Book Description

Uh-oh, now you’ve gone and done it, you volunteered to do a science fair project. Don’t sweat it, presenting at a science fair can be a lot of fun. Just remember, the science fair is for your benefit. It’s your chance to show that you understand the scientific method and how to apply it. Also, it’s an opportunity for you to delve more deeply into a topic you’re interested in. Quite a few scientists, including a few Nobel laureates, claim that they had their first major breakthrough while researching a science fair project. And besides, a good science fair project can open a lot of doors academically and professionally—but you already knew that.

Stuck on what to do for your science project? This easy-to-follow guide is chock-full of more than 50 fun ideas and experiments in everything from astronomy to zoology. Your ultimate guide to creating crowd-pleasing displays, it shows you everything you need to know to:

• Choose the best project idea for you
• Make sure your project idea is safe, affordable, and doable
• Research, take notes, and organize your facts
• Write a clear informative research paper
• Design and execute your projects
• Ace the presentation and wow the judges

Science fair guru Maxine Levaren gives walks you step-by-step through every phase of choosing, designing, assembling and presenting a blue ribbon science fair project. She gives you the inside scoop on what the judges are really looking for and coaches you on all the dos and don’ts of science fairs. And she arms you with in-depth coverage of more than 50 winning projects, including:

• Projects involving experiments in virtually every scientific disciplines
• Computer projects that develop programs to solve a particular problem or analyze system performance
• Engineering projects that design and build new devices or test existing devices to compare and analyze performance
• Research projects involving data collection and mathematical analysis of results

Your complete guide to doing memorable science projects and having fun in the process, Science Fair Projects For Dummies is a science fair survival guide for budding scientists at every grade level. ... Read more

Book Description

Introduction to Bioinformatics: A Theoretical and Practical Approach was written as an introductory text for the undergraduate, graduate, or professional. This text provides scientists with both a biological framework to understand the questions life scientist confront in the context of the computational issues and tools that are currently available for scientific research It also provides the life scientist with a resource to the various computational tools that are available all supported with their underlying mathematical foundations. The book is divided into four main sections. The first two sections provide an overview of the various biological processes that govern an organism and impact health. The first section, Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology, describes basic cellular structure and the decoding of the genome. The second section, Molecular Genetics covers the regulation of genomes and the molecular genetic basis of disease as a consequence of genetic replication. Clinical human genetics and the various clinical databases are also reviewed. The third section, the Unix Operating System, demystifies the Unix system used throughout the world to support advanced computation tools. In addition to information on the installation and management of Unix-based software tools, examples of command line sequence analyses are presented that will enable the research to become as comfortable in a command-line environment as they are in the Graphical-User Interface environment. The final section, Computer Applications, provides information on the management and analysis of DNA sequencing projects, along with a review of how DNA can be modeled as a statistical series of patterns. It follows with a discussion of the various genome databases, the representation of genomes, and methods for their large scale analyses. Protein visualization, and transcription profiling including the use of analysis software for systems biology round out the coverage. The volume also includes a bonus CD-ROM containing valuable software programs including BioDiscovery (for microarray analysis), ClustalX (a sequence alignment program) Ensembl, MicroAnalyser (for microarray analysis on the Macintosh), Staden Sequence Analysis Package, Tree View (for displaying phylogenies) an others. Also included is a complete set of color illustrations from each chapter that will prove invaluable for professors preparing their next bioinformatics course or seminar. ... Read more

Book Description

This is a comprehensive introduction to the ethical issues at stake in the conduct of biomedical research, with extensive use of case examples. Its content parallels the recommendations of the Commission on Research Integrity, and deals with ethical issues in the use of animal and humans in research. It includes chapters on intellectual property, authorship, peer review, and conflicts of interest. As of October 2000, all personnel involved in research supported by the Public Health Service, including NIH, must receive the equivalent of 15 hours of training and education in research ethics. This book will be a convenient text for such short courses or seminars, and an excellent guidebook for all. ... Read more

Book Description

As the company that has been providing chemistry labs with thebest-selling lab notebook for years, Jones and Bartlett Publishers is pleased topresent a new generation of lab research notebooks. These notebooks retain thefeatures from earlier versions that made it the best-selling lab notebook, andhave incorporated some exciting new features. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

AMAZING!
AMAZING!!!That is the only word that could describe this book.It'swell made, easy to read, and highly interesting.The bounding is permanentplus it's three hole punched - a very hard to find feature!

The wordsdate, Experiment, Name, Lab Partner, and Witness are very easy to read.

Plus, it comes with a foreward that has to do with Safety in theLaborartory.It's highly interesting - perfect reading for a Friday orSaturday night!

