Description: Ideal for those with a general interest in biology, this book easily draws readers into the material with lots of analogies and stories that help them readily relate "biological" concepts to others they are "already" familiar with, and by using a conversational tone that allows them to concentrate on the concepts, rather than struggling with scientific jargon. "Media Labs" at the end of each chapter includes Web and CD-ROM exercises. Science as a Way of Learning. ESSENTIAL PARTS. The Fundamental Building Blocks: Chemistry and Life. Water, pH, and Biological Molecules. Life's Home: The Cell. Outer Life: The Cell Membrane. ENERGY AND ITS TRANSFORMATION. Life's Mainspring: An Introduction to Energy. Vital Harvest: Deriving Energy from Food. The Green World's Gift: Photosynthesis. HOW LIFE GOES ON: GENETICS. Introduction to Genetics--One Cell Becomes Two: Mitosis and Cytokinesis. Making the Cells for a New Generation: Meiosis. The First Geneticist: Gregor Mendel and His Discoveries. Chromosomes and Inheritance. To the Heart of the Matter: DNA Structure and Replication. How Proteins Are Made: Genetic Transcription, Translation and Regulation. The Future Isn't What It Used to Be: Biotechnology. LIFE'S ORGANIZING PRINCIPLE: EVOLUTION AND THE DIVERSITY OF LIFE. Charles Darwin, the History of Evolutionary Thought, and the Evidence for Evolution. The Means of Evolution: Microevolution. The Outcomes of Evolution: Macroevolution. A Slow Unfolding: The History of Life on Earth. Pond Dwellers, Log Eaters, and Fast Movers: The Diversity of Life. A BOUNTY THAT FEEDS US ALL: PLANTS. Introduction to Plants Plant Structure, Signaling, Defenses and Responses to the Environment. Common Themes in the GreenWorld: Plant Tissues, Growth, Transport, and Reproduction. WHAT MAKES THE ORGANISM TICK? ANIMAL ANATOMY & PHYSIOLOGY. Introduction to Animal Anatomy and Physiology The Integumentary, Skeletal, and Muscular Systems. Control and Defense: The Nervous, Endocrine, and Immune Systems. Transport, Nutrition and Exchange: Blood, Breath, Digestion, and Elimination. An Amazingly Detailed Script: Animal Development. How the Baby Came to Be: Human Reproduction. THE LIVING WORLD AS A WHOLE: ECOLOGY. An Interactive Living World: Populations and Communities in Ecology. An Interactive Living World: Ecosystems and the Biosphere. For anyone interested in an accessile introduction to biology.

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