Parasite Rex - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Parasite Rex write by Carl Zimmer. This book was released on 2001-11-09. Parasite Rex available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. A look inside the often hidden world of parasites turns the clock back to the beginning of life on Earth to answer key questions about these highly evolved and resilient life forms.
Parasite Rex
Parasite Rex - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Parasite Rex write by Carl Zimmer. This book was released on 2000-09-21. Parasite Rex available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Combining the literary sensibility of David Quammen with the scientific rigor of Stephen Jay Gould, Carl Zimmer reveals the power, danger, and beauty of the surprising creatures who dominate the earth: parasites. For centuries, parasites have lived in nightmares, horror stories, and the darkest shadows of science. In Parasite Rex, Carl Zimmer takes readers on a fantastic voyage into the secret universe of these extraordinary life-forms—which are not only among the most highly evolved on Earth, but make up the majority of life’s diversity. Traveling from the steamy jungles of Costa Rica to the parasite-riddled war zone of southern Sudan, Zimmer introduces an array of amazing creatures that invade their hosts, prey on them from within, and control their behavior. He also vividly describes parasites that can change DNA, rewire the brain, make men more distrustful and women more outgoing, and turn hosts into the living dead. This comprehensive, gracefully written book brings parasites out into the open and uncovers what they can teach us all about the most fundamental survival tactics in the universe—the laws of Parasite Rex.
Parasite Rex
Parasite Rex - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Parasite Rex write by Carl Zimmer. This book was released on 2003. Parasite Rex available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Almost every animal will at some time or another become the home of a parasite. Not only are parasites the most successful life-forms on Earth, they triggered the development of sex, shape ecosystems, and have driven the engine of evolution. Zimmer describes the frightening and amazing ingenuity these commando invaders use to devour their hosts from the inside and control their behaviour. Sacculina carcini makes its home in an unlucky crab and proceeds to eat everything but what the crab needs to put food in its mouth, which Sacculina then consumes. Single-celled Toxoplasma gondi has an even more insidious role, for it can invade the human brain and cause personality changes, making its host less afraid and more prone to danger and a violent end - so that, in the carnage, it will be able to move on to another host. Finally, Zimmer concludes that humankind itself is a new kind of parasite, one that preys on the entire earth. If we are to achieve the sophistication of the parasites on display here in vivid detail, if we are to promote the flourishing of life in all its diversity as they do, we must learn the ways nature lives with itself, the laws of Parasite Rex.
People, Parasites, and Plowshares
People, Parasites, and Plowshares - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook People, Parasites, and Plowshares write by Dickson D. Despommier. This book was released on 2013-07-16. People, Parasites, and Plowshares available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Dickson D. Despommier's vivid, visceral account of the biology, behavior, and history of parasites follows the interplay between these fascinating life forms and human society over thousands of years. Despommier focuses on long-term host-parasite associations, which have evolved to avoid or even subvert the human immune system. Some parasites do great damage to their hosts, while others have signed a kind of "peace treaty" in exchange for their long lives within them. Many parasites also practice clever survival strategies that medical scientists hope to mimic as they search for treatments for Crohn's disease, food allergies, type 1 diabetes, organ transplantation, and other medical challenges. Despommier concentrates on particularly remarkable and often highly pathogenic organisms, describing their lifecycles and the mechanisms they use to avoid elimination. He details their attack and survival plans and the nature of the illnesses they cause in general terms, enabling readers of all backgrounds to steal a glimpse into the secret work of such effective invaders. He also points to the cultural contexts in which these parasites thrive and reviews the current treatments available to defeat them. Encouraging scientists to continue to study these organisms even if their threat is largely contained, Despommier shows how closer dissection of the substances parasites produce to alter our response to them could help unravel some of our most complex medical conundrums.
This Is Your Brain On Parasites
This Is Your Brain On Parasites - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook This Is Your Brain On Parasites write by Kathleen McAuliffe. This book was released on 2016-06-07. This Is Your Brain On Parasites available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. “Engrossing … [An] expedition through the hidden and sometimes horrifying microbial domain.” —Wall Street Journal “Fascinating—and full of the kind of factoids you can't wait to share.” —Scientific American Parasites can live only inside another animal and, as Kathleen McAuliffe reveals, these tiny organisms have many evolutionary motives for manipulating the behavior of their hosts. With astonishing precision, parasites can coax rats to approach cats, spiders to transform the patterns of their webs, and fish to draw the attention of birds that then swoop down to feast on them. We humans are hardly immune to their influence. Organisms we pick up from our own pets are strongly suspected of changing our personality traits and contributing to recklessness and impulsivity—even suicide. Germs that cause colds and the flu may alter our behavior even before symptoms become apparent. Parasites influence our species on the cultural level, too. Drawing on a huge body of research, McAuliffe argues that our dread of contamination is an evolved defense against parasites. The horror and revulsion we are programmed to feel when we come in contact with people who appear diseased or dirty helped pave the way for civilization, but may also be the basis for major divisions in societies that persist to this day. This Is Your Brain on Parasites is both a journey into cutting-edge science and a revelatory examination of what it means to be human. “If you’ve ever doubted the power of microbes to shape society and offer us a grander view of life, read on and find yourself duly impressed.” —Heather Havrilesky, Bookforum