Everyone should have a copy of this amazing book! ... Read more

Amazon.com

In Paradigms Regained, John Casti reexamines the six big questions he looked at in his 1989 book, Paradigms Lost: Did life begin naturally and on Earth? Is human behavior genetically determined? Is there a language organ in the human brain? Can computers think? Can we talk to ET? Is there a Real World?

In Paradigms Lost, he presents the evidence for yes and no answers to each question as though in a trial by jury, with witnesses arguing for the prosecution and defense, then a summary of the evidence and a verdict. Paradigms Regained takes the same questions to an appeals court, summarizes the evidence from the "trial" and introduces new evidence from the intervening decade.

Casti's goal is to show how science works, how "the single most characteristic feature of science is that its conclusions are tentative." So in three cases he now reaches a ruling of "appeal upheld," overturning his previous verdicts. In fact, the only one truly overturned is his conclusion of "not proven" to the question about the genetic determination of human behavior: he thinks the evidence for "yes" has become much stronger. In the cases of the origin of life and the existence of a Real World, he has kept the same one-word answers but now favors different mechanisms.

Together, the two books are good illustrations of how science looks at the questions that most interest nonscientists and of how scientific knowledge builds and changes. They make excellent maps to the borders between science and philosophy, science and religion, and science and pseudoscience. --Mary Ellen Curtin ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Ideas of nonsense...
What a disappointment!Casti, better known as part of the Sante Fe research group, has extended his original book 'Paradigms Lost' in this volume.He uses the rough idea of a trial to introduce the 'defense' and 'prosecution' for various scientific paradigms as of the year 2000.

The book starts out with trying to provide a rough overview of the scientific process including the grand old claim of "Of course there's more to the scientific enterprise than just concocting a theory."To top it off he drags out the Sokal "affair" where a pseudo-scientific paper was published in a literary journal and later another paper was published in a separate journal pointing out the inconsistencies in the first.

But Casti simply propogates the whole mentality wihthout seeming to acknowledge or understand what is going on.But let's start with the 'big' questions that Casti wants to tackle:

- Life arose out of natural physical processes
- Human behaviour patterns are dictacted by the genes
- Human language stems from an innate property of the brain
- Computers can think
- There exist intelligent beings in our galaxy we can communicate with

Well, a pretty heavy list but Casti really avoids doing much work to hold a proper court and instead "demonstrates" how the rationality of current scientifice paradigms can easily defeat the straw-men of any other ideas.And this is very obvious to anyone with some scientific background.

The first thing to realize is the simple fact that almost all genetic theories postulate we should have in excess of 100,000 genomes.Of course we have now completed the genome mapping fiasco and have discovered we have about 30,000.Now, one would suspect that if scientific theories were so "true" they would have pointed out this major inconsistency and some scientists did produce other theories that said this (Barry Commoner being one person who has repeatedly pointed out the problems with the present theory).But, as usual, the "scientific process" basically launched an ad hominen attack against those who actually know better.

So the first few chapters of this book are absolute nonsense (as Post would have said).Worse, Casti comes to the conclusion that the theories are the truth and keeps plowing ahead.Perhaps he should have gone and spent some time in serious research on these subjects before looking like an idiot - a quick search on the internet will find references such as Commoner, Post and Rosen.Oh well...

The whole speech section is woefully inadequate in a similar vein since Vygotsky isn't even mentioned.Once again, a quick search should have turned this up and one wonders if Casti spent any time looking up different viewpoints.

And then there is AI...well, the easiest place to start is Perlovsky.Is he here?No, of course not.In fact, this section has a quaint air of something written by a really really bad science fiction student.

Not that this book doesn't have some use - it is a prime example of what is wrong with the scientific process (as it currently stands) and the entire social structure it has spawned.Yes, Casti has produced a book with less value than Sokal's joke paper and the worst part is it is likely he believes he has presented the "truth".

Do you want to learn about where we are?Read Perlovsky, Vygotsky, Barry Commoner's article on genetics and Robert Rosen's "Life Itself".Then you'd better go back and brush up on some Wittgenstein and perhaps a quick skim of Post.We have a long way to go and Casti certainly isn't helping the process.

Mandatory science education as well as exciting reading
Bravo to John Casti for another splendid contribution.It would beextremely difficult to live up to the insight and clarity of ParadigmsLost, an essential classic, and I'm not sure this book quite hits thatmark.But it surely does not disappoint either !

This book, like itspredecessor, is exemplary science writing and full of the most profoundinsights into both the process and content of modern scientific theorizing. Casti starts by addressing the academic 'science wars' in his usualsympathetic but uncompromising style, illustrating how the odd notion ofthe "social construction" of science can arise amongsophisticated scholars from a narrow look at the work of scientists. Taking a different tack from that of another excellent writer-on-science,Norm Levitt (Prometheus Bedeviled, etc.), Casti recognizes the social andpolitical influences on science while also drawing a clear line betweenthat and the notion that scientific theories are arbitraryconstructions.

