Conceptual Breakthroughs – serie

Conceptual Breakthroughs in Comparative Animal Physiology tells a story of innate human curiosity about the natural world, and a deeply creative discipline, shaped by varied environments, unusual organisms, elegant experiments, and the persistent effort to understand how animals work and why they work the way they do-along the way discovering “adaptations and mechanisms of the most surprising character”.Written by two leading experts in the field, each chapter reflects on the origins of ideas and the approach of turning natural diversity into experimental design. From deserts to oceans, from the anoxia-tolerant animals to endothermic insects, from deep-diving mammals to the integration of “omics,” each chapter follows the discoveries and people who were compelled to modify their view of “what life can do.” The chapters also highlight the long-term influence of key conceptual breakthroughs, demonstrating how insights from comparative physiology have shaped not only the field itself but also, ecology, evolution, and engineering.As scientists strive to understand the complexity of living systems, the book underscores the inherent integrative nature of comparative physiology, revealing a process that strives to connect genes to organisms and organisms to environments, and providing a framework for understanding the diversity of life. This is an essential resource for undergraduates, graduate students and researchers interested in physiology with its comprehensive synopsis on the field’s foundational history and significant advances.Provides a single-source, historical overview of the field of comparative animal physiologyExamines more than 70 significant achievements in the history of comparative animal physiologyWritten in a comprehensive and easy-to-read format

Conceptual Breakthroughs in the Evolutionary Biology of Aging continues the innovative Conceptual Breakthroughs series by providing a comprehensive outline of the major breakthroughs that built the evolutionary biology of aging as a leading scientific field. Following the evolutionary study of aging from its humble origins to the present, the book's chapters treat the field's breakthroughs one at a time. Users will find a concise and accessible analysis of the science of aging viewed through an evolutionary lens. Building upon widely-cited studies conducted by author Michael Rose, this book covers 30 subsequent years of growth and development within the field.The book highlights key publications for those who are not experts in the field, providing an important resource for researchers. Given the prevailing interest in changing the aging process dramatically, it is a powerful tool for readers who have a vested interest in understanding its causes and future control measures. Reviews cell-molecular theories of aging in the light of evolutionary biology Offers an evolutionary analysis of prospects for mitigating aging not commonly discussed within private and public sectors Provides readers with a radically different perspective on contemporary biological gerontology, specifically through the lens of evolutionary biology