Once upon a time you were very, very small. In fact, you were made of just one tiny cell. But the incredible thing about that tiny cell was that all the instructions to make you were hidden inside it. And all because of a very important chemical substance called DeoxyriboNucleic Acid--everyone calls it DNA. Enjoy Your Cells is a series of children's books from the acclaimed creative partnership of scientist/author Fran Balkwill and illustrator Mic Rolph. Once again, they use their unique brand of simple but scientifically accurate commentary and exuberantly colorful graphics to take young readers on an entertaining exploration of the amazing, hidden world of cells, proteins, and DNA. It's over ten years since Fran and Mic invented a new way of getting science across to children. Think what extraordinary advances have been made in biology in that time--and how often those discoveries made headlines. Stem cells, cloning, embryo transfer, emerging infections, vaccine developmentELhere in these books are the basic facts behind the public debates. With these books, children will learn to enjoy their cells and current affairs at the same time. And they're getting information that has been written and reviewed by working scientists, so it's completely correct and up-to-date. Readers aged 7 and up will appreciate the stories' lively language and with help, even younger children will enjoy and learn from the jokes and illustrations--no expert required! Discover all the books in the ENJOY YOUR CELLS series, each available in coloring book and full-color formats!

Enjoy Your Cells is a new series of children's books from the acclaimed creative partnership of scientist/author Fran Balkwill and illustrator Mic Rolph. The titles in the series include: Enjoy Your Cells Germ Zappers Have a Nice DNA! Gene Machines Once again, they use their unique brand of simple but scientifically accurate commentary and exuberantly colorful graphics to take young readers on an entertaining exploration of the amazing, hidden world of cells, proteins, and DNA. It's over ten years since Fran and Mic invented a new way of getting science across to children. Think what extraordinary advances have been made in biology in that time - and how often those discoveries made headlines. Stem cells, cloning, embryo transfer, emerging infections, vaccine development...here in these books are the basic facts behind the public debates. With these books, children will learn to enjoy their cells and current affairs at the same time. And they're getting information that has been written and reviewed by working scientists, so it's completely correct and up-to-date. Readers aged 7 and up will appreciate the stories' lively language and with help, even younger children will enjoy and learn from the jokes and illustrations - no expert required! This series is a must for all elementary school students and those who care about educating them to be well-informed in a world of increasingly complex health-related and environmental issues. Fran Balkwill is Professor of Cancer Biology at St. Bartholomew's Hospital and the London Queen Mary School of Medicine. Mic Rolph is a graphic designer with much television and publishing experience. Together, they have created many books for children, and have won several awards, including the prestigious COPUS Junior Science Book Prize.

"The secrets of DNA, unpacked engagingly and accessibly." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Earth is full of life! All living things grow--plants, animals, and human beings. The way they grow, whether it be fast or slow, enormous or not so big, helps them survive. But growing is also about change: when people grow, they become more complicated and able to do more things, and they don't have to think about it, because bodies come with instructions, or DNA. With simple, engaging language and expressive, child-friendly illustrations, Nicola Davies and Emily Sutton, the award-winning creators of Tiny Creatures: The World of Microbes and Many: The Diversity of Life on Earth, provide an introduction to genetic code and how it relates to families to make us all both wonderfully unique and wholly connected to every living thing on Earth.

It's inside every living plant and animal, from the tiniest seed to the person standing next to you, but how much do you know about DNA? From why we have different coloured eyes to why we age, this book gives children an in-depth look at DNA and its role in all living things. Discover what DNA is, what it does, and how it shapes our lives, including inheritance and why we look like our parents; forensic science and how DNA evidence helps catch criminals; and how genetic engineering could theoretically bring dinosaurs back to life. With fun illustrated characters, clear diagrams, and fascinating photographs, children will love learning about themselves and this all-important molecule. The DNA Book is packed with colourful illustrations and mind-boggling facts, a great addition to any STEAM library. Perfect for curious young minds, this is an ideal introduction to the amazing science of genetics, and what makes you you.

Summary: An introduction to how genes work, including basic information about cloning and gene therapy.

