One of the world's top behavioural geneticists argues that we need a radical rethink about what makes us who we are The blueprint for our individuality lies in the 1% of DNA that differs between people. Our intellectual capacity, our introversion or extraversion, our vulnerability to mental illness, even whether we are a morning person - all of these aspects of our personality are profoundly shaped by our inherited DNA differences. In Blueprint, Robert Plomin, a pioneer in the field of behavioural genetics, draws on a lifetime's worth of research to make the case that DNA is the most important factor shaping who we are. Our families, schools and the environment around us are important, but they are not as influential as our genes. This is why, he argues, teachers and parents should accept children for who they are, rather than trying to mould them in certain directions. Even the environments we choose and the signal events that impact our lives, from divorce to addiction, are influenced by our genetic predispositions. Now, thanks to the DNA revolution, it is becoming possible to predict who we will become, at birth, from our DNA alone. As Plomin shows us, these developments have sweeping implications for how we think about parenting, education, and social mobility. A game-changing book by a leader in the field, Blueprint shows how the DNA present in the single cell with which we all begin our lives can impact our behaviour as adults.

Tom poświęcony został osobie Profesora Ryszarda Schramma. Profesor był człowiekiem renesansu, aktywnym w wielu dziedzinach - nauce, taternictwie, alpinizmie, polarnictwie, miał niezwykle bogaty życiorys, pozostawił imponujący dorobek: publikacje naukowe i pozawodowe związane z jego pasjami, fotografie i niezwykle cenne opracowania kartograficzne.

'Vivid, thrilling, a delight ... Tim Flannery is a palaeontologist and ecologist of global standing, and this is a compelling and authoritative narrative of the evolution of Europe's flora and fauna, from the formation of the continent to its near future ... an exciting book, full of wonder' James McConnachie, Sunday Times A place of exceptional diversity, rapid change, and high energy, Europe has literally been at the crossroads of the world ever since the interaction of Asia, North America and Africa formed the tropical island archipelago that would become the continent of today. In this unprecedented evolutionary history, Tim Flannery shows how for the past 100 million years Europe has absorbed wave after wave of immigrant species; taking them in, transforming them, and sometimes hybridising them. Flannery reveals how, in addition to playing a vital role in the evolution of our own species, Europe was once the site of the formation of the first coral reefs, the home of some of the world's largest elephants, and now has more wolves than North America. This groundbreaking book charts the history of the land itself and the forces shaping life on it - including modern humans - to create a portrait of a continent that continues to exert a huge influence on the world today.

A fantastic first book on birds, Nature Explorers Birds is the perfect companion for children eager to understand the world of ornithology. Explore the skies and find out all about various types of birds, from birds of prey to tropical birds, and how a bird makes its nest. With exciting activities, including how to make a bird feeder, and plenty of fun facts, Nature Explorers Birds is a must for children curious about birds and keen to explore the world.

A fantastic first book on the coast, Nature Explorers Seashore is the perfect companion for children eager to understand the world of the shoreline. Explore the beach and find out about shell shapes, what lives in rockpools, and find out the answer to questions such as "What causes tides?" With exciting activities, like making a paper boat, and plenty of fun facts, Nature Explorers Seashore is a must for children curious about the seashore and keen to explore the world.

Bring the amazing world of wildlife right into your home. Packed with animal facts for kids and more than 40 colourful maps that detail the countries they where live. Each colourful map is bursting with information, combining illustrations of animals with photographs showing key habitats and locations for each country. The atlas also includes a colourful world map pull-out poster showing all the countries of the world and their key animals. Through each map children are shown how to read a map and use a key, compass and scale. Charming and informative, the Children's Illustrated Animal Atlas is a delightful addition to every child's library.

Peter Godfrey-Smith is a leading philosopher of science. He is also a scuba diver whose underwater videos of warring octopuses have attracted wide notice. In this book, he brings his parallel careers together to tell a bold new story of how nature became aware of itself. Mammals and birds are widely seen as the smartest creatures on earth. But one other branch of the tree of life has also sprouted surprising intelligence: the cephalopods, consisting of the squid, the cuttlefish, and above all the octopus. New research shows that these marvelous creatures display remarkable gifts. What does it mean that intelligence on earth has evolved not once but twice? And that the mind of the octopus is nonetheless so different from our own? Combining science and philosophy with firsthand accounts of his cephalopod encounters, Godfrey-Smith shows how primitive organisms bobbing in the ocean began sending signals to each other and how these early forms of communication gave rise to the advanced nervous systems that permit cephalopods to change colors and human beings to speak. By tracing the problem of consciousness back to its roots and comparing the human brain to its most alien and perhaps most remarkable animal relative, Godfrey-Smith's Other Minds sheds new light on one of our most abiding mysteries.

