Animals and plants rule the world - or do they? A cup of seawater contains 100 million cells which are preyed upon by billions of viruses; a pinch of soil swarms with cryptic microbes whose activities are a mystery; 50 million tons of fungal spores are released into the atmosphere every year and affect the weather; and, human beings are mobile ecosystems that farm, and are farmed by, vast populations of bacteria and viruses involved with almost every aspect of our wellbeing. These are the vast, unnoticed, unmentioned 'elephants in the room' of planet earth. The more we learn about microbial biodiversity, the less important do animals and plants become in our understanding life on earth. The flowering of microbial science is revolutionizing biology and medicine in ways unimagined even a decade or two ago, and is inspiring a new view of what it means to be human. Nicholas P. money explores the extraordinary breadth of the microbial world and the vast swathes of biological diversity that are now becoming recognized using molecular methods. Money argues for nothing less than a revolution in our perception of the living world: the big lumbering forms we see are just froth on a vast ocean of single-celled protists, bacteria, and viruses that constitute most of life on earth.
In recent decades we have come to realize that the microbial world is hugely diverse, and can be found in the most extreme environments. Fungi, single-celled protists, bacteria, archaea, and the vast array of viruses and sub-viral particles far outnumber plants and animals. Microbes, we now know, play a critical role in ecosystems, in the chemistry of atmosphere and oceans, and within our bodies. The field of microbiology, armed with new techniques from molecular biology, is now one of the most vibrant in the life sciences. In this Very Short Introduction Nicholas P. Money explores not only the traditional methods of microscopy and laboratory culture but also the modern techniques of genetic detection and DNA sequencing, genomic analysis, and genetic manipulation. In turn he demonstrates how advances in microbiology have had a tremendous impact on the areas of medicine, agriculture, and biotechnology. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
The variety of the mycological world is far greater than most people imagine. Tens of thousands of fungal species have been described and many more are known only from the abundance of their genes in soil and water. Fungi are hugely important as agents of wood decay in forests, and, as parasites, they have caused the deaths of millions of people by ravaging crops and reshaping natural ecosystems. Fungi perform a variety of essential functions in ecosystems, and are important to both agriculture and biotechnology. Their importance is now becoming better appreciated among scientists, though there is much still to be understood concerning their taxonomy and evolution. This Very Short Introduction highlights the variety and extraordinary natures of fungi, revealing the remarkable facts of fungal biology and the global significance of these enchanting organisms. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
The overnight appearance of mushrooms in a meadow or on a suburban lawn is a marvelous sight. It is one of many awe-inspiring, magical processes that have evolved among the fungi, yet this group remains the least studied and most poorly understood kingdom of organisms. In Mushroom, Nicholas Money offers a vibrant introduction to the world of mushrooms, investigating the science behind these organisms as well as their enduring cultural and imaginative appeal. Beginning with the basics of mushroom biology, Money leads us through a history of mushroom research, painting portraits of the colorful characters involved in their study--among them, Beatrix Potter, the celebrated author and creator of Peter Rabbit, and Captain Charles McIlvaine, a Civil War veteran who engaged in a dangerous quest to determine the edibility of every mushroom in North America. Money also discusses the uses of mushrooms today, exploring their importance as food and medicine, their use as recreational drugs, and as the cause of horrific poisonings. A cultural, natural, and scientific history in one, Mushroom is a must-read for mycophiles, mushroom gatherers, and nature lovers alike.
Traditional understandings of the genesis of the separation of church and state rest on assumptions about 'Enlightenment' and the republican ethos of citizenship. Nicholas Miller does not seek to dislodge that interpretation but to augment and enrich it by recovering its cultural and discursive religious contexts - specifically the discourse of Protestant dissent. He argues that commitments by certain dissenting Protestants to the right of private judgment in matters of Biblical interpretation, an outgrowth of the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers, helped promote religious disestablishment in the early modern West. This movement climaxed in the disestablishment of religion in the early American colonies and nation. Miller identifies a continuous strand of this religious thought from the Protestant Reformation, across Europe, through the English Reformation, Civil War, and Restoration, into the American colonies. He examines seven key thinkers who played a major role in the development of this religious trajectory as it came to fruition in American political and legal history: William Penn, John Locke, Elisha Williams, Isaac Backus, William Livingston, John Witherspoon, and James Madison. Miller shows that the separation of church and state can be read, most persuasively, as the triumph of a particular strand of Protestant nonconformity - that which stretched back to the Puritan separatist and the Restoration sects, rather than to those, like Presbyterians, who sought to replace the 'wrong' church establishment with their own, 'right' one. The Religious Roots of the First Amendment contributes powerfully to the current trend among some historians to rescue the eighteenth-century clergymen and religious controversialists from the enormous condescension of posterity.
