Genetic Science

Since its formation nearly five billion years ago, our planet has been the sole living world in a vast and silent universe. Now, Earth's isolation is coming to an end. Over the past two decades, astronomers have discovered thousands of "exoplanets" orbiting other stars, including some that could be similar to our own world. Studying those distant planets for signs of life will be crucial to understanding life's intricate mysteries right here on Earth. In a firsthand account of this unfolding revolution, Lee Billings draws on interviews with top researchers.

Feathers are an evolutionary marvel: Aerodynamic, insulating, beguiling. They date back more than 100 million years. Yet their story has never been fully told. In Feathers, biologist Thor Hanson details a sweeping natural history, as feathers have been used to fly, protect, attract, and adorn through time and place. Applying the research of paleontologists, ornithologists, biologists, engineers, and even art historians, Hanson asks: What are feathers? How did they evolve? What do they mean to us?

On his popular science blog, Pharyngula, PZ Myers has entertained millions of fans with his infectious love of evolutionary science and his equally infectious disdain for creationism, biblical literalism, intelligent design theory, and other products of godly illogic. This funny and fearless book collects and expands on some of his most popular writings, giving the religious fanaticism of our times the gleeful disrespect it deserves by skewering the apocalyptic fantasies, magical thinking, hypocrisies, and pseudoscientific theories advanced by religious fundamentalists of all stripes.

Biogeography is the study of geographic variation in all characteristics of life - ranging from genetic, morphological, and behavioral variation among regional populations of a species, to geographic trends in diversity of entire communities across our planet's surface. From the ancient hunters and gatherers to the earliest naturalists, Charles Darwin, Alfred Russel Wallace, and scientists today, the search for patterns in life has provided insights that proved invaluable for understanding the natural world.

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.

The Island of Doctor Moreau is an 1896 science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells. The text of the novel is the narration of Edward Prendick, a shipwrecked man rescued by a passing boat who is left on the island home of Doctor Moreau, a mad scientist who creates human-like hybrid beings from animals via vivisection. The novel deals with a number of philosophical themes, including pain and cruelty, moral responsibility, human identity, and human interference with nature. Wells described it as "an exercise in youthful blasphemy.

What is life? Humans have been asking this question for thousands of years. But as technology has advanced and our understanding of biology has deepened, the answer has evolved. For decades, scientists have been exploring the limits of nature by modifying and manipulating DNA, cells, and whole organisms to create new ones that could never have previously existed on their own.

Generations have been taught that evolution implies there is no overarching purpose to our existence. Some scientists take this logic one step further, suggesting that evolution is intrinsically atheistic and goes against the concept of God. But is this true? By integrating emerging principles from a variety of scientific disciplines—ranging from evolutionary biology to psychology—Yale Professor Samuel Wilkinson provides a framework of evolution that implies not only that there is an overarching purpose to our existence, but what this purpose is.

Edward O. Wilson is one of the world’s preeminent biologists, a Pulitzer Prize winner, and the author of more than 25 books. The defining work in a remarkable career, The Social Conquest of Earth boldly addresses age-old questions (Where did we come from? What are we? Where are we going?) while delving into the biological sources of morality, religion, and the creative arts.

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.

In Arrival of the Fittest, renowned evolutionary biologist Andreas Wagner draws on over 15 years of research to present the missing piece in Darwin's theory. Using experimental and computational technologies that were heretofore unimagined, he has found that adaptations are not just driven by chance, but by a set of laws that allow nature to discover new molecules and mechanisms in a fraction of the time that random variation would take.

Few would question that humankind is the crowning achievement of evolution—that history yields progress over time from the primitive and simple to the more advanced and complex—or that identifying an existing trend can be helpful in making important life decisions. We have always identified trends as bad or good. But Stephen Jay Gould argues that this mode of interpretation is a bias that needs correcting.

Binge listen. Keep the lights on. Lock your doors. A mutating plague has killed two thirds of the world's population. The new threats come from desperate survivors. And Mike Crenshaw is looking for solid ground on which to find safety and peace. From the world of The Traveler Series comes a new cast of characters, new obstacles, and the same devastating, world-altering virus which plunges society into the depth of a dystopian hell. Grounded begins in the aftermath of The Scourge.

Binge listen. Keep the lights on. Lock your doors. A mutating plague has killed two thirds of the world's population. Society has collapsed. And Mike Crenshaw is adrift. From the world of The Traveler Series comes a new cast of characters, new obstacles, and the same devastating, world-altering virus which plunges society into the depth of a dystopian hell. Adrift begins six months after The Scourge takes hold.

The conclusion of the Amazon and Audible best-selling Halfhero series. When The Deterrent comes out of hiding and kidnaps the titans, it triggers the biggest manhunt in history. On one side, the military might of the United States and Air Commodore Fiona Bardock, Britain’s most talented investigator. On the other, three halfheroes, one human and a puddle of slime. Daniel Harbin hopes to get through this alive and track down the children he never knew existed. What no one realises is they’re about to confront the greatest danger of all.

Greed and fear, two emotions that rule both individuals...and countries. Now, China has decided that they will do whatever it takes to acquire TQB technology. There was a glaring flaw in their plan. When they kill an unborn little baby in a raid, the Queen Bitch is released. Now, China has two options...Kill Bethany Anne, or sue for peace.

A prototype with a fierce primary directive: Protect her. Oliver is a super-computer built inside a supermodel body; the most luxurious android invented to date. Left collecting dust in storage because of a packaging error, he's finally activated from his prolonged sleep, eager to please his beautiful new owner. But she's running from a toxic past, and it's catching up to her. His directives are clear: Care for Becca. Protect her. It should be illegal for an artificial man to be as gorgeous as Oliver is.

In a corporate-controlled future where the ruling conglomerates genetically engineer their employees, Millicent Foster is the best of the best. Physically perfect and exceptionally intelligent, Millicent is granted the uncommon privilege of breeding. But her daughter inherits more than superior genetics...little Marie has a rare ability that the world has never seen, and her conglomerate, Moxidone, will stop at nothing to have sole possession of the child.

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.

Eight generations of pioneers embark on a 300-year voyage to escape Earth’s demise. Their mission: ensure humanity’s survival on a distant exoplanet. Armed with a DNA database of over a million Earth species, they establish a new world. Yet, what they discover will shatter every preconception. Brace for a jaw-dropping revelation connecting them to beings defying the very essence of the universe.