Co wiemy o płazach zamieszkujących nasze łąki? Czy potrafimy je rozróżnić? I czy żabki mogą być niebieskie? Na te i inne pytania odpowiada edukacyjne opowiastka Joanny Baran, która w przystępny sposób przekazuje wiedzę najmłodszym czytelnikom. Zdjęć płazów bezogonowych użyczył autorce znany działacz na rzecz ochrony przyrody, dziennikarz i wspaniały fotograf - Adam Wajrak. Książka zawiera również karty pracy (z ilustracjami autorki) dla małych czytelników, by po lekturze mogli sprawdzić swoje wiadomości.

Learn about the amazing natural science of trees in this gorgeously illustrated nature and science book. From the highest branch and leaf down to the complex "wood wide web" of roots, every part of a tree plays an important role in its own growth and the habitat of the whole forest or woodland. Did you know that trees take care of each other and that the whole forest is connected? The Magic and Mystery of Trees takes children on a fascinating journey of exploration, showing them just how special these mighty organisms are. Discover how they communicate and warn each other of predators, how they nurture their networks, record the past, and anticipate the future to ensure their survival. Learn amazing tree facts, meet extraordinary trees from around the world and learn about the habitats they create. Find out what trees do for us and how to make your community a greener place by planting your very own tree!

Bohaterami najnowszej kolekcji „Świat Dinozaurów” są uwielbiane przez dzieci prehistoryczne gady. Każda książka to kompendium wiedzy o jednym gatunku – informacje, odkrycia, ciekawostki, a ponadto plakat, gry i zabawy oraz figurka tytułowego dinozaura. Kolekcja składa się z 30 tomów, kolejne tomy w sprzedaży co 2 tygodnie.

Two weeks before his death, Oliver Sacks outlined the contents of The River of Consciousness, the last book he would oversee. The best-selling author of On the Move, Musicophilia, and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Sacks is known for his illuminating case histories about people living with neurological conditions at the far borderlands of human experience. But his grasp of science was not restricted to neuroscience or medicine; he was fascinated by the issues, ideas, and questions of all the sciences. That wide-ranging expertise and passion informs the perspective of this book, in which he interrogates the nature not only of human experience but of all life. In The River of Consciousness, Dr. Sacks takes on evolution, botany, chemistry, medicine, neuroscience, and the arts, and calls upon his great scientific and creative heroes—above all, Darwin, Freud, and William James. For Sacks, these thinkers were constant companions from an early age; the questions they explored—the meaning of evolution, the roots of creativity, and the nature of consciousness—lie at the heart of science and of this book. The River of Consciousness demonstrates Sacks’s unparalleled ability to make unexpected connections, his sheer joy in knowledge, and his unceasing, timeless endeavor to understand what makes us human.

66 million years ago the dinosaurs were wiped from the face of the earth. Today, Dr. Steve Brusatte, one of the leading scientists of a new generation of dinosaur hunters, armed with cutting edge technology, is piecing together the complete story of how the dinosaurs ruled the earth for 150 million years. The world of the dinosaurs has fascinated on book and screen for decades – from early science fiction classics like The Lost World, to Godzilla terrorizing the streets of Tokyo, and the monsters of Jurassic Park. But what if we got it wrong? In The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs, top dinosaur expert Brusatte, tells the real story of how dinosaurs rose to dominate the planet. Using the fossil clues that have been gathered using state of the art technology, Brusatte follows these magnificent creatures from their beginnings in the Early Triassic period, through the Jurassic period to their final days in the Cretaceous and the legacy that they left behind. Along the way, Brusatte introduces us to modern day dinosaur hunters and gives an insight into what it’s like to be a paleontologist. The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs is full of thrilling accounts of some of his personal discoveries, including primitive human-sized tyrannosaurs, monstrous carnivores even larger than T. rex, and feathered raptor dinosaurs preserved in lava from China. At a time when Homo sapiens has existed for less than 200,000 years and we are already talking about planetary extinction, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs is a timely reminder of what humans can learn from the magnificent creatures who ruled the earth before us.