To many observers in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Mexico appeared to be a modern nation-state at last assuming an international role through its participation in NAFTA and the OECD (Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development). Then came the Zapatista revolt on New Year's Day 1994. Wearing ski masks and demanding not power but a new understanding of the indigenous peoples of Mexico, Subcomandante Marcos and his followers launched what may be the first "post" or "counter" modern revolution, one that challenges the very concept of the modern nation-state and its vision of a fully assimilated citizenry. This book offers a new way of understanding the Zapatista conflict as a counteraction to the forces of modernity and globalization that have rendered indigenous peoples virtually invisible throughout the world. Placing the conflict within a broad sociopolitical and historical context, Nicholas Higgins traces the relations between Maya Indians and the Mexican state from the conquest to the present-which reveals a centuries-long contest over the Maya people's identity and place within Mexico. His incisive analysis of this contest clearly explains how the notions of "modernity" and even of "the state" require the assimilation of indigenous peoples. With this understanding, Higgins argues, the Zapatista uprising becomes neither surprising nor unpredictable, but rather the inevitable outcome of a modernizing program that suppressed the identity and aspirations of the Maya peoples.
A practical guide to industrial safety. It seeks to assist specialists in managing operations in industrial settings, including high-risk personal exposure such as inhalation hazards and direct chemical contact. It covers hazards in the chemical process industries, inhalation hazards in refineries, indoor air quality management, personal protective equipment, process safety emergency preparedness, safety in the laboratory, and more. There are Web site listings, NFPA hazard ratings, and other sources of information.
Elastomer Technology Handbook is a major new reference on the science and technology of engineered elastomers. This contributed volume features some of the latest work by international experts in polymer science and rubber technology. Topics covered include theoretical and practical information on characterizing rubbers, designing engineering elastomers for consumer and engineering applications, properties testing, chemical and physical property characterization, polymerization chemistry, rubber processing and fabrication methods, and rheological characterization. The book also highlights both conventional and emerging market applications for synthetic rubber products and emphasizes the latest technology advancements. Elastomer Technology Handbook is a "must have" book for polymer researchers and engineers. It will also benefit anyone involved in the handling, manufacturing, processing, and designing of synthetic rubbers.
This pocket handbook is intended as a handy reference guide for engineers, scientists and students on widely used mathematical relationships, statistical formulas and problem-solving methods, including illustrated examples for problem-solving methods.
This book provides direction in constructing regression routines that can be used with worksheet software on personal computers. The book lists useful references for those readers who desire more in-depth understanding of the mathematical bases, and is helpful for science and engineering students.
This text provides approaches and methodologies for implementing pollution prevention (P2) and waste minimization programmes to reduce manufacturing operational costs significantly. It focuses on reducing manufacturing and environmental compliance costs by instituting feedstock substitution, improved operational schemes, recycling and by-product recovery, waste minimization, and energy efficiency policies, and offers project cost accounting tools that assist in evaluating money-saving P2 options.
Offers a guide to current environmental health and safety statutes--providing a working knowledge of the major legislations and regulations and demonstrating the steps necessary for compliance. Illustrates overall health and safety management skills for multimedia facilities.
Subject Matter The original title of this book was Tractatus Classico-Quantummechanicus, but it was pointed out to the author that this was rather grandiloquent. In any case, the book discusses certain topics in the interface between classical and quantum mechanics. Mathematically, one looks for similarities between Poisson algebras and symplectic geometry on the classical side, and operator algebras and Hilbert spaces on the quantum side. Physically, one tries to understand how a given quan tum system is related to its alleged classical counterpart (the classical limit), and vice versa (quantization). This monograph draws on two traditions: The algebraic formulation of quan tum mechanics and quantum field theory, and the geometric theory of classical mechanics. Since the former includes the geometry of state spaces, and even at the operator-algebraic level more and more submerges itself into noncommutative geometry, while the latter is formally part of the theory of Poisson algebras, one should take the words "algebraic" and "geometric" with a grain of salt! There are three central themes. The first is the relation between constructions involving observables on one side, and pure states on the other. Thus the reader will find a unified treatment of certain aspects of the theory of Poisson algebras, oper ator algebras, and their state spaces, which is based on this relationship.