A thankfully brief section on the perennial issue ofscience and religion presents the simple conclusion that science andreligion are completely different "reality-generatingmechanisms," in the sense of lenses for interpreting nature.This isa theme very consistent with and explored in more detail in MichaelShermer's "How We Believe."

Casti then briefly reviews thecases made in Paradigms Lost (in order that this volume should beself-contained), and presents evidence on both sides of each question.Hedoes not duplicate much of what was found in the previous book, but buildsupon it significantly with recent research and changes in scientificworldview in each case.

True to the tentative model of science Castiespouses, several previous conclusions are altered, and one overturned. The sociobiology controversy in particular, previously "notproven" is now interpreted as having been won ... by the gene crowd.

Although this book stands on its own, it's hard to imagine that someonereading this one wouldn't be fascinated enough in the details to go back toParadigms Lost for more background on the many elegant treatments of moderncompeting theories.

Given the importance of being scientifically literatetoday, and the misleading impression we get from reading blurbs in popularnewspapers and magazines, Casti has done an invaluable service to all of usin framing some of the biggest questions in science in such a clear andthorough way.

Exploring six very difficult questions
Over ten years ago, the author wrote the book Paradigms Lost, where six ofthe deepest questions currently being explored by science were argued bothpro and con. They are: the origin of life, the genetic role in behavior ornature versus nurture, the acquisition of language by humans, the creationof machine intelligence, the existence of extraterrestrial life and thenature of quantum reality. In the original book, each was put forward as aspecific claim and argued as if it were a legal trial. The six claims are:life arose out ofnatural physical processes here on Earth, human behaviorpatterns are dictated primarily by the genes, human language capacity stemsfrom a unique, innate property of the brain, digital computers can, inprinciple think, there exist intelligent beings in our galaxy with whom wecan communicate and there exists no objective reality independent of anobserver. In this book, the author examines the progress in these areas andrevisits the verdicts in Paradigms Lost based on the new evidence.
Theone point that immediately becomes clear is how complex these problems are.Despite tremendous progress in all of these areas, none of these questionsis that much closer to being resolved. The two where the greatest changeshave taken place are in the areas of machine intelligence andextraterrestrial intelligence. And yet, these are still the farthest fromresolution. A computer defeated the greatest chess player in the world andthe media is now full of repeated discoveries of planets around otherstars. Both very impressive feats and most likely essential preconditionsfor the discovery of both types of intelligence.
The problem, as theauthor so well describes, is that a definitive definition of intelligenceis elusive and conclusive proof of machine intelligence is even harder tospecify. Furthermore, the first and fifth are closely linked. If life onEarth was seeded from space, then the answer to five is most certainly yes.Furthermore, if life arises spontaneously as a consequence of the laws ofthe interaction of matter, then the existence of many planets dictates thatit exists on other worlds. The debate is then reduced to the development ofintelligence once life forms and whether we can communicate withintelligence that developed from other evolutionary trees.
Thisquestion is linked to an answer to question three. If the acquisition ofcomplex language is due to something special in the human brain, then it ispossible that it is unique to this planet. In that case, communicating withother creatures with different special qualities may prove extraordinarilydifficult or impossible.
I found the arguments easy to follow andlargely free of emotional entanglements. Even when I disagreed with theconclusion, there was no reason to question the evidence, only theinterpretation. If you are interested in the current thinking about thesefundamental questions, I suggest you read this book.

Popular science at its best
Dr. Casti has written a number of popular science books. This one tacklesthe Big Questions of our day: the origins of life; nature-nurture;language; artificial intelligence; extra-terrestial life; and wave-particlemechanics. As always, he is lucid, entertaining and painstakingly fair toall sides of the issue.

Paradigms Regained is the successor to ParadigmsLost, published in 1991. There have been exciting discoveries in the decadesince then. Casti looks especially closely at the paradox of objects thatseem to live a double-life, like Schrödinger's unfortunate cat.

For thebenefit of readers who want to learn more, the author has provided a 'ToDig Deeper' section with a list of books and articles for each 'question'. ... Read more

Book Description

Have we traded our future for the products of modern life?

Scientists around the world are finding alarming changes in human reproduction and health.There is strong evidence that sperm counts have fallen dramatically.Testicular, prostate and breast cancer are on the rise.Different animal species are even showing signs of "feminization" or "changing sex," the males actually producing eggs like females. According to scientific evidence compiled worldwide, the prime suspect in these worrying findings is the increased exposure to chemicals that can mimic the female hormone estrogen and other hormones.

