The sub-Antarctic islands are remote and isolated environments with original flora and fauna composed of a few species that are highly adapted to cold oceanic conditions. Their peculiar naturalness makes these ecosystems intrinsically fragile. This book focuses on terrestrial ecosystems and, in particular, on invertebrates - earthworms, mollusks, spiders and insects - that inhabit the French sub-Antarctic islands of the South Indian Ocean. All native and introduced species are presented in the form of individual fact sheets, which include the main identification criteria, geographical distribution and principal ecological traits. Numerous summary tables, distribution maps of introduced species, and a discussion on the originality and vulnerability of this fauna are also included. The Terrestrial Macroinvertebrates of the Sub-Antarctic Iles Kerguelen and Ile de la Possession is based on an expansive literature base, as well as on observations and photographs taken as part of a research program funded by the French Polar Institute Paul-Emile Victor (IPEV). The book also gives an important part to the history of the discoveries of the different species, as well as current conservation issues.

Symmetry and the causes of shifts in different types of symmetries in flowers follow specific patterns that are ruled by developmental and genetic factors. Using a unified system of phyllotaxic equations, we have modeled the molecular mechanisms and pressure forces that act in inflorescence and floral meristems, giving flowers their organ arrangement. In this book, we state general physical principles, whereby the symmetry of the perianth is derived from the symmetry of certain TCP gene expression. Thus, we define the interplay between the expression of CYC2-like genes and the phyllotactic mechanisms. This new evo-devo approach is applied to major groups of angiosperms with predominantly actinomorphic flowers (in which rare zygomorphy is positional) and groups with mainly bilaterally symmetrical flowers (in which zygomorphy is constitutional). It has thus allowed us to revisit the contributions of the great floral morphologists of the 20th and early 21st centuries.

This book provides a comprehensive review of the history of concepts of the endocrine, nervous and immune systems throughout the last century. Historically, these systems were long considered as compartments that performed separate and different functions. However, a breakthrough occurred when advances in genetics and cellular and molecular biology techniques revealed that these systems shared molecular entities (such as cytokines, hormones and neurotransmitters) with their cognate receptors. These molecular links between the three systems broaden our understanding of the regulation of physiological processes. This approach has generated a multiplicity of new concepts, including crosstalk between organs, axis, feedback, molecular sensors, protein multi-functionality, positive and negative signaling ratios and pathways (such as cell signaling, metabolism and stem cell differentiation, to name a few). The improvement of experimental approaches has often resulted in major discoveries. This, combined with clear reasoning, intuition and coherence gave rise to new and unexpected concepts, and sometimes evolving ones. These new concepts lead the reader to the incredible transformation of biology in recent years.

Biobanks ensuring the governance and management of biological resources have become essential entities. The development of biotechnologies, the increased prevalence of biological drugs and the identification of biomarkers associated with molecular classifications of tissue lesions make it essential to have organized access to human biological samples, which have become precious and rare. The digital era and the production of massive data that comes with it have rendered biobanks the guarantors of the reproducibility of experiments and of the overall quality of medical research. Biobanks in Healthcare explores the upheaval linked to the massive deployment of digital health and precision medicine. The future of health biology lies in the deployment of biobanks in fields that have yet to be explored, putting them at the forefront of this extraordinary 21st-century research adventure.

Since ancient times, asymptomatic bone variations have been studied in many different disciplines. In radiology, for example, they enable the differentiation of the typical from the anomalous, but in biological anthropology they are especially useful in answering questions about humans and their diachronic and synchronic variability. This book provides an easily accessible presentation of the osseous variations of the postcranial skeleton (from the spine to the feet), which are sometimes poorly understood by the scientific community. These variations are examined one by one, with definitions, population frequencies and complete illustrations given for each. Asymptomatic Osseous Variations of the Postcranial Human Skeleton is intended as a comprehensive reference manual for further research on these types of skeletal variations.