There have been many volumes written that claim to be the most "comprehensive" compendium or handbook on chemical data. These wieldy volumes are often too big and extraneous to be useful to the practicing engineer. This new volume aims to be the most useful "go to" volume for the working engineer, scientist, or chemist who needs quick answers to daily questions about materials or chemicals and doesn't want to go on long searches through voluminous tomes or lengthy internet searches. Covering only the most commonly used chemicals in the most important processes in industry, A Guide to Safe Material and Chemical Handling includes industrial chemicals, such as gases, fuels, and water, which are not incorporated in most "comprehensive" books on materials and chemical properties. Safety plans and procedures that can be implemented by any engineer or plant manager by following the easy, step-by-step instructions in the book are also provided.
EMERGENCY RESPONSE MANAGEMENT OF OFFSHORE Examines the Deepwater Horizon disaster and offers processes for safety and environmental protection Though renewable energy is a growing piece of the energy “pie,” fossil fuels still dominate our energy supplies and will continue to do so for decades. This makes offshore drilling, especially in places like the Gulf of Mexico and North Sea, extremely important for the future of the world’s energy supply. Unfortunately, the world has been witnessing, over and over again, accidents, deadly explosions, spills, and environmental disasters that could have been avoided with proper safety and environmental processes put in place. The Deepwater Horizon catastrophe is the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history and an ecological nightmare of epic proportions. Emergency Response Management of Offshore Oil Spills aids in the response of this and future disasters by providing this handy reference volume for engineers, managers, and other emergency responders. This timely publication outlines the toxic nature of crude oil, covering properties of crude oil, chemical composition, toxicity to humans and marine life, and investigates the impact of oil spills from historical case studies. The current arsenals available to address oil spills, such as dispersants, absorbing booms, skimming, and other methods, are also discussed. Technologies that are rapidly being developed to address the Gulf Oil Spill are considered, along with extensive information on chemical protective clothing, air monitoring, respiratory protection, management of waste, and much more. The book concludes with a chapter discussing responsible care and takes a critical look at the reasons why the Deepwater Horizon rig catastrophe happened and examines the follow-up that ensued after the incident. Emergency Response Management of Offshore Oil Spills provides: Examples of 26 major oil spills ranked from largest to smallest, describing each incident and the amount of oil spilledRecommendations and guidance on proper air monitoring methodsSuggestions related to protective garments such as respiratorsComparative product information on chemical dispersants, shoreline bleaching and cleaning chemicalsDetailed toxicity data for humans and marine lifeDiscussions in the areas of deficiencies in responding to spills and why the oil industry needs to be more responsive to developing technologiesHazardous materials protocols, including OSHA- and EPA- recommended safe work practices for dealing with hazardous materials
The Parrot's Secret wings its way across the generations, taking off in the 1870's and landing in the 1960's. A nonstop adventure that grabs the reader from the first page and pinballs them across the world. From the steamy jungles of South America, through the bustling streets of Victorian London and on to the mysteries of Constantinople in the heart of the Middle East. It's here we meet the all-powerful Sultan and his beautiful daughter, Princess Ayla, as they battle against their kingdom's destruction by evil forces.The saga of the Elsworthy Family, with its rags to riches founder, Sir Richard, is inextricably intertwined with the lives of the Sultan and his daughter. Ever present and central to the mystery is the loyal and enigmatic Angelique. Only she can reveal The Parrot's Secret.
The hidden role of fungi inside and all around usFrom beneficial yeasts that aid digestion to toxic molds that cause disease, we are constantly navigating a world filled with fungi. Molds, Mushrooms, and Medicines explores the amazing ways fungi interact with our bodies, showing how our health and well-being depend on an immense ecosystem of yeasts and molds inside and all around us.Nicholas Money takes readers on a guided tour of a marvelous unseen realm, describing how our immune systems are engaged in continuous conversation with the teeming mycobiome inside the body, and how we can fall prey to serious and even life-threatening infections when this peaceful coexistence is disturbed. He also sheds light on our complicated relationship with fungi outside the body, from wild mushrooms and cultivated molds that have been staples of the human diet for millennia to the controversial experimentation with magic mushrooms in the treatment of depression.Drawing on the latest advances in mycology, Molds, Mushrooms, and Medicines reveals what scientists are learning about the importance of fungi to our lives, from their vital role in supporting the ecosystems on which we depend to their emerging uses in lifesaving medicine.