Indeed, man-made chemicals like DDT, PCB and other "hormone disrupters" have become soaked into our environment from their use in countless modern products, from plastics to pesticides.Only now is the full impact of their extensive use coming to light.Believed responsible for genital abnormalities and cancers across a wide range of species, these hormone-disrupting chemicals may pose a threat not only to our human potential, but to our very survival.

Through extensive interviews with fertility experts and scientists worldwide as well as members of the chemical industry, Cadbury provides a balanced, cogent argument that propels us toward a disturbing conclusion with compelling logic.

In the spirit of Rachel Carson's groundbreaking work Silent Spring, Cadbury's well-researched, even-handed analysis of these findings is a startling wake-up call to the far-reaching consequences of widespread environmental pollution. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Modern Society versus Man
Deborah Cadbury has managed to convey an incredible amount of information in a useful, logical way. Pesticides, toxins, estrogens, and many chemicals used in every day products like food containers are tied to reproductive disorders like endometriosis, uterine cancer, testicular cancer, breast cancer, and infertility. I could not stop reading this book. Many of the points made are so obvious that I have often wondered who is hiding the information form society linking the source of toxins to the health effects. Why is it that government and industry value money over human life? I assume that most people are too ignorant or complacent to act to protect their health by not driving cars (or limiting use), eating organic foods, demanding more wildlife areas, conserving energy and using renewable sources instead of building more power plants, and being informed as to health risks and causes. The only thing I would have liked to see in this book is detailed resource information. Specifically, what companies use these chemicals, where they are known to be in the environment and at what levels, cancer rates by area, etc. - where do we go to get this information.

Altering Eden - Our Future at Risk
This is a very important book. It is based on an 'Emmy' award winning BBC TV programme. Scientists around the world are finding alarming changes in human reproduction and health. There is strong evidence that sperm counts have fallen dramatically. Testicular, prostate, and breast cancer are on the rise. Different animal species are even showing signs of 'feminization' or 'changing sex,' the males actually producing eggs like females. According to scientific evidence compiled worldwide, the prime suspect in these worrying findings is the increased exposure to chemicals that can mimic the female hormone estrogen and other hormones. Indeed, man-made chemicals like DDT, PCB and other hormone disrupters have become soaked into our environment from their use in countless modern products, from plastics to pesticides. Only now is the full impact of their extensive use coming to light. Believed responsible for genital abnormalities and cancers across a wide range of species, these hormone disrupting chemicals may pose a threat not only to our human potential, but to our very survival. Through extensive interviews with fertility experts and scientists world wide as well as members of the chemical industry, Deborah Cadbury provides a balanced, cogent, compelling argument that propels us toward a disturbing conclusion. In the spirit of Rachel Carson's groundbreaking work, Silent Spring, Cadbury's well researched, even handed analysis of these findings is a startling wake-up call to the far reaching consequences of widespread environmental pollution. ... Read more

Book Description

The Craft of Editing is about the craft of editing scientific writing. It is designed to help you -and all those who deal with scientific and technical writing by others in universities, government labs, businesses, or engineering firms - become more effective and more efficient at editing the proposals, theses, journal articles, and reports that cross your desk and which you must approve, grade, or review. Unlike other texts that try to present the gamut of all possible editing experiences, this guide focuses on the kind of editing that you as a manager or teacher perform with your pencil (or computer) and someone else's work.Written by the author of the best-selling Craft of Scientific Writing, the book deals with the subject in a refreshing way and includes a large number of enlightening examples and stories. The author, a former editor at the national laboratories, has taught scientific writing courses at, among others, the universities of Texas and Wisconsin, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and Virginia Tech. ... Read more

Book Description

Philosophy of Science

Isabelle Stengers The Invention of Modern Science Translated by Daniel W. Smith

A proposal for better understanding the nature of scientific endeavor from a major European thinker.

The so-called exact sciences have always claimed to be different from other forms of knowledge. How are we to evaluate this assertion? Should we try to identify the criteria that seem to justify it? Or, following the new model of the social study of the sciences, should we view it as a simple belief? The Invention of Modern Science proposes a fruitful way of going beyond these apparently irreconcilable positions, that science is either "objective" or "socially constructed." Instead, suggests Isabelle Stengers, one of the most important and influential philosophers of science in Europe, we might understand the tension between scientific objectivity and belief as a necessary part of science, central to the practices invented and reinvented by scientists.

"Stengers has chosen to look for a touchstone distinguishing good science from bad not in epistemology but in ontology, not in the word but in the world." Bruno Latour

Isabelle Stengers is associate professor of philosophy at the Free University of Brussels. She received the grand prize for philosophy from the Academie Franaise in 1993, and is the author of numerous books, including Power and Invention (Minnesota, 1997).

