front cover of Biomechanics
Biomechanics
An Approach to Vertebrate Biology
Carl Gans
University of Michigan Press, 1980
Offers an approach to the study of functional anatomy
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front cover of The Gestation of German Biology
The Gestation of German Biology
Philosophy and Physiology from Stahl to Schelling
John H. Zammito
University of Chicago Press, 2017
The emergence of biology as a distinct science in the eighteenth century has long been a subject of scholarly controversy. Michel Foucault, on the one hand, argued that its appearance only after 1800 represented a fundamental rupture with the natural history that preceded it, marking the beginnings of modernity. Ernst Mayr, on the other hand, insisted that even the word "biology" was unclear in its meaning as late as 1800, and that the field itself was essentially prospective well into the 1800s.
 
In The Gestation of German Biology, historian of ideas John Zammito presents a different version of the emergence of the field, one that takes on both Foucault and Mayr and emphasizes the scientific progress throughout the eighteenth century that led to the recognition of the need for a special science. The embrace of the term biology around 1800, Zammito shows, was the culmination of a convergence between natural history and human physiology that led to the development of comparative physiology and morphology—the foundations of biology. Magisterial in scope, Zammito’s book offers nothing less than a revisionist history of the field, with which anyone interested in the origins of biology will have to contend.
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front cover of Induced Responses to Herbivory
Induced Responses to Herbivory
Richard Karban and Ian T. Baldwin
University of Chicago Press, 1997
Plants face a daunting array of creatures that eat them, bore into them, and otherwise use virtually every plant part for food, shelter, or both. But although plants cannot flee from their attackers, they are far from defenseless. In addition to adaptations like thorns, which may be produced in response to attack, plants actively alter their chemistry and physiology in response to damage. For instance, young potato plant leaves being eaten by potato beetles respond by producing chemicals that inhibit beetle digestive enzymes.

Over the past fifteen years, research on these induced responses to herbivory has flourished, and here Richard Karban and Ian T. Baldwin present the first comprehensive evaluation and synthesis of this rapidly developing field. They provide state-of-the-discipline reviews and highlight areas where new research will be most productive. Their comprehensive overview will be welcomed by a wide variety of theoretical and applied researchers in ecology, evolutionary biology, plant biology, entomology, and agriculture.
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front cover of It's Alive!
It's Alive!
The Science of B-Movie Monsters
Michael LaBarbera
University of Chicago Press, 2013
The B-movie monster—be it gap-toothed gorilla, ripped-from-time dinosaur, overstretched arachnid, or another outrageous anthropomorphic fantasy—has thrilled moviegoers for decades, and firmly sunk its claws into popular culture. In It’s Alive!, Michael LaBarbera delves into the science behind these characters’ construction, from the biology surrounding tyrannosaurid postures in Jurassic Park and King Kong to the questionable physics employed by The Incredible Shrinking Man. Accompanied by a treasure trove of images from old movie posters and stills, and ranging from the 1930s to such recent films as The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the latest installments of the Alien franchise, It’s Alive! cleverly uses science to remind us that the best parts of moviemaking might indeed be magic–for all creatures, great and small.

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front cover of Morphological Integration
Morphological Integration
Everett C. Olson and Robert L. Miller
University of Chicago Press, 1999
Despite recent advances in genetics, development, anatomy, systematics, and morphometrics, the synthesis of ideas and research agenda put forth in the classic Morphological Integration remains remarkably fresh, timely, and relevant. Pioneers in reexamining morphology, Everett Olson and Robert Miller were among the first to explore the concept of the integrated organism in both living and extinct populations. In a new foreword and afterword, biologists Barry Chernoff and Paul Magwene summarize the landmark achievements made by Olson and Miller and bring matters discussed in the book up to date, suggest new methods, and accentuate the importance of continued research in morphological integration.

Everett C. Olson was a professor at the University of Chicago and at the University of California, Los Angeles. He was a former president of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. Robert L. Miller was associate professor of geology at the University of Chicago, associate scientist in marine geology at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and a member of the board of editors of the Journal of Geology.
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front cover of Neurobehavioral Anatomy, Third Edition
Neurobehavioral Anatomy, Third Edition
Christopher M. Filley
University Press of Colorado, 2011
Thoroughly revised and updated to reflect key advances in behavioral neurology, Neurobehavioral Anatomy, Third Edition is a clinically based account of the neuroanatomy of human behavior centered on a consideration of behavioral dysfunction caused
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front cover of Performance All the Way Down
Performance All the Way Down
Genes, Development, and Sexual Difference
Richard O. Prum
University of Chicago Press, 2023
An award-winning biologist and writer applies queer feminist theory to developmental genetics, arguing that individuals are not essentially male or female.  
 