Of all species that have ever existed on earth, only one has reached human levels of intelligence and social organisation: us. Why? In Genesis, celebrated biologist Edward O. Wilson traces the great transitions of evolution, from the origin of life to the invention of sexual reproduction to the development of language itself. The only way for us to fully understand human behaviour, Wilson argues, is to study the evolutionary histories of nonhuman species. Of these, he demonstrates that at least seventeen - from the African naked mole rat and the sponge-dwelling shrimp to one of the oldest species on earth, the termite - have been found to have advanced societies based on altruism, cooperation and the division of labour. These rare eusocial species form the prehistory to our human social patterns, even, according to Wilson, suggesting the possible biological benefits of homosexuality and elderly grandmothers. Whether writing about midges who dance about like acrobats, schools of anchovies who protectively huddle to appear like a gigantic fish or well-organised flocks becoming potentially immortal, Genesis is a pathbreaking work of evolutionary theory filled with lyrical observations. It will make us rethink how we became who we are.

Sunday Times Bestseller ‘A paradigm-smashing chronicle of joyous entanglement’ Charles Foster Waterstones Non-Fiction Book of the Month (September) Are trees social beings? How do trees live? Do they feel pain or have awareness of their surroundings? In The Hidden Life of Trees Peter Wohlleben makes the case that the forest is a social network. He draws on groundbreaking scientific discoveries to describe how trees are like human families: tree parents live together with their children, communicate with them, support them as they grow, share nutrients with those who are sick or struggling, and even warn each other of impending dangers. Wohlleben also shares his deep love of woods and forests, explaining the amazing processes of life, death and regeneration he has observed in his woodland. A walk in the woods will never be the same again.

'It is rare to encounter such respect and understanding of nature for herself.' Rosamund Young, author of The Secret Life of Cows A life-affirming book about the British countryside, the cycle of nature, solitude and contentment, through the prism of a brilliant new nature writer’s experience working as a traditional mole-catcher, and why he gave it up. I have been catching moles in gardens and farms for years and I have decided that I am not going to do it any more. Molecatching is a traditional skill that has given me a good life but I am old now and tired of hunting and it has taught me what I needed to learn. Although common, moles are mysterious: their habits are inscrutable, they are anatomically bizarre, and they live completely alone. Marc Hamer has come closer to them than most, both through his long working life out in the Welsh countryside, and his experiences of rural homelessness as a boy, sleeping in hedgerows. Over the years, Marc has learned a great deal about these small, velvet creatures who live in the dark beneath us, and the myths that surround them, and his work has also led him to a wise and uplifting acceptance of the inevitable changes that we all face. In this beautiful and meditative book, Marc tells his story and explores what moles, and a life in nature, can tell us about our own humanity and our search for contentment. How to Catch a Mole is a gem of nature writing, beautifully illustrated by Joe McLaren, which celebrates living peacefully and finding wonder in the world around us.

With a foreword by Sir David Attenborough, breathtakingly beautiful still photography, specially commissioned maps and graphics, and compelling text expanding on the remarkable TV stories and giving the reader a depth of information that is impossible on screen, this companion to the groundbreaking NETFLIX series presents a whole new view of the place we call home. Featuring some of the world's rarest creatures and previously unseen parts of the Earth—from deep oceans to remote forests to ice caps—Our Planet takes nature-lovers deep into the science of our natural world. Revealing the most amazing sights on Earth in unprecedented ways, alongside stories of the ways humans are affecting the world’s ecosystems—from the wildebeest migrations in Africa to the penguin colonies of Antarctica—this book captures in one concise narrative a fundamental message: What we do in the next twenty years will determine the future of not just the natural world but humanity itself. If we don't act now to protect and preserve our planet, the beauty we're lucky enough to witness on these pages will have disappeared . . .

Niebieska „błyskawica” świszcząca nad wodą to zapewne zimorodek. Niepozorny, brązowy ptak śpiewający wśród trzcin to z pewnością trzcinniczek. W dalekich ciernistych żywopłotach wprawne oko dostrzeże znieruchomiałą sylwetkę dzierzby gąsiorka. Początkującym tak szybkie rozpoznanie gatunku ptaka wydaje się wiedzą tajemną. Atlas zawiera opisy najważniejszych gatunków ptaków pojawiających się na terenie Europy Środkowej. Każdy rozdział książki poświęcony jest gatunkom ptaków zamieszkującym dane siedlisko: las, łąki i pola, rzeki i jeziora, obszar nadmorski oraz góry. Opisano wygląd ptaków (upierzenie, rozmiar, cechy charakterystyczne), typowe zachowania i sposób życia (zdobywanie pokarmu, zakładanie gniazda, gody). Podano także informacje o występowaniu danego gatunku w Polsce i terminach przelotów bądź gniazdowania. Osobny rozdział stanowią sylwetki ptaków zamieszkujących w pobliżu osiedli ludzkich. Książka idealna na każdą wycieczkę!

