Genetic Science

Tucked away in Siberia, there are furry, four-legged creatures with wagging tails and floppy ears that are as docile and friendly as any lapdog. But, despite appearances, these are not dogs - they are foxes. They are the result of the most astonishing experiment in breeding ever undertaken - imagine speeding up thousands of years of evolution into a few decades. In 1959, biologists Dmitri Belyaev and Lyudmila Trut set out to do just that, by starting with a few dozen silver foxes from fox farms in the USSR and attempting to recreate the evolution of wolves into dogs in real time.

Dive into Evolutionary History, a mesmerizing journey through time, tracing the origins and development of all living beings. From the earliest single-celled organisms to the rise of Homo sapiens, this audiobook unravels the intricate tapestry of evolution with clarity and passion. Explore the wonders of life’s evolution across geological epochs, uncovering the secrets of adaptation, survival, and the remarkable journey of our ancestors.

In this intriguing book, evolutionary biologist Scott Solomon draws on the explosion of discoveries in recent years to examine the future evolution of our species. Combining knowledge of our past with current trends, Solomon offers convincing evidence that evolutionary forces still affect us today. But how will modernization - including longer lifespans, changing diets, global travel, and widespread use of medicine and contraceptives - affect our evolutionary future?

Astrobiology is an exciting new subject, and one, arguably, more interdisciplinary than any other. Astrobiologists seek to understand the origin and evolution of life on Earth in order to illuminate and guide the search for life on other planets. In this Very Short Introduction, David C. Catling introduces the subject through our understanding of the factors that allowed life to arise and persist on our own planet, and for the signs we are looking for in the search for extraterrestrial life.

Under threat of destruction or servitude to the Empire, facing the fleets of the Ragnar, Finth, and Thack Delos, and the larger force of the Thandol, Mirikami prepares the Federation for all-out war. The Planetary Union, allied with the Federation, receives a squadron of new technology Federation Scouts equipped with gravity controlled weapons. They conduct a preemptive strike on a Thandol base. The emperor blames it on the Federation, unaware of the PU's existence, and orders simultaneous attacks.

Thanks to the turncoat’s gambit, the investigation has forced the CBI team to split up. After witnessing the birth of a potential new conspiracy, Onima and Jace are stuck at AECC headquarters while Kara and a small team are trapped at a distant station on the other side of the Confederation. All of them are up against politicians and uber-wealthy businesspeople, some of whom seem to be doing illicit things to get even more obscenely rich. Worse, they’re using clones as scapegoats for further distractions and misdirection.

The world’s only superhero was discovered in 1969. No others were ever found. Until now. With Station destroyed and their friends dead, might Daniel and Abos finally be allowed some peace? Yeah, right. Daniel’s talents are needed by a UN department taking on the bad guys, including rogue halfheroes. Abos is searching for more of her species. She soon finds she’s not the only one looking. There’s a new threat that no one saw coming. And halfheroes are being targeted. When Daniel goes missing, it’s down to Abos to find out what’s going on and try to stop it.

Why is the genome of a salamander 40 times larger than that of a human? Why does the avocado tree produce a million flowers and only a hundred fruits? Why, in short, is there so much waste in nature? In this lively and wide-ranging meditation on the curious accidents and unexpected detours on the path of life, Daniel Milo argues that we ask these questions because we’ve embraced a faulty conception of how evolution - and human society - really works.

Author David Deamer addresses questions that are the cutting edge of research on the origin of life. In Assembling Life, he provides an overview of conditions on the early Earth four billion years ago and explains why freshwater hot springs are a plausible alternative to salty seawater as a site where life can begin.

After rescuing their daughter, Marie, from corporate-controlled Earth, Millicent and Ryker thought they were safe on their off-world paradise. They were wrong. Toton, once thought the weakest conglomerate, is now dominating ruined Earth with a sinister new technology. By harvesting minds for use in their supercomputers, they're enslaving the best and brightest humans to further their agenda. Millie and Ryker know that it's just a matter of time before Toton realizes the biggest prize - Marie's "gifted" mind - is merely a rocket ride away.

Twenty years ago, Asher Sutton vanished somewhere in the star system 61 Cygni, an inaccessible corner of the universe that humankind has thus far been unable to explore. Now Asher has returned to Earth, having impossibly survived catastrophic damage to his spacecraft. But the star traveler is not the same man he was when he began his journey two decades earlier. He is, in fact, no longer completely human. And he isn't alone.

Without our domesticated plants and animals, human civilization as we know it would not exist. We would still be living at subsistence level as hunter-gatherers if not for domestication. It is no accident that the cradle of civilization - the Middle East - is where sheep, goats, pigs, cattle, and cats commenced their fatefully intimate associations with humans.

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.

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.

Governments, black ops, rich businessmen.... All want alien tech, and some are going to great lengths, illegal lengths, to procure it. Someone went so far as to endanger a young girls family. A young girl who wrote a letter to the Queen Bitch. Now, those that are searching for the technology will have to deal with TQB. If there is one thing that will get Bethany Anne's attention... it's mistreating the defenseless.

We evolved to eat berries rather than bagels, to live in mud huts rather than condos, to sprint barefoot rather than play football - or did we? Are our bodies and brains truly at odds with modern life? Although it may seem as though we have barely had time to shed our hunter-gatherer legacy, biologist Marlene Zuk reveals that the story is not so simple. Popular theories about how our ancestors lived - and why we should emulate them - are often based on speculation, not scientific evidence. Armed with a razor-sharp wit and brilliant, eye-opening research, Zuk takes us to the cutting edge of biology to show that evolution can work much faster than was previously realized.

The Shadows have taken over half of the system, and Karin is the only one who can fight back. Genetically engineered from birth, Karin Makos’ powers have made her the Alliance’s most wanted person. With her sister still missing and only a cryptic notebook left behind for clues, the mystery of her past is going to take a lot more time and resources than they have to unravel it. And there’s a bigger problem looming.

Escaping from deranged cyborgs and a malcontent artificial intelligence had been the run of Daisy’s life, but one from which she had miraculously come out the other side, and in one piece, no less. Unfortunately for her, she had survived that ordeal only to find herself in a far deeper mess. With an even more dangerous turn of events throwing her in harm’s way, Daisy’s original plight was now dwarfed by the new issues at hand.

>In Journey of the Universe Brian Thomas Swimme and Mary Evelyn Tucker tell the epic story of the universe from an inspired new perspective, weaving the findings of modern science together with enduring wisdom found in the humanistic traditions of the West, China, India, and indigenous peoples. The authors explore cosmic evolution as a profoundly wondrous process based on creativity, connection, and interdependence, and they envision an unprecedented opportunity for the world's people to address the daunting ecological and social challenges of our times.

In 1954, Ensign James Cortell wakes up from a coma with memories of an alien scientist who had visited Earth some 50,000 years ago. Years later, he realizes this knowledge should not be taken to his grave. Earth’s extraterrestrial visitors altered Homo sapien DNA to produce modern humans. Soon the industrialist overlords among the alien race realize that genetically altered humans offer a source of cheap labor. A galactic slave trade is born.