The idea that gender is a performance—a tenet of queer feminist theory since the nineties—has spread from college classrooms to popular culture. This transformative concept has sparked reappraisals of social expectations as well as debate over not just gender, but sex: what it is, what it means, and how we know it. Most scientific and biomedical research over the past seventy years has assumed and reinforced a binary concept of biological sex, though some scientists point out that male and female are just two outcomes in a world rich in sexual diversity.   
 
In Performance All the Way Down, MacArthur Fellow and Pulitzer Prize finalist Richard O. Prum brings feminist thought into conversation with biology, arguing that the sexual binary is not essential to human genes, chromosomes, or embryos. Our genomes are not blueprints, algorithms, or recipes for the physical representation of our individual sexual essences or fates. In accessible language, Prum shows that when we look closely at the science, we see that gene expression is a material action in the world, a performance through which the individual regulates and achieves its own becoming. A fertilized zygote matures into an organism with tissues and organs, neurological control, immune defenses, psychological mechanisms, and gender and sexual behavior through a performative continuum. This complex hierarchy of self-enactment reflects the evolved agency of individual genes, molecules, cells, and tissues.
 
Rejecting the notion of an intractable divide between the humanities and the sciences, Prum proves that the contributions of queer and feminist theorists can help scientists understand the human body in new ways, yielding key insights into genetics, developmental biology, physiology. Sure to inspire discussion, Performance All the Way Down is a book about biology for feminists, a book about feminist theory for biologists, and a book for anyone curious about how our sexual bodies grow.
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front cover of Running Science
Running Science
Optimizing Training and Performance
John Brewer
University of Chicago Press, 2017
Running is a deceptively simple sport. At its most basic, you need only shoes and comfortable clothes you don’t mind getting sweaty. Yet each time you lace up, all your body’s moving parts must work together to achieve a gait that will keep you injury-free. Many other factors also affect your performance, from the weather and the surface you run on to your shoes, your diet, and even your mental and emotional state. Science plays an important role in most, if not all, of these factors.

As a sports scientist and Running Fitness columnist, John Brewer has reviewed hundreds of scientific studies, and he offers runners the benefit of their findings in Running Science. Each chapter explores a different aspect of the sport through a series of questions. Many of the questions address practical matters: Do you really need to stretch? Which running shoes best suit your form and foot strike? Does carbo-loading lore stand up to scientific scrutiny—could a big bowl of spaghetti be the difference between a PR and a DNF? Other questions enhance appreciation for the incredible feats of the sport’s great athletes. (What would it take to run a two-hour marathon? Perfect weather, a straight, flat course, competition, and a lot of luck!) The answer to each question is presented in a straightforward, accessible manner, with accompanying infographics.

Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned runner with many miles and medals behind you, Running Science is a must-have for anyone interested in the fascinating science behind the sport.
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front cover of The Skull, Volume 1
The Skull, Volume 1
Development
Edited by James Hanken and Brian K. Hall
University of Chicago Press, 1993
In this authoritative three-volume reference work, leading researchers bring together current work to provide a comprehensive analysis of the comparative morphology, development, evolution, and functional biology of the skull.
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front cover of The Skull, Volume 2
The Skull, Volume 2
Patterns of Structural and Systematic Diversity
Edited by James Hanken and Brian K. Hall
University of Chicago Press, 1993
In this authoritative three-volume reference work, leading researchers bring together current work to provide a comprehensive analysis of the comparative morphology, development, evolution, and functional biology of the skull.
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front cover of The Skull, Volume 3
The Skull, Volume 3
Functional and Evolutionary Mechanisms
Edited by James Hanken and Brian K. Hall
University of Chicago Press, 1993
In this authoritative three-volume reference work, leading researchers bring together current work to provide a comprehensive analysis of the comparative morphology, development, evolution, and functional biology of the skull.
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