The Secret Life of Chemicals


Book Description

This book provides extensive information on the chemicals that inhabit our environment, our food, our water and our air and the impact that they may be having on human health. The author is a medical scientist, with training in the law. The book documents current understanding about pesticides in food, the plastics revolution, toxic metals, air, water and electronic waste pollutants, chemical exposure in the workplace, radiation pollutants, chemical exposure and hearing loss, how our bodies deal with chemicals, genetic variability and the risk of disease, the effect of chemicals on genes, mitochondria and the immune system and what we can do about it all. Industrialisation has resulted in many thousands of chemicals, which are being continuously developed and often escaping from where they are used into our human environment, without us really knowing enough about them. In high dosages or with continuous small dosage, the evidence suggests, that many of them could interfere with human health and some of them are known to be doing so. But for the vast majority, we are left wondering whether some could be responsible for some diseases the causes of which are inadequately understood. Every chapter is thoroughly reinforced with several pages of references from the peer-reviewed literature.




The Secret Life of Genes


Book Description

Genes have a huge impact on who we are, from defining us as humans, to governing how we behave. Whether controlling our cells or creating new forms of life, discover how DNA makes each of us unique. In The Secret Life of Genes, you'll learn all about the past, present and future of the human genome. Filled with colourful, graphic illustrations to help you to understand the world of genetics, from the basics to the most complex theories, this book brings the inner workings of the human body to life. Derek Harvey answers the biggest questions, from the nature of inheritance, evolution and reproduction, to how genes are arranged and how DNA is read. Take a trip through the history of the world's DNA and unlock the future of the field.




The Secret Life of Dust


Book Description

Hannah Holmes A mesmerizing expedition around our dusty world Some see dust as dull and useless stuff. But in the hands of author Hannah Holmes, it becomes a dazzling and mysterious force; Dust, we discover, built the planet we walk upon. And it tinkers with the weather and spices the air we breathe. Billions of tons of it rise annually into the air--the dust of deserts and forgotten kings mixing with volcanic ash, sea salt, leaf fragments, scales from butterfly wings, shreds of T-shirts, and fireplace soot. Eventually, though, all this dust must settle. The story of restless dust begins among exploding stars, then treks through the dinosaur beds of the Gobi Desert, drills into Antarctic glaciers, filters living dusts from the wind, and probes the dark underbelly of the living-room couch. Along the way, Holmes introduces a delightful cast of characters--the scientists who study dust. Some investigate its dark side: how it killed off dinosaurs and how its industrial descendents are killing us today. Others sample the shower of Saharan dust that nourishes Caribbean jungles, or venture into the microscopic jungle of the bedroom carpet. Like The Secret Life of Dust, however, all of them unveil the mayhem and magic wrought by little things. Hannah Holmes (Portland, ME) is a science and natural history writer for the Discovery Channel Online. Her freelance work has been widely published, appearing in the Los Angeles Times Magazine, the New York Times Magazine, Outside, Sierra, National Geographic Traveler, and Escape. Her broadcast work has been featured on Living on Earth and the Discovery Channel Online's Science Live.




Stuff


Book Description

This volume takes you to the places and people you touch every day. - BOOK JACKET.




The Secret Life of Trees


Book Description

My arms stretch out all day long. I can be climbed, but I’m not a mountain. What am I? I am Oakheart, the oldest tree in the forest! Did you know that trees can talk to each other? Or that the oldest living thing is a tree? Let the ancient and mysterious Oakheart, the oldest and wisest tree in the forest, lead you through this beautiful guide to trees. Learn all about how they grow and survive, the many different types, why they are so important to humans, and tree folklore from around the world. Oakheart knows all the trees’ secrets, and he’s going to share them with you! This collection of delightful stories and engaging facts will impart a love of nature, and inspire you to look after the world around you. Whimsical and detailed illustrations have pride of place in magical tales that mix natural history with a splash of fantasy, creating a book that you will pore over time and again.




Exposed


Book Description




The Secret Life of Stuff


Book Description

Wouldn't you like: - Products that don't damage the environment? - A better way of life without agonising about your 'footprint'? - To really know your stuff? Climate change? Biofuels? Nuclear power? Landfills? Recycling? Renewable energy? Environmental issues can feel overwhelming. But, in fact, it is simple; it all comes down to one thing - stuff. Our use of the Earth's resources - whether a crisp packet or a cargo ship, a T-shirt or a wind turbine - has an inescapable impact on our future. In The Secret Life of Stuff, Julie Hill uncovers the origins and the true cost of what we use. Her inventory of over-consumption may shock but it is the first step towards overcoming waste. The misuse of stuff is not your fault, it's a product of history. But it is only by understanding what has gone wrong, that everyone - politicians, business people and us as consumers - can create a new and better material world.




The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate


Book Description

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?




The Chemical Age


Book Description

This sweeping history reveals how the use of chemicals has saved lives, destroyed species, and radically changed our planet: “Remarkable . . . highly recommended.” —Choice In The Chemical Age, ecologist Frank A. von Hippel explores humanity’s long and uneasy coexistence with pests, and how the battles to exterminate them have shaped our modern world. He also tells the captivating story of the scientists who waged war on famine and disease with chemistry. Beginning with the potato blight tragedy of the 1840s, which led scientists on an urgent mission to prevent famine using pesticides, von Hippel traces the history of pesticide use to the 1960s, when Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring revealed that those same chemicals were insidiously damaging our health and driving species toward extinction. Telling the story in vivid detail, von Hippel showcases the thrills—and complex consequences—of scientific discovery. He describes the creation of chemicals used to kill pests—and people. And, finally, he shows how scientists turned those wartime chemicals on the landscape at a massive scale, prompting the vital environmental movement that continues today.




The Secret Life of Babies


Book Description

A bold affirmation that we are sentient before conception and in the womb, The Secret Life of Babies reveals author Mia Kalef's groundbreaking findings: babies are able to remember their earliest experiences, this consciousness precedes the physical development of the brain itself, and medical interventions during birth—like forceps and Cesareans—can imprint our relationships with the world and disconnect us from our sustainable place in the ecosystem. Kalef provides a six-step protocol for detecting these individual imprints and taking reparative steps for physiological and emotional balance and release. This book offers us an articulate guide to a transformation that can restore our essential nature. From the table of contents: Foreword by Andrew Feldmar Introduction: The Myth: Science and Experience The Quest: Sparking the Conversation Who Is This Book For? A Song Worth Singing PART ONE: Science Chapter 1: The First Principle: Babies Remember Their Experiences The Controversy A Place to Begin and End: Returning to Wholeness Essential Nature Essential Movements The Mechanisms The Model Perspectives and Purposes Chapter 2: The Second Principle: Consciousness Precedes the Brain Architecture That Supports It The Biological Paradox Brains, Fields, and Development The Effects of Chemical and Emotional Fields Chapter 3: The Third Principle: Babies Are Our Barometers Dominance versus Emergence Historical Cultural Indicators Present-Day Cultural Indicators PART TWO: Experience Chapter 4: The Fourth Principle: It Is Never Too Late to Heal The Vision Horizon Preparing the Way Reclaiming the Body: The Path Home The Prototype PART THREE: Marriage Chapter5: The Intuitive Recovery Project The Anatomy of the Intuitive Recovery Project The Project Chapter 6: Summary