When Ciara arrives on Alcyone, the Taniwha initiate an audacious assault aimed at her capture. They have amassed a formidable invasion force but need Ciara’s singular ability to navigate the wormhole. Narrowly evading capture, she returns to Earth, only to find herself the quarry of a secretive faction known as ‘Ananke’. Accused of smuggling weapons of mass destruction into South Korea, she is confined within the stark walls of a police cell. While there, Ciara has a vision of Scottie on the precipice of death at Kealakekua Bay on the day of James Cook’s demise. Through her visions of naval officer William Hartley, Ciara learns that Ananke agents are Taniwha with human hosts. Over the centuries, they have shifted from person to person, infiltrating governments and the world’s most influential organisations. When a startling discovery forces Ciara to return to Alcyone, she faces the challenge of mastering time travel to retrieve a critical artefact. Can she elude the clutches of Ananke, save Scottie’s life, and halt the Taniwha invasion?
The living world runs on genomic software - what Dawn Field and Neil Davies call the 'biocode' - the sum of all DNA on Earth. In Biocode, they tell the story of a new age of scientific discovery: the growing global effort to read and map the biocode, and what that might mean for the future. The structure of DNA was identified in 1953, and the whole human genome was mapped by 2003. Since then the new field of genomics has mushroomed and is now operating on an industrial scale. Genomes can now be sequenced rapidly and increasingly cheaply. The genomes of large numbers of organisms from mammals to microbes, have been mapped. Getting your genome sequenced is becoming affordable for many. You too can check paternity, find out where your ancestors came from, or whether you are at risk of some diseases. Some check out the pedigree of their pets, while others turn genomes into art. A stray hair is enough to crudely reconstruct the face of the owner. From reading to constructing: the first steps to creating artificial life have already been taken. Some may find the rapidity of developments, and the potential for misuse, alarming. But they also open up unprecedented possibilities. The ability to read DNA has changed how we view ourselves and understand our place in nature. From the largest oceans, to the insides of our guts, we are able to explore the biosphere as never before, from the genome up. Sequencing technology has made the invisible world of microbes visible, and biodiversity genomics is revealing whole new worlds within us and without. The findings are transformational: we are all ecosystems now. Already the first efforts at 'barcoding' entire ecological communities and creating 'genomic observatories' have begun. The future, the authors argue, will involve biocoding the entire planet.
Multispectral signatures matching those of the Pleiades’ spacecraft have been detected on three different Pacific islands. Ciara and her friends journey to these locations only to discover that they are interconnected by a wormhole, serving as a portal to Earth’s twin planet. However, this connection has become unstable, generating high-intensity gravity fields that result in space-time distortions. Ciara’s life is threatened when she is transported back in time to be captured by the Taniwha, a supernatural being from Māori mythology. Ciara’s visions of her ancestor, 18th-century naval officer William Hartley, shed light on her own predicament. However, Hartley has been wrongfully accused of murdering Royal Society artist, Elliot Loundes. Unless the timeline can be restored, Ciara’s existence will come to an abrupt end. Can she and her friends outsmart the Taniwha, rescue her ancestor from the gallows, and stabilize the wormhole? The task will demand a sacrifice that few would be willing to make.
This new edition of a foundational text presents a contemporary review of cladistics, as applied to biological classification. It provides a comprehensive account of the past fifty years of discussion on the relationship between classification, phylogeny and evolution. It covers cladistics in the era of molecular data, detailing new advances and ideas that have emerged over the last twenty-five years. Written in an accessible style by internationally renowned authors in the field, readers are straightforwardly guided through fundamental principles and terminology. Simple worked examples and easy-to-understand diagrams also help readers navigate complex problems that have perplexed scientists for centuries. This practical guide is an essential addition for advanced undergraduates, postgraduates and researchers in taxonomy, systematics, comparative biology, evolutionary biology and molecular biology.
High throughput screening remains a key part of early stage drug and tool compound discovery, and methods and technologies have seen many fundamental improvements and innovations over the past 20 years. This comprehensive book provides a historical survey of the field up to the current state-of-the-art. In addition to the specific methods, this book also considers cultural and organizational questions that represent opportunities for future success. Following thought-provoking foreword and introduction from Professor Stuart Schreiber and the editors, chapters from leading experts across academia and industry cover initial considerations for screening, methods appropriate for different goals in small molecule discovery, newer technologies that provide alternative approaches to traditional miniaturization procedures, and practical aspects such as cost and resourcing. Within the context of their historical development, authors explain common pitfalls and their solutions. This book will serve as both a practical reference and a thoughtful guide to the philosophy underlying technological change in such a fast-moving area for postgraduates and researchers in academia and industry, particularly in the areas of chemical biology, pharmacology, structural biology and assay development.
