Acclaimed author Matt Ridley's thrilling follow-up to his bestseller Genome. Armed with the extraordinary new discoveries about our genes Ridley turns his attention to the nature versus nurture debate to bring the first popular account of the roots of human behaviour. What makes us who we are? In February 2001 it was announced that the genome contains not 100 000 genes as originally expected but only 30 000. This startling revision led some scientists to conclude that there are simply not enough human genes to account for all the different ways people behave: we must be made by nurture not nature. Matt Ridley argues that the emerging truth is far more interesting than this myth. Nurture depends on genes too & genes need nurture. Genes not only predetermine the broad structure of the brain; they also absorb formative experiences react to social cues & even run memory. They are consequences as well as causes of the will. Published fifty years after the discovery of the double helix of DNA Nature via Nurture chronicles a new revolution in our understanding of genes. Ridley recounts the hundred years' war between the partisans of nature & nurture to explain how this paradoxical creature the human being can be simultaneously free-willed & motivated by instinct & culture. Nature via Nurture is an enthralling up-to-the-minute account of how genes build brains to absorb experience. ...

John Emsleys Natures Building Bocks was published in paperback in 2003. In this readable informative & fascinating guide to the elements are entries on each of the 100-odd chemical elements arranged alphabetically from actinium to zirconium. Each entry comprises an explanation of where the elements name comes from followed by Body element (the role it plays in living things) Element of history (how & when it was discovered) Economic element (what it is used for) Environmental element (where it occurs how much) Chemical element (facts figures & narrative) & Element of surprise (an amazing little-known fact). Since publication of the first edition there have been a number of developments. Three new chemical elements have been named & validated: darmstadtium roetgenium & copernicium & the section on transfermium elements has now been incorporated into the main part of the book. Economic uses of elements have grown & some quite rare elements such as Scandium are now economically important along with updates to elements such as gold due to new roles in industry. Fully revised & updated for 2010 this browsable compendium holds a wealth of useful information. ...

We know that animals cross miles of water land & sky with pinpoint precision on a daily basis. But it is only in recent years that scientists have learned how these astounding feats of navigation are actually accomplished. With colorful & thorough detail Natures Compass" explores the remarkable methods by which animals find their way both near home & around the globe. Noted biologist James Gould & popular science writer Carol Gould delve into the elegant strategies & fail-safe backup systems the invisible sensitivities & mysterious forces & incredible mental abilities used by familiar & rare species as they investigate a multitude of navigation strategies from the simple to the astonishing. The Goulds discuss how animals navigate without instruments & training at a level far beyond human talents. They explain how animals measure time & show how the fragile monarch butterfly employs an internal clock calendar compass & map to commence & measure the two-thous&-mile annual journey to Mexico
- all with a brain that weighs only a few thousandths of an ounce. They look at honey bees & how they rely on the sun & mental maps to locate landmarks such as nests & flowers. & they examine whether long-distance migrants such as the homing pigeon depend on a global positioning system to let them know where they are. Ultimately the authors ask if the disruption of migratory paths through habitat destruction & global warming is affecting & endangering animal species. Providing a comprehensive picture of animal navigation & migration " Natures Compass" decodes the mysteries of this extraordinary aspect of natural behavior."
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Why do many flowers have five or eight petals but very few six or seven? Why do snowflakes have sixfold symmetry? Why do tigers have stripes but leopards have spots? Mathematics is to nature as Sherlock Holmes is to evidence. Mathematics can look at a single snowflake & deduce the atomic geometry of its crystals; it can start with a violin string & uncover the existence of radio waves. & mathematics still has the power to open our eyes to new & unsuspected regularities
- the secret structure of a cloud or the hidden rhythms of the weather. There are patterns in the world we are now seeing for the first time
- patterns at the frontier of science yet patterns so simple that anybody can see them once they know where to look.

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W.D. Hamilton (1936-2000) was responsible for a revolution in thinking about evolutionary biology
- a revolution that changed our
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The Naughtiest Girl Saves the Day: When some school strawberry plants are vandalised a lost shoe buckle at the scene of the crime leads straight to the Naughtiest Girl. The next night as shes dropping off to sleep someone shouts Fire!
- so Elizabeth jumps up & rings the fire bell. But there is no fire & now Elizabeth is being blamed for a catalogue of silly tricks. If she cant prove her innocence shes in line to lose her hard-won part in the school play. So when the same happens the next night Elizabeth is reluctant to report a fire
- except this time there really is one... Well Done the Naughtiest Girl: Elizabeth is desperate to play the piano in the end of school concert. But only one girl can be chosen & her rival Arabella is practising hard! So ignoring her looming exams Elizabeth spends every waking minute practising. When Arabella is still chosen over her she realises that not only will she not have a place in the school concert she might well also fail all her exams. Racing to get her revision done she finds a quiet spot in an old oak tree in the school grounds. When Elizabeth realises the tree is marked as one to be chopped down shes determined not to let it happen. But can she save the tree & manage to pass all her exams? Its going to be a fight to the finish...

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This collection
Includes:: Book 1: The Naughtiest Girl In the School Elizabeth Allen is spoilt & selfish. When's she's
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Elizabeth is overjoyed to be appointed monitor again especially when the new head-boy & girl have such exciting ideas. But one of the second form boys is slowly turning all the other boys against her starting with a nasty note in her desk & ending with a false tip-off about a midnight pillow fight in the boys' dormitory. Rather than report it Elizabeth plans to investigate
- & with the help of some friends unleash a surprise waterpistol attack on the boys. But Elizabeth has been set up as she discovers when she runs straight into their form teacher & the head boy
- mistakenly squirting them both with water. Now Elizabeth is in trouble again
- & she could lose her prized monitor's role. Can she find out who has a grudge against her
- & why?



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When some school strawberry plants are vandalised a lost shoe buckle at the scene of the crime leads straight to the Naughtiest Girl. It is hers but how did it get there
- & why would anyone want to pin the blame on Elizabeth? The next night as she's dropping off to sleep someone shouts ' Fire!'
- so Elizabeth jumps up & rings the fire bell. But there is no fire & now Elizabeth is being blamed for a catalogue of silly tricks. If she can't prove her innocence she's in line to lose her hard-won part in the school play. So when the same happens the next night Elizabeth is reluctant to report a fire
- except this time there really is one...


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Elizabeth is furious when a girl new to the sixth form becomes head girl over the obvious choice her friend Emma. The new head girl Kerry is a young actress & Elizabeth is convinced that all the seniors have been swayed by her acting skills both on screen & at school. She knows the real Kerry is a nasty piece of work
- but how can she prove it? She's determined to try & starts a campaign to replace Kerry with Emma. But Kerry is cleverer than Elizabeth thinks & somehow she just manages to make the Naughtiest Girl look like a troublemaker...
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