Ilustrowany inwentarz kwiatów zawiera opisy i wizerunki 65 gatunków kwitnących roślin dzikich i hodowlanych. Emmanuelle Tchoukriel, ilustratorka specjalizująca się w sporządzaniu rycin naukowych, sportretowała kwiaty z precyzją i artyzmem godnymi przyrodników z minionych stuleci. Czarne kontury rysunków wykonała rapidografem i tuszem chińskim. Do kolorowania użyła akwareli, które nakładane z różną intensywnością, świetnie oddają bogactwo odcieni i faktur spotykanych w przyrodzie. Każda rycina opatrzona jest polską i łacińską nazwą, informacją o okresie kwitnienia, obszarze występowania, a także opisem wyglądu rośliny i kwiatu oraz różnymi ciekawostkami. W tej serii polecamy również: Ilustrowany inwentarz zwierząt Ilustrowany inwentarz drzew Ilustrowany inwentarz ptaków

NOWE, ZMIENIONE, POSZERZONE, TRZECIE WYDANIE TEJ KSIĄŻKI JEDYNY NA POLSKIM RYNKU PODRĘCZNIK DIAGNOSTYKI ZAKAŻEŃ BAKTERYJNYCH DIAGNOSTYKA MIKROBIOLOGICZNA PRZEDSTAWIONA W KONTEKŚCIE NAJNOWSZYCH BADAŃ MIKROBIOMU CZŁOWIEKA W książce między innymi: Opis najważniejszych i mniej znanych bakterii związanych z człowiekiem uwzględniający ich aktualną pozycję taksonomiczną, nazewnictwo, znaczenie kliniczne i czynniki ich chorobotwórczości, cechy morfologiczne i hodowlane, różnicowanie względem bakterii pokrewnych lub podobnych. Bakterie tworzące mikrobiom człowieka – znaczenie dla diagnostyki chorób. Hodowlane i niehodowlane metody diagnostyczne oparte o najnowsze rekomendacje krajowych i europejskich towarzystw naukowych i zespołów lekarzy i diagnostów Narodowego Programu Ochrony Antybiotyków Informacje o sposobach pobierania materiałów klinicznych i ich transportu. Omówienie diagnostyki zakażeń w obrębie wszystkich narządów i układów. Hodowla, różnicowanie w oparciu o właściwości metaboliczne, cechy biologiczne, serologicznie, a także metody wysokoprzepływowe i molekularne. Szerokie informacje o zakażeniach przenoszonych przez wektory owadzie. Wskazówki dotyczące badań wirusologicznych i parazytologicznych. Zakażenia szpitalne, zagrożenia ze strony szczepów wieloopornych i dochodzenia epidemiologiczne Obszerny aneks z opisem wszystkich istotnych w diagnostyce i wskazanych w książce podłoży i metod diagnostycznych. Autorami tego trzeciego wydania książki jest zespół pracowników naukowych Zakładu Mikrobiologii Farmaceutycznej i Diagnostyki Mikrobiologicznej Uniwersytetu Medycznego w Łodzi, a także takie czołowe postaci polskiej mikrobiologii jak Ewa Augustynowicz-Kopeć, Waleria Hryniewicz i Alina Olender. Publikacja jest kierowana do studentów i osób specjalizujących się w zawodach medycznych, zwłaszcza diagnostów laboratoryjnych a także studentów wydziałów lekarskich, nauk o zdrowiu i farmacji oraz do szerokiego grona studentów mikrobiologii, biotechnologii czy ochrony środowiska. Jest pozycją z pewnością bardzo przydatną w medycznych laboratoriach diagnostycznych i stacjach sanitarno-epidemiologicznych.

Ekoista i obieżykraj, autor książki Żubry lubią jeżyny i cyklu felietonów „Zwierzę w mieście” w miesięczniku „Stolica”, opowiada o dzikich zwierzętach, jakich nie spodziewamy się spotkać w Warszawie czy innych dużych miastach, a jednak żyją one w naszym bliskim sąsiedztwie. M.in. bieliki, bociany, żurawie, bobry, dziki, rysie, lisy, sarny czy łosie.