Daniel W. Smith has translated many books, including several works by the philosopher Gilles Deleuze. ... Read more

Book Description

Since the seventeenth century our ideas of scientific authorship have expanded and changed dramatically. In this ambitious volume of new work, Mario Biagioli and Peter Galison have brought together historians of science, literary historians, and historians of the book. Together they track the changing nature and identity of the author in science, both historically and conceptually, from the emergence of scientific academies in the age of Galileo to concerns with large-scale multiauthorship and intellectual property rights in the age of cloning labs and pharmaceutical giants. How, for example, do we decide whether a chemical compound is discovered or invented? What does it mean to patent genetic material?
Documenting the emergence of authorship in the late medieval period, authorship's limits and its fragmentation, Scientific Authorship offers a collective history of a complex relationship. ... Read more

Book Description

"…a wonderful compendium of current in vitro approaches that will be a useful resource to those just starting to work with an epithelial cell system as well as those that have been working with them for years and years."
—Pharmaceutical Research

This completely revised and expanded new edition provides detailed descriptions of fundamental and practical aspects relating to the in vitro cultivation of disparate types of epithelia. In recent years, the use of epithelial cell culture in cell biology and tissue engineering has increased dramatically. This revision reflects those advances by including new chapters on the culture of animal and human hepatocytes, kidney epithelium, and bladder epithelium. Eachchapter provides an introductory review of the principles and advantages of the particular method, followed by detailed protocols, practical tips, alternate methods, and a useful list of materials and suppliers. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Wonderful Compendium
"...a wonderful compendium of current in vitro approaches that will be a useful resource to those just starting to work with an epithelial cell system as well as those that have been working with them for years and years." (Pharmaceutical Research , Vol. 19, No. 10, October 2002) ... Read more

Book Description

Keeping Mozart in Mind presents the latest scientific findings on the effects of music on reasoning and learning, and the real story behind the "Mozart effect" research. Since the original findings were presented in 1993, the "Mozart effect" phenomenon has been widely discussed in both the scientific community and the general media. It is based on the principal observation that study participants improved their scores on spatial-temporal tests after listening to one of Mozart's piano sonatas. Spatial-temporal agility is an important guide to mathematical ability and aptitude. That original study has prompted further interest in research to explore the relationship between music, intelligence, and learning.
Now the co-discoverer of the "Mozart effect," Dr. Gordon Shaw, shows how music can help us understand how the brain works and how music may enhance how we think, reason, and create. In this landmark book, he includes key information about his original research, plus the latest findings about the effect of music from his own research and that of other scientists around the world. Keeping Mozart in Mind is written in a style that makes this information accessible to not only researchers and clinicians, but also educators and parents.
The book is enhanced by a CD-ROM containing two distinct parts: 1) Featuring Allegro con spirito from Sonata for Two Pianos in D major, K. 448, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, performed by Murray Perahia and Radu Lupu, courtesy of Sony ClassicalTM, which was used in Shaw's original reseach study, and 2) a demonstration of S.T.A.R.TM (Spatial-Temporal Animation Reasoning), an interactive software program that was used in combination with piano lessons in a recent study to help teach difficult math concepts to young children.

Key Features
* Part I gives the essential ideas of Dr. Shaw's theme that music can enhance our ability to think and reason
* Part II contains the more technical aspects of how music enhances learning, made readable and accessible to everyone
* Part III contains all the details of the dramatic behavior experiments that were performed with humans involving music
* Part IV presents the results and proposed studies that are crucial to the detailed scientific understanding of what is happening in the brain
* Part V presents the future of music as an influence upon higher brain function ... Read more

Reviews (5)

this is FUN--who cares if it makes you smarter or not?
I have been reading neuroscientific books, popular press and otherwise, for a number of years, but this book and the CD Rom with the STAR software was the first fun experience that my 10 year old and I could share. I am usually reading (some pretty dry) material and trying to apply it to her learning and growth. But this combination has something for both of us. I got a copy from the local college to try. Now I am going to buy it.

This will change education as we know it
Far from being the meandering report the Orange county reader called it, this book relates very carefully what has been going on in brain research for the last 20 years, plus it details what has been learned about the brain's own private language. Apparently, Mozart was intuitively expressing pure thought! (this is my conclusion). Shaw's research has demonstrated a clear and uncontradictable connection between music learning and math understanding. His approach, if implemented in schools, will change the way math is taught forever, and bring music back to the core curriculum where it belongs, as a rudimentary human language. Underprivileged kids who learn math and music together in a sequential curriculum experience an evening-out of the playing field which enables them to achieve as high scores on standardized tests as the rich white kids in wealthy districts! THAT'S GOING TO CHANGE THE WORLD! Hurray for Shaw. If this book is hard to read, keep trying and keep trying. Our kids' future may be at stake.

