Genetic Science

The story of how our ancestors made the first tentative steps towards becoming human, how we lost our fur but gained language, fire and tools, and how we strode out of Africa, invented farming and cities and ultimately created modern civilisation. Where did we come from? Where are we going? Homo sapiens is the most successful, the most widespread and the most influential species ever to walk the Earth.

John Tyler Bonner, one of our most distinguished and insightful biologists, here challenges a central tenet of evolutionary biology. In this concise, elegantly written book, he makes the bold and provocative claim that some biological diversity may be explained by something other than natural selection. With his customary wit and accessible style, Bonner makes an argument for the underappreciated role that randomness - or chance - plays in evolution.

From the clouds of Venus to the origins of the time gates, this collection of novellas and short fiction visits many favourite worlds of the Quantum Evolution universe, as well as some new to the series. With two 20,000-plus-word novellas and four long short stories, this collection is a stunning showcase of talent.

My name is Rex. I am a good dog.... Rex is also seven feet tall at the shoulder, bulletproof, bristling with heavy-calibre weaponry, and a deadly weapon in a dirty war. He's part of a Multiform Assault Pack operating in the lawless anarchy of Campeche, southeastern Mexico. He has the intelligence to carry out his orders and feedback implants to reward him when he does. All he wants to be is a Good Dog, and to do that he must do exactly what Master says.

It is difficult to conceive of the vast scale of the history of life on Earth, from the very first living organisms sparking into life in hydrothermal deep-sea vents to the dizzying diversity of life today. The evolution of life is a sweeping epic of a tale, with twists and turns, surprising heroes and unlikely survivors. The Earth beautifully distils this complex story into a meaningful scale. In taking a closer look at 47 carefully selected organisms over 15 periods in our planetary history, this audiobook tells the whole story of life on Earth.

While grieving her husband's murder, a young Colorado veterinarian meets a troubled FBI agent and begins to uncover the world's most sinister secrets in this thriller from James Patterson. Frannie O'Neill is a young and talented veterinarian living in Colorado. Plagued by the mysterious murder...

Just 45 years ago, the age of gene modification was born. Researchers could create glow-in-the-dark mice, farmyard animals producing drugs in their milk, and vitamin-enhanced rice that could prevent half a million people going blind every year. But now GM is rapidly being supplanted by a new system called CRISPR or "gene editing". Using this approach, scientists can manipulate the genes of almost any organism with a degree of precision, ease and speed that we could only dream of ten years ago.

Binary is the ultimate guide for understanding and dismantling the sex spectrum, the new cultural belief that sex exists on a continuum and that male and female are social constructs. By analyzing its 10 most popular arguments, Zachary A. Elliott reveals how the tenets of the sex spectrum deny evolution, development, and genetics. Using the primary biology literature, the book provides the listener with a comprehensive scientific understanding of how the two sexes are universal phenomena and how complex genetic networks consistently result in a simple yet profound outcome: male or female.

Biologist Rob Dunn reveals the crucial influence that other species have upon our health, our well-being, and our world in The Wild Life of Our Bodies - a tour through the hidden truths of nature and codependence. Dunn illuminates the nuanced relationships that exist between homo sapiens and other species, relationships that underpin humanity's ability to thrive and prosper in every circumstance. Fans of Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma will be enthralled by Dunn's powerful, lucid exploration of the role that humankind plays within the greater web of life on Earth.

After an unfortunate accident, Handry is forced to wander a world he doesn't understand, searching for meaning. He soon discovers that the life he thought he knew is far stranger than he could even possibly imagine. Can an unlikely savior provide the answers to the questions he barely comprehends?

With the doomsday ship only days away from impacting the Earth, humanity's demise seems all but assured. In every corner of the world, news of the impending destruction has led to chaos, looting, and the collapse of the rule of law. As the foundations of civilization crumble around them, Jack and Mia must race to find answers to perhaps the most important questions of all time. Why have the Ateans repeatedly eradicated life on our planet? And could the key to ending the cycle of extinctions be locked somewhere within the Salzburg Chromosome?

It's been 10 years since Handry was wrenched away from his family and friends, forced to wander a world he no longer understood. But with the help of the Ancients, he has cobbled together a life, of sorts, for himself and his fellow outcasts. Wandering from village to village, welcoming the folk that the townships abandon, fighting the monsters the villagers cannot - or dare not - his ever-growing band of misfits has become the stuff of legend, a story told by parents to keep unruly children in line.

Out on his own as a surveyor, Major Corbin sleeps under the stars and calls his own shots. As a one-man operation without powers on a space colony with power-abusing supers, this is the life. Nothing lasts forever. The chance discovery of a mysterious substance changes everything when he gains superpowers and learns that it’s the key to saving the colony from an evil that nobody but he knows is coming. The kicker? Gaining powers means waking an ancient being that might be the difference between saving the universe or dying in the process.

In The Genealogical Adam and Eve, S. Joshua Swamidass tests a scientific hypothesis: What if the traditional account is somehow true, with the origins of Adam and Eve taking place alongside evolution? Building on well-established but overlooked science, Swamidass explains how it's possible for Adam and Eve to be rightly identified as the ancestors of everyone.

In Proton Field #1, she and Vinn discovered they could fuse hydrogen. Now she’s exploring the warping of space and its effects on hydrogen containing molecules nearby. The story examines how this warping makes it possible to achieve reactionless thrust that can lift people...and move spacecraft.

In a world where women are seen as a commodity to barter, Alaska promised a sanctuary. But to stay, I have to enter the wife lottery. Six men, one wife. And I have no say in who those men will be. It's more than a game of chance - it's my life falling into the hands of strangers. But the men who win my hand are ruggedly handsome and promise to protect me until death do us part.

The werecat flexed his claws, as he waited in the shadows. Griddlebone wished he could rescue them all, but his orders were clear. He could only take one.... A short story from the world of P.A.W.S.

Telekinetic is the first of a series of post-apocalyptic stories featuring the Hyllis family. The collapse of civilization has reduced their people back to iron and horsepower. The Hyllises tend to inherit “tele-talents” such as telekinesis and teleportation. Tarc Hyllis’ mother (and his grandfather before her) could “feel” things with their talent. Tarc’s father can “push” objects with his mind. Then some strangers show up to scout the town where the Hyllises live. Could Tarc’s powers, weak as they are, play a role in resisting this invasion?

With twists and turns that will blow you away, Twisted Truths is a sexy, action-packed suspense at its very best. "A pure adrenaline rush."--RT Book Reviews You can't escape the past . . . Noni is desperate. Her infant niece has been kidnapped, and the only person who can save her is a private...

The vampires that once haunted Wichita are gone, reduced to ash. But Terry’s real war is only beginning. Topeka is burning, caught in the ruthless crossfire of S-ranked tyrants locked in a game of conquest. While the city suffers, the supers wage war.