Methods in microbial systematics have developed and changed significantly in the last 40 years. This has resulted in considerable change in both the defining microbial species and the methods required to make reliable identifications. Developments in information technology have enabled ready access to vast amounts of new and historic data online. Establishing both the relevance, and the most appropriate use, of this data is now a major consideration when undertaking identifications and systematic research. This book provides some insights into how current methods and resources are being used in microbial systematics, together with some thoughts and suggestions as to how both methodologies and concepts may develop in the future.
Spanning 237 years, The Tento Saga is a four part future-fiction epic that outlines a tumultuous and brutal path. Civil wars, a mass exodus from Earth and political turmoil, these trying times threaten to break the human spirit. Visit THETENTOSAGA.COM for a more detailed description.
New species are discovered every day—and cataloguing all of them has grown into a nearly insurmountable task worldwide. Now, this definitive reference manual acts as a style guide for writing and filing species descriptions. New collecting techniques and new technology have led to a dramatic increase in the number of species that are discovered. Explorations of unstudied regions and new habitats for almost any group of organisms can result in a large number of new species discoveries—and hence the need to be described. Yet there is no one source a student or researcher can readily consult to learn the basic practical aspects of taxonomic procedures. Species description can present a variety of difficulties: Problems arise when new species are not given names because their discoverers do not know how to write a formal species description or when these species are poorly described. Biologists may also have to deal with nomenclatural problems created by previous workers or resulting from new information generated by their own research. This practical resource for scientists and students contains instructions and examples showing how to describe newly discovered species in both the animal and plant kingdoms. With special chapters on publishing taxonomic papers and on ecology in species description, as well as sections covering subspecies, genus-level, and higher taxa descriptions, Describing Species enhances any writer's taxonomic projects, reports, checklists, floras, faunal surveys, revisions, monographs, or guides. The volume is based on current versions of the International Codes of Zoological and Botanical Nomenclature and recognizes that systematics is a global and multicultural exercise. Though Describing Species has been written for an English-speaking audience, it is useful anywhere Taxonomy is spoken and will be a valuable tool for professionals and students in zoology, botany, ecology, paleontology, and other fields of biology.
Democracy in the world is backsliding in many countries around the globe at the present time due to various reasons. Different nations may have their own particular reasons such as socioeconomic inequality, poverty, failure of checks and balances that may result in an abrupt military coup d'etat to change from democracy to tyranny. In nations where democracy failed, there were no tanks on the street. Constitution of the land remained, but elected leaders became autocrats, maintaining a veneer of democracy. America, being a nation with nearly 80 percent of Christians, has been the strongest democracy in the world who championed it as the model for the rest of the world. However, democracy in America appears to be in peril because of political bickering, partisan gridlock, and promulgation of falsities, misinformation, and faux faith by one political party. By introducing the foundational principles of democracy from the philosophical arguments of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, the author shows how and why the cornerstone of democracy in America shows signs of crumbling. The book vividly explains: Politics without God will shatter the foundation of democracy. Present political system rejects the checks and balances laid by the founding fathers. The right wing has cultivated a spirit of untruth that spreads like a wildfire. Rejecting truth by political parties and leadership is a sign of strong delusion. There is a clear moral bankruptcy in the present political sphere of our nation. The brightness of democracy in America which Tocqueville praised has been tarnished. Hypocritic and dishonest leaders should not reign, lest the people be ensnared. American politicians must register their solemn oath in heaven to act in truth. No nation can be established in one day but can shatter in one day by a despot. America must realign with God to lead the nation in truth, justice, and freedom for all. Democracy turns to tyranny when a moral man becomes amoral. With biblical prophecies and instructions, the author shows that America faces a real threat to its democracy unless it resists tyrants with all their mind, soul, and strength, which is obedience to God who can anchor the nation on its solid foundation set by the Founding Fathers. Every citizen, political and judicial leaders of the nation, are the cupbearers and the watchmen of the nation.