Now I am confused
Other than the CD rom, I found nothing practical or inspiring in this book. There was no Mozart on the CD and the book showed me nothing practical for me or my children. Over priced. I have a master's degree in music and could not really see what the book was about, other than endless, meandering research. It had little to do with music or Mozart.

Keeping Mozart in Mind is a "STAR"
Keeping Mozart in Mind is intellectually sophisticated, yet fun and interesting. I really enjoyed the way Shaw wove personal stories and anecdotes in with the science. It gave the book a novel-like flair, even though he was discussing some very improtant scientific and educational topics.

I am not a kid, but I love the STAR software that came with the book! I got hooked! If nothing else, you should try this program, it is amazing! I can see how those children improved their math scores so much; it is unlike any educational software I have ever seen.

I would reccommend this book and software to anyone.

Mozart and the Mind? Very interesting book here.
This was a surprisingly easy read. I have heard a lot in the news about the issue of music and children's learning, so I wanted to take a look at this book. With the CD-ROM that comes with the book, I was able to get a good grasp on this process and the extent of the relations between music and learning, and how it might affect my children.

It does get somewhat "text-bookie" at times, but I think that is helpful for those who want that more technical information. ... Read more

Book Description

Designed for the student who has little or no background in the sciences, this book provides a brief, non-technical introduction to the basic methods underlying all good scientific research. It is ideal as a supplementary text for any course in which students must have some rudimentary understanding of how science is done. Topics include establishing causal links, testing explanations, extraordinary claims and anecdotal evidence, and fallacies. End-of-chapter exercises help reinforce material. A sold supplement to students, this book can also be bundled with a Brooks/Cole earth science text book. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Good at what it does.
The scientific method consists of (1) posing the intitial defining question of the investigation, (2) exploring the subject of the defining question, (3) formulating alternative hypotheses, (4) testing the hypotheses, and (5) posing a follow-up question if the defining question has not yet been satisfactorily answered. Carey's book is helpful only in step 4: it provides basic guidance for testing assertions. It also includes discussion of different kinds of explanation. It was written for non-technical beginning college students; it would also be suitable for high school students as yuoung as age 15. It is not, however, really an introduction to the scientific method; the reader should have some familiarity with the scientific method before reading this book.

supplement for critical thinking course
This is a practical guide to recognizing and evaluating reported results of experimental science. Carey does not deal with philosophy of science. Rather, he builds a vocabulary for distinguishing kinds of experiments and evaluating their results. He offers criteria for distinguishing scientific theories from non-scientific ones.

Carey includes innovative exercises that introduce students to the creative difficulties in discovering solutions to problems in science.

Improves your critical thinking skills the scientific way.
This book provides you with excellent step-by-step examples in applying the scientific method to everyday life situations. It gives you the tools to assess the validity of scientific claims and to guard yourself against the weird and the pseudoscientific ones.

The numerous examples allow you to practice and sharpen your skills and give you an excellent idea how the scientific mind works (or should work).

Accessible to the average reader.

AC.CHB

Psuedo-science
Hmmm, for the decay of societies less mentally eqiuped it's not half bad. However, a somewhat reasonable man (Myself) would define this prattle as an illogical farse. I have dismissed awful pseudo-scientific books as entertaining in the past, but you Carey, well you define the word "inane".

Regretfully, An angry M.I.T student ... Read more

Book Description

Of Pandas and People gives evidence for intelligent design from origin-of-life studies, biochemistry, genetics, homology, and paleontology.In a unique manner, Of Pandas and People gives the pros and cons of both the biological-evolution theory and the intelligent-design concept. Pandas promotes a widely recognized goal of science education by fostering a questioning, skeptical and scrutinizing mindset.This supplemental biology textbook provides an extensive index, glossary, references, and suggested reading and resources to help familarize the reader with the material.Pandas is enhanched by the use of numerous diagrams, charts, illustrations and full-color pictures. ... Read more

Reviews (20)

SCIENTIFIC MUTINY
The authors should be commended for their willingness to assess scientific data objectively, even when it means contradicting the prevailing scientific establishment by suggesting the necessity of an intelligent designer of the universe. I have read many reviews of this book which claim it is pseudoscience, dishonest, and flat out wrong. Yet I have never read a single EXAMPLE of these claims. Someone please show me where these authors and scientists went wrong! The fact of the matter is that this book is well researched and convincing (to those who are open minded enough to listen to what the authors have to say). Perhaps critics have chosen not to provide specific examples in their attacks because no such examples exist to support their contentions! To say that appealing to an intelligent designer is outside the realm of science is very misleading. For if evolutionary and other materialistic theories (which are also unprovable in the strictest sense of science) ! fail to successfully explain the intricacies of life (which many scieintists besides Kenyon et al. are beginning to determine), then we have no choice but to posit an intelligent designer. That's GOOD science, like it or not.

