill or off of it.