The future of the human posture is in the spotlight. The 200-year-old locomotion paradigm can no longer resist the advancement of knowledge, yet 2,500 years of thinking on the place of verticalized human anatomy and its reflexive consciousness in the natural history of life and the Earth, is more relevant than ever. This book retraces these reflections from pre-Socratic philosophers, focusing on the link between verticality and the most complex and consciously reflexive nervous system on the top rung of the ladder of living beings. The origin of animated forms, or animals, was considered metaphysical until the 19th century but reflection on their inception, from fertilization, paved the way for mathematics of infinitesimal geometry and dynamics. The simian filiation was inconceivable until Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck bridged the gap in 1802 with the locomotion postulate to explain the transition from quadrupedal to bipedal posture, sustained by the hypothesis of inheritance of acquired characteristics. This doctrine was overturned in 1987 by the discovery of the embryonic origins of the straightening – specific dynamics linked to neurogenesis – confirming the natural place of human verticality and nervous system complexity with its psychomotor and cognitive consequences. Sapiens find themselves at the physical limit of the straightening while mechanisms of gametogenesis have never ceased in making neurogenesis exponentially more complex. Is the future exclusively terrestrial or does intrauterine hominization open up new perspectives for space exploration? Posturologists, occlusodontics, osteopaths, cognisciences – all anthropological sciences exposed to human verticality are concerned with this discovery, which allows Sapiens to face their natural destiny.

The equations of phyllotaxis were discovered by Douady and Couder: these describe the inhibition "force" generated by an incipient primordium, preventing the initiation of other primordia in its vicinity: the method that was lacking was to take into account the distance of primordia to the meristem apex over the course of its development. With these parameters, our model integrates both biochemical "forces" (inhibition due to auxin) and mechanical forces (contact pressure). This powerful tool allows us to revisit many important notions of plant biology. For example, we model auxin concentrations at the plant apex, as well as the development of vegetative and reproductive meristems. We also explain why the whorls of monocots are trimerous and those of plants with quincuncial perianths are pentamerous. We design a geometric method for reconstructing inflorescences from their building blocks, i.e. floral meristems. We also show that phyllotaxic spirals are only the application of a general property of symmetry, the advantages of which have been exploited by natural selection.

The future of the human posture is in the spotlight. The 200-year-old locomotion paradigm can no longer resist the advancement of knowledge, yet 2,500 years of thinking on the place of verticalized human anatomy and its reflexive consciousness in the natural history of life and the Earth, is more relevant than ever. This book retraces these reflections from pre-Socratic philosophers, focusing on the link between verticality and the most complex and consciously reflexive nervous system on the top rung of the ladder of living beings. The origin of animated forms, or animals, was considered metaphysical until the 19th century but reflection on their inception, from fertilization, paved the way for mathematics of infinitesimal geometry and dynamics. The simian filiation was inconceivable until Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck bridged the gap in 1802 with the locomotion postulate to explain the transition from quadrupedal to bipedal posture, sustained by the hypothesis of inheritance of acquired characteristics. This doctrine was overturned in 1987 by the discovery of the embryonic origins of the straightening - specific dynamics linked to neurogenesis - confirming the natural place of human verticality and nervous system complexity with its psychomotor and cognitive consequences. Sapiens find themselves at the physical limit of the straightening while mechanisms of gametogenesis have never ceased in making neurogenesis exponentially more complex. Is the future exclusively terrestrial or does intrauterine hominization open up new perspectives for space exploration? Posturologists, occlusodontics, osteopaths, cognisciences - all anthropological sciences exposed to human verticality are concerned with this discovery, which allows Sapiens to face their natural destiny

Behind the neologism “ribozymes” lies a family of fascinating molecules, ribo-enzymes, which have been relatively little studied. These catalytically active RNAs are found in all strata of life, from viruses to the human genome. At the end of the 1970s, the discovery of a catalytic RNA nestled in an intron, followed by another involved in the maturation of transfer RNAs, led to the discovery of new ribozymes and the transition from a strictly “proteocentric” vision, inherited from the dogma of molecular biology, to a more “nucleocentric” one. Since then, a variety of ribozymes have been identified in genomes, where their functions often remain mysterious. Looking at Ribozymes traces the discovery of these molecules and presents a picture of their functional diversity, catalytic mechanisms and distribution within the tree of life.