Genetics Health

With 750 million people living in villages, India has the largest rural population in the world. Based on his Indian experience, Dr Kalam recommends a sustainable and inclusive development system called PURA—Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas—to uplift the rural masses not by subsidies...

Will climate change force a massive human migration to the Northern Rim? How does our sense of morality arise from the structure of the brain? What does the latest research in language acquisition tells us about the role of culture in the way we think? What does current neurological research...

A book that challenges our notions of family honour and morality Sometime, somewhere, the conspiracy of silence around Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) in Indian homes had to be shattered. This path-breaking book'the first of its kind in the country and subcontinent'attempts to give that...

Che cos'è la sindrome di Down, perché può nascere un bambino con la trisomia 21, e come aiutarlo a crescere fino a farne una persona autonoma e integrata nel mondo della scuola e del lavoro? Il volume, dedicato a genitori, insegnanti, operatori, ripercorre la storia di vita delle persone con sindrome Down e della loro famiglia.

Unblinded is the true story of New Yorker Kevin Coughlin, who became blind at age 36 due to a rare genetic disorder known as Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy. Twenty years later, without medical intervention, Kevin's sight miraculously started to return. He is the only known person in the world who has experienced a spontaneous, non-medically assisted regeneration of the optic nerve. Unblinded follows Kevin's descent into darkness and his unexplained reemergence to sight.

On May 10, 1998, biologist Craig Venter, director of the Institute for Genomic Research, announced that he was forming a private company that within three years would unravel the complete genetic code of human life, seven years before the projected finish of the U.S. government's Human Genome Project. Venter hoped that by decoding the genome ahead of schedule, he would speed up the pace of biomedical research and save the lives of thousands of people. He also hoped to become very famous and very rich.

Cheat death—or at least delay it—with this accessible look into the quest for immortality, and what it means for human civilization. Are humans close to living forever? With advances in medicine and new therapies that prolong life expectancy, we are on track to make aging even more...

A gripping narrative about the Zika virus from the New York Times science reporter covering the outbreak. Until recently, Zika virus—once considered a mild disease—was hardly a cause for global panic. But as early as August of 2015, doctors in Brazil’s northeast region began to notice a...

An NPR Best Book of 2016 A New Yorker Book We Loved in 2016 Named to Kirkus Reviews' Best Books of 2016 The Millions Most Anticipated Book of 2016 Flavorwire Most Anticipated BookFrom the critically acclaimed author of The Virgins, Eleven Hours is an intimate exploration of the physical and...

From endocrinologist and pioneering expert in longevity, a groundbreaking book revealing the five biomarkers of health, the seven patterns of health decline, and how you can harness the power of precision medicine to defy your genetic destiny and live healthier longer. Your genes do not have to...

The emerging field of evolutionary psychology remains controversial, perhaps especially among Christians. Yet according to Justin Barrett and Pamela Ebstyne King, it can be a powerful tool for understanding human nature and our distinctively human purpose. Thriving with Stone Age Minds provides an introduction to evolutionary psychology, explaining key concepts like hyper-sociality, information gathering, and self-control.

Werner Ernst, a second-year medical resident, encounters the stark realities of the modern intensive care unit, the fears and illusions of the loved ones of the terminally ill, and the exhaustion and irony of doctors, nurses, and technicians...

Laurence Gonzales’s electrifying adventure opens in the jungles of the Congo. Jenny Lowe, a primatologist studying chimpanzees—the bonobos—is running for her life. A civil war has exploded and Jenny is trapped in its crosshairs . . . She runs to the camp of a fellow primatologist. The...

With the ongoing advancement of AI and other technologies, our world is becoming increasingly intelligent. From chatbots to innovations in brain-computer interfaces to the possibility of superintelligences leading to the Singularity later this century, our reality is being transformed before our eyes. This is commonly seen as the natural result of progress, but what if there's more to it than that? What if intelligence is an inevitability, an underlying property of the universe?

Drawing on insights from across the social, behavioral, and natural sciences, Michelle Baddeley explores contexts in which behavior is driven by the herd. She analyzes the rational vs nonrational and cognitive vs emotional forces involved, and she investigates why herding only sometimes works out well. With new perspectives on followers, leaders, and the pros and cons of herd behavior, Baddeley shines vivid light on human behavior in the context of our ever-more-connected world.

Darwin developed the theory of sexual selection to explain why the animal world abounds in stunning beauty, from the brilliant colors of butterflies and fishes to the songs of birds and frogs. He argued that animals have "a taste for the beautiful" that drives their potential mates to evolve features that make them more sexually attractive and reproductively successful. But if Darwin explained why sexual beauty evolved in animals, he struggled to understand how.

How did humans, a species of self-centered apes, come to care about others? Since Darwin, scientists have tried to answer this question using evolutionary theory. In The Kindness of Strangers, psychologist Michael E. McCullough shows why they have failed and offers a new explanation instead. From the moment nomadic humans first settled down until the aftermath of the Second World War, our species has confronted repeated crises that we could only survive by changing our behavior.

For all that science knows about the living world, notes David P. Barash, there are even more things we don't know, genuine evolutionary mysteries that perplex the best minds in biology. Paradoxically, many of these mysteries are very close to home, involving some of the most personal aspects of being human. Homo Mysterious examines a number of these evolutionary mysteries, exploring things we don't yet know about ourselves, laying out the best current hypotheses, and pointing toward insights that scientists are just beginning to glimpse.

Eating disorders are one of the most common but elusive conditions to treat in all of Psychiatry. While current treatments do help some patients with eating disorders, many individuals receive little to no benefit from treatment options, leading to a lifelong struggle with anxiety around eating and body image.

Already technology enables parents to select some genetic traits for their children, and soon it will be possible to begin to shape ourselves as a species. Countering loud cries of alarm, bioethics expert Ronald Green explains why our fears about genetic engineering are overblown and how we can move forward responsibly to create a better future.