A Best Book of 2021 by Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Time, and The Washington Post The bestselling author of Leonardo da Vinci and Steve Jobs returns with a “compelling” (The Washington Post) account of how Nobel Prize winner Jennifer Doudna and her colleagues launched a revolution that will allow us to cure diseases, fend off viruses, and have healthier babies. When Jennifer Doudna was in sixth grade, she came home one day to find that her dad had left a paperback titled The Double Helix on her bed. She put it aside, thinking it was one of those detective tales she loved. When she read it on a rainy Saturday, she discovered she was right, in a way. As she sped through the pages, she became enthralled by the intense drama behind the competition to discover the code of life. Even though her high school counselor told her girls didn’t become scientists, she decided she would. Driven by a passion to understand how nature works and to turn discoveries into inventions, she would help to make what the book’s author, James Watson, told her was the most important biological advance since his codiscovery of the structure of DNA. She and her collaborators turned a curiosity of nature into an invention that will transform the human race: an easy-to-use tool that can edit DNA. Known as CRISPR, it opened a brave new world of medical miracles and moral questions. The development of CRISPR and the race to create vaccines for coronavirus will hasten our transition to the next great innovation revolution. The past half-century has been a digital age, based on the microchip, computer, and internet. Now we are entering a life-science revolution. Children who study digital coding will be joined by those who study genetic code. Should we use our new evolution-hacking powers to make us less susceptible to viruses? What a wonderful boon that would be! And what about preventing depression? Hmmm…Should we allow parents, if they can afford it, to enhance the height or muscles or IQ of their kids? After helping to discover CRISPR, Doudna became a leader in wrestling with these moral issues and, with her collaborator Emmanuelle Charpentier, won the Nobel Prize in 2020. Her story is an “enthralling detective story” (Oprah Daily) that involves the most profound wonders of nature, from the origins of life to the future of our species.

From the author of the acclaimed The Epigenetics Revolution (‘A book that would have had Darwin swooning’ – Guardian) comes another thrilling exploration of the cutting edge of human science. For decades after the structure of DNA was identified, scientists focused purely on genes, the regions of the genome that contain codes for the production of proteins. Other regions – 98% of the human genome – were dismissed as ‘junk’. But in recent years researchers have discovered that variations in this ‘junk’ DNA underlie many previously intractable diseases, and they can now generate new approaches to tackling them. Nessa Carey explores, for the first time for a general audience, the incredible story behind a controversy that has generated unusually vituperative public exchanges between scientists. She shows how junk DNA plays an important role in areas as diverse as genetic diseases, viral infections, sex determination in mammals, human biological complexity, disease treatments, even evolution itself – and reveals how we are only now truly unlocking its secrets, more than half a century after Crick and Watson won their Nobel prize for the discovery of the structure of DNA in 1962.

The past few years have seen a revolution in our ability to map whole genome DNA from ancient humans. With the ancient DNA revolution, combined with rapid genome mapping of present human populations, has come remarkable insights into our past. This important new data has clarified and added to our knowledge from archaeology and anthropology, helped resolve long-existing controversies, challenged long-held views, and thrown up some remarkable surprises. The emerging picture is one of many waves of ancient human migrations, so that all populations existing today are mixes of ancient ones, as well as in many cases carrying a genetic component from Neanderthals, and, in some populations, Denisovans. David Reich, whose team has been at the forefront of these discoveries, explains what the genetics is telling us about ourselves and our complex and often surprising ancestry. Gone are old ideas of any kind of racial 'purity', or even deep and ancient divides between peoples. Instead, we are finding a rich variety of mixtures. Reich describes the cutting-edge findings from the past few years, and also considers the sensitivities involved in tracing ancestry, with science sometimes jostling with politics and tradition. He brings an important wider message: that we should celebrate our rich diversity, and recognize that every one of us is the result of a long history of migration and intermixing of ancient peoples, which we carry as ghosts in our DNA. What will we discover next?

Get the low-down on genetics with easy-to-understand terms and clear explanations. From interpreting dominant and recessive genes to learning about mutations, this book shows the different factors that can determine a person's DNA.

Epigenetics can potentially revolutionize our understanding of the structure and behavior of biological life on Earth. It explains why mapping an organism's genetic code is not enough to determine how it develops or acts and shows how nurture combines with nature to engineer biological diversity. Surveying the twenty-year history of the field while also highlighting its latest findings and innovations, this volume provides a readily understandable introduction to the foundations of epigenetics. Nessa Carey, a leading epigenetics researcher, connects the field's arguments to such diverse phenomena as how ants and queen bees control their colonies; why tortoiseshell cats are always female; why some plants need cold weather before they can flower; and how our bodies age and develop disease. Reaching beyond biology, epigenetics now informs work on drug addiction, the long-term effects of famine, and the physical and psychological consequences of childhood trauma. Carey concludes with a discussion of the future directions for this research and its ability to improve human health and well-being.