Poor, incomprehensible science lives on
I finally got around to reading this book, and was astonished to find that nearly all of Michael Denton's impossibly wrong account of hierarchies in taxonomy was included as chapter six. Denton, in his "Evolution: A theory in crisis" bases the whole of his argument against common descent on a profound misunderstanding of the nature of molecular data. The error is so egregious that, had he submitted it to any organismal biologist for review, it would have been obvious enough to warrant the cutting of the chapter. Denton himself has acknowledged the error, and retracted his attack against common descent.

So what does it say that this "textbook" accepts with an uncritical eye the argument, verbatim, and makes it the foundation of its discussion on molecular systematics? Only that the authors were ill-informed about the field.

It is unfathomable that any student will get anything of scientific substance from this book. The arguments are incoherent, and the data are woefully out of date. The representations of modern biology are laughably simplistic.

As a propoganda tool, Of Pandas and People is of marginal value, as its muddy arguments are not likely to make much of an impression on thoughtful students. As a "science textbook" it is downright shameful.

Goat's Eggs and Duck's Milk
This book is a pseudoscientific masterpiece. Laudatory reviews from the authors' own corner musn't mislead us into giving this book anything less than two-thumbs down. The authors have used many tools of bad reasoning to establish their deliberately flawed theory - for instance presenting the Cambrian Explosion as an instantaneous event; rather than an 'explosion' in cosmic timescale. So the typical high-schooler who has little idea of the scope of cosmic time (in which a million years is mere table stakes) will deduce that the Cambrian Explosion is evidence of instantaneous Intelligent Creation! Voila! How fabulous! To develop a substantial understanding of the Cambrian Explosion one has to read much more beyond an Undergrad text book - one has to comb thru a 100 papers and at least 3 textbooks on evolution. Only then will one understand that the Cambrian Explosion happened over several millions of years and it in fact is one of the strongest bodies of evidence that supports evolution. The sections on molecular biology are so incorrect that it is virtually useless. "Creationism" sympathisers derive their opinions from such pseudoscientific tracts and swallow the incorrect criticisms therein and make statements like, "there are serious flaws and yawning gaps in explanations of evolution..." instead of taking the time and trouble to read through the voluminous scientific literature on the subject or at least going through a good text book in their library. But then who is interested in the pursuit of knowledge?

Dean Kenyon IS AN EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGIST....
What the people critizing this work don't realize is that this author is the same Dean Kenyon who co-authored Biochemical Predestination. And who later rejected his own theroy, becomeing a "creationist". It's very interesting that proponets of macroevolution no longer look at the facts of science, but insted defend their veiws using the same "blind faith" they themselves accuse people like Dean Kenyon of using. Lets face it folks, macroevolution just doesn't happen!!

Where's the Science in this Book?
This book engages in simple false alternative negative argumentation against evolutionary theory and provides no positive arguments in support of intelligent design.

The book opens stating, "...we will present interpretations of the data proposed by those today who hold the two alternative concepts: those with a Darwinian frame of reference, as well as those who adhere to intelligent design.", yet research scientist George Gilchrist of the University of Washington was able to find only 37 instances of the keyword "intelligent design" in over 6,000 scientific and academic journals worldwide. Of the 37, most were irrelevant dealing with computer software or hardware, architectural or engineering design, advertising art, literature, fertilizer manufacture, or welding technology. Only 7 had anything to do with biology, and of these, 5 were discussions of the debate over using the Pandas textbook by various school boards and 2 were comments on Behe's book in a Christian magazine.

There is not a single instance of biological research using intelligent-design theory to explain life's diversity, and though both Davis and Keynon are professional scientists, neither has apparently published anything in the professional literature about their theory.

This book is systematically dismantled by Robert T. Pennock in his book, "Tower of Babel" and has been criticized by creationist, Norman L. Geisler, professor of Systematic Theology at Dallas Theological Seminary, because the book "appeas[es our] enemies [by] avoiding the word 'creation' like the plague" and for not clearly distinguishing their view from that of "naturalistic (pantheistic) 'creationsits' who see the creator within the universe."

Pandas is guilty of violating every fallacy of argumentation outlined in chapter six of David Kelley's book, "The Art of Reasoning" ...lessons learned by first-year philosophy students, and amounts to little more than vague and ad hoc negative argumentation based on a false dichotomy with frequent hyperbolic congratulatory statements epitomizing delusions of grandeur.

