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"Science: general issues"
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Wild nights : how taming sleep created our restless world
\"Humans have slept since the dawn of our species. And yet the way humans sleep across history has changed dramatically, most disastrously in our own modern era. For the last two centuries sleep, the industrialized West has reduced sleep to one narrow definition: hours of unbroken slumber, in a private chamber, alone or with at most one additional partner. And this artificial cultural definition is now spreading around the world. We've gained much from this sleeping revolution--privacy and security and independence--but along the way added a whole new host of problems: the explosion of sleep disorders, sleep anxieties, and life-style diseases connected to exhaustion and sleeplessness; the devastating rise in addiction to both sleeping pills and caffeine; the nightmarish nightly-battles faced by parents enforcing artificial 'bed times' for children. Our modern world may be founded on taming sleep; and yet our collective exhaustion reveals the extraordinary costs we've all paid\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Mobile Communication and Society - A Global Perspective
Wireless networks are the fastest growing communications technology in history. Are mobile phones expressions of identity, fashionable gadgets, tools for life -- or all of the above? Mobile Communication and Society looks at how the possibility of multimodal communication from anywhere to anywhere at any time affects everyday life at home, at work, and at school, and raises broader concerns about politics and culture both global and local.Drawing on data gathered from around the world, the authors explore who has access to wireless technology, and why, and analyze the patterns of social differentiation seen in unequal access.They explore the social effects of wireless communication -- what it means for family life, for example, when everyone is constantly in touch, or for the idea of an office when workers can work anywhere. Is the technological ability to multitask further compressing time in our already hurried existence?The authors consider the rise of a mobile youth culture based on peer-to-peer networks, with its own language of texting, and its own values. They examine the phenomenon of flash mobs, and the possible political implications. And they look at the relationship between communication and development and the possibility that developing countries could \"leapfrog\" directly to wireless and satellite technology. This sweeping book -- moving easily in its analysis from the United States to China, from Europe to Latin America and Africa -- answers the key questions about our transformation into a mobile network society.
eBook
Anthropology of infectious disease
\"This book synthesizes the flourishing field of anthropology of infectious disease in a critical, biocultural framework. Leading medical anthropologist Merrill Singer holistically unites the behaviors of microorganisms and the activities of complex social systems, showing how we exist with pathogenic agents of disease in a complex process of co-evolution. He also connects human diseases to larger ecosystems and various other species that are future sources of new human infections. Anthropology of Infectious Disease integrates and advances research in this growing, multifaceted area and offers an ideal supplement to courses in anthropology, public health, development studies, and related fields\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
The best American science & nature writing. 2023
\"Twenty science and nature essays that represent the best examples of the form published in 2022.\" -- Provided by publisher.
Book
Shaping global health policy : global social policy actors and ideas about health care systems
\"This book investigates global social policy in the field of health. While legal or regulatory obligations to run health systems have primarily remained at the level of national governments, the ideational and discursive exchanges about suitable models, appropriate reforms, and socially protective arrangements extends to various transnational forums across multiple scales. Using an approach that combines transnational and comparative social policy analysis with international relations, Shaping Global Health Policy assesses various global social policy actors and compares their ideas and prescriptions about national health care systems. These comprise governmental and non-governmental organisations, including the World Health Organisation, World Bank, International Labour Organisation, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, World Trade Organisation, the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, G8, G20, BRICS, and CSOs ('Global Health Watch'). The book particularly focuses upon the ensemble of health provision, financing and regulation to a comprehensive system of health and social protection. How global social policy actors guide specific national health policies is illustrated with the case of Polish health care reform in transition. Crucially, the book highlights the multiplicity of actors and the importance of considering health policies across multiple scales\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Taxonomic Tapestries
This volume explores the complexity, diversity and interwoven nature of taxonomic pursuits within the context of explorations of humans and related species. It also pays tribute to Professor Colin Groves, whose work has had an enormous impact on this field. Recent research into that somewhat unique species we call humankind, through the theoretical and conceptual approaches afforded by the discipline of biological anthropology, is showcased. The focus is on the evolution of the human species, the behaviour of primates and other species, and how humans affect the distribution and abundance of other species through anthropogenic impact. Weaving together these three key themes, through the considerable influence of Colin Groves, provides glimpses of how changes in taxonomic theory and methodology, including our fluctuating understanding of speciation, have recrafted the way in which we view animal behaviour, human evolution and conservation studies.
eBook
The nocebo effect : overdiagnosis and its costs
\"The Nocebo Effect documents the transformation of normal problems into medical ones and brings out the risks of this inflationary practice. One notable risk is that people labeled as sick may find themselves living up to their label through the alchemy of the nocebo effect\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Advances and Challenges in Microphytobenthos Research: From Cell Biology to Coastal Ecosystem Function
The microphytobenthos are fascinating communities of microalgae and cyanobacteria that inhabit aquatic benthic habitats. The apparently barren intertidal landscapes of estuaries are in fact a 'secret garden', harboring an immense microbial diversity and intense photosynthetic and biogeochemical activity. On the intertidal flats of estuaries and beneath shallow coastal waters, the microphytobenthos are dominated by pennate diatoms, the most recent and diverse group of these important Protists.Microphytobenthos have mostly been studied in temperate estuaries, but they have a widespread distribution from polar regions to the tropics. Over the last decades, the microphytobenthos have attracted considerable interest mainly due to their role as a main contributor to the productivity of estuarine and shallow coastal areas. With a global annual gross primary production estimated to be in the order of 500 million tons of carbon, these ecosystems can be responsible for up to 20% of the ocean GPP although occupying only 0.03% of the ocean surface area. For estuarine ecosystems, they have been estimated to reach productivity rates comparable to those of the phytoplankton, and can provide up to 50% of total ecosystem-level carbon fixation.Best known for their high photosynthetic activity and carbon fixation, microphytobenthos have received an increasing interest in recent years, on multiple and apparently disparate disciplines such as photonics, photophysiology, community ecology, biogeochemistry, microbiology, evolutionary science, remote sensing and molecular biology. Some of the specific current interests in MPB include diatom-bacteria interactions, cell motility and behavior, endogenous rhythms, nutrient cycling, primary productivity, carbon capture (`blue carbon'), extracellular polymeric substances production, and sediment biostabilization.This Research Topic aims to bring together contributions on microphytobenthos research, updating current knowledge and uncovering exciting future directions of strategic value and ultimately linking the particular traits of the cell biology of pennate diatoms to emerging properties observed at the community and ecosystem-level. We welcome manuscripts reporting original research, mini-reviews or opinion on this broad topic. Papers covering new methods and approaches are also welcomed.
Journal Article