Two stars because it makes an excellent example of what not to do when arguing in support of a theory, and makes excellent dissection material for students of the philosophy of science. It clearly illustrates the difference between the religious and scientific attitude: To hold on to belief come what may is a sign of religious virtue. Contrarily, science takes it to be a virtue that one withholds belief in the truth of a proposition until it is supported by the weight of evidence. And there's the basic theme of the book: To believe in Intelligent Design Theory in the absence of good evidence is a matter not of science, but of faith. ... Read more

Book Description

This book is intended to help newly graduated chemists, particularly organic chemists, at all levels from bachelors to post-doctorates, find careers in the North American pharmaceutical industry. It will serve as a practical, detailed guiedbook for job seekers as well a reference work for faculty advisers, research supervisors, development officers, employment agents, and personnel managers in the industry. The book gathers in a single volume the fundamentals of getting an industrial job as a medicinal or process chemist, and covers all aspects of a chemist's job--scientific, financial, and managerial--within a pharmaceutical/biotechnology company. Other scientists looking for jobs as analytical or physical chemists and even biochemists and biologists will find the book useful. The valuable appendix is a unique compendium of 365 commercial, governmental, or non-profit institutions that comprise the North American pharmaceutical industry.

Key Features
* Learn How To:
* Discover the 12 permanent, big-pharma jobs for B.S. chemists
* Use the 500+ company index to locate potential employers
* Track pharma openings with 190+ corporate and chemist-specific job banks
* Add industry veterans to your employment network
* Find the 50+ companies offering paid summer internships to students
* Include the one resume item that wins interviews for B.S. and M.S. chemists
* Express a knowledgeable preference for drug discovery or development
* Research over 360 drug companies through their Web sites
* Discover the 70+ firms offering stock purchase plans or stock options_and which two represent big pharma
* Find out your salary offer in time to negotiate your wages ... Read more

Reviews (2)

help to purchasing
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Invaluable!
Boy did I dread getting an industrial job! After being in academia for sometime (B.Sc., Ph.D., post-doc) I found the task of finding an industrial job daunting. I did not know what to expect nor did I know what type of chemistry job I wanted (medicinal, process, information specialist, etc.. the author describes them all) or how to approach my job search. Dr. Dick Friary has complied all of this material in text that is engaging and enjoyable to read, considering the subject matter. He explains your likely job responsibilities based on: the job you choose, the position sought, your experience, and your level of education (B.A. and higher). This quality of the book makes it timeless (I can use the same book for my next job search when/if needed) and allowed me to realize, for the first time, how the pharmaceutical and related industries function, and where I wanted to fit in! In the end I landed my desired job because this book prepared me for what to expect at interviews (there format, questions to ask and not to ask) and how to evaluate offers (health plans, stock options, cost of living expenses, etc...). In addition my foreign born fellow chemists enjoyed it because it includes information they needed to know about work Visas, etc.. ... Read more

Book Description

Stereology is the science that relates three-dimensional structure to the two-dimensional images that can be measured. The most common field of application is in microscopy, both of man-made materials (metals, ceramics, composites, etc.) and of biological tissue samples. This book covers the applications and terminology of both fields. Recent emphasis in stereology is concerned with sampling strategies to avoid bias due to directionality and non-uniformity, and these methods are fully covered. So are the classic techniques that measure size distributions, surface curvature, etc., which are widely useful but not discussed in other recent texts. Finally, most stereology is taught as manual procedures using counting and grids, but this text also covers the use of modern desktop computers for image analysis and processing to obtain and interpret the stereological data. ... Read more

Book Description

This book gives a profound overview on the relevant biochemical techniques. Moreover, it refers to laboratory equipment and safety aspects and explains how to obtain relevant biochemical information. It provides an introduction into physical-chemical processes and mathematical methods required for the interpretation of data. Principles of expensive instrumental analysis are also explained and a presentation of safety considerations and regulatory issues according to international requirements is given.
With its practical approach the book is not only highly useful for professionals - laboratory technicians and scientists - but also for students.
Special feature: a CD-ROM on quantitative analysis of biochemical experiments!

"... An ideal how-to for those working in biochemistry."
CHEMIE in unserer Zeit

"... and anyone working in a biochemical laboratory will find it useful. Strongly recommended."
Laboratory News ... Read more

Book Description

The Nature of Science in Science Education: Rationales andStrategies is the first book to blend a justification for theinclusion of the history and philosophy of science in science teachingwith methods by which this vital content can be shared with a varietyof learners. The book provides a definition of the elements of thenature of science applicable in instruction with a range of methods bywhich students and teachers can experience aspects of this importantfield. This book is designed for all of those involved in the scienceteaching enterprise. Science methods instructors, science educationgraduate students and science teachers will find a variety of plans bywhich they can share the content of the nature of science with theirstudents while benefitting from the background and history providedinto the role and history of the nature of science in scienceteaching. A concluding section contains a complete analysis of thevariety of tools developed thus far to assess learning in this domain. ... Read more