The Human Genome Project-which has provided a working draft of the sequence of DNA in the human genome - is a remarkable scientific achievement. In this postgenomic world, it appears that all genes and all DNA variation will eventually be known. For behavioral researchers, this is especially exciting because behavioral dimensions and disorders are the most complex traits of all. To understand these traits, we need to understand the roles of many genes and many environmental influences.

Ten years after the Human Genome Project’s completion the life sciences stand in a moment of uncertainty, transition, and contestation. The postgenomic era has seen rapid shifts in research methodology, funding, scientific labor, and disciplinary structures. Postgenomics is transforming our understanding of disease and health, our environment, and the categories of race, class, and gender. At the same time, the gene retains its centrality and power in biological and popular discourse. The contributors to Postgenomics analyze these ruptures and continuities and place them in historical, social, and political context. Postgenomics, they argue, forces a rethinking of the genome itself, and opens new territory for conversations between the social sciences, humanities, and life sciences. Contributors. Russ Altman, Rachel A. Ankeny, Catherine Bliss, John Dupré, Michael Fortun, Evelyn Fox Keller, Sabina Leonelli, Adrian Mackenzie, Margot Moinester, Aaron Panofsky, Sarah S. Richardson, Sara Shostak, Hallam Stevens

This handbook provides a comprehensive survey of what is now known about psychological development, from birth to biological maturity, and it highlights how cultural, social, cognitive, neural, and molecular processes work together to yield human behavior and changes in human behavior.

In this new volume in the series Research and Perspectives in Neurosciences the authors have presented and discussed their findings in the fields of speech and language disorders, X-linked mental retardation, gene therapy in the CNS, memory and learning disorders and other fields.

Crick and Watson's discovery of the structure of DNA fifty years ago marked one of the great turning points in the history of science. Biology, immunology, medicine and genetics have all been radically transformed in the succeeding half-century, and the double helix has become an icon of our times. This fascinating exploration of a scientific phenomenon provides a lucid and engaging account of the background and context for the discovery, its significance and afterlife, while a series of essays by leading scientists, historians and commentators offers uniquely individual perspectives on DNA and its impact on modern science and society.

A top behavioral geneticist argues DNA inherited from our parents at conception can predict our psychological strengths and weaknesses. This “modern classic” on genetics and nature vs. nurture is “one of the most direct and unapologetic takes on the topic ever written” (Boston Review). In Blueprint, behavioral geneticist Robert Plomin describes how the DNA revolution has made DNA personal by giving us the power to predict our psychological strengths and weaknesses from birth. A century of genetic research shows that DNA differences inherited from our parents are the consistent lifelong sources of our psychological individuality—the blueprint that makes us who we are. Plomin reports that genetics explains more about the psychological differences among people than all other factors combined. Nature, not nurture, is what makes us who we are. Plomin explores the implications of these findings, drawing some provocative conclusions—among them that parenting styles don't really affect children's outcomes once genetics is taken into effect. This book offers readers a unique insider’s view of the exciting synergies that came from combining genetics and psychology.

New discoveries about the genetic underpinnings of many kinds of human experience are now continually being made. This book explores the impact of these discoveries on the ways in which the common mental disorders are best conceptualized and treated. Most people think of research in genetics as the search for genes. This is only one focus of effort, and even with the reliable identification of susceptibility genes, the clinical applications of their discovery, such as gene therapies and new drug development, are a long way off. For the present, the impact of genetic research on our understanding of mental illness is tied to our ability to estimate the effect of all genes by means of family, twin, and adoption studies. The results of these studies challenge some deeply cherished ideas and theories, and support others. Of course, the effect of genes is only half the equation. The role of experience, environment, and living conditions accounts for as much, often considerably more, of the variability in psychopathology. In this book, Kerry Jang attempts not to answer questions about what is "genetic" and what is not, but about what a knowledge of the relative influence of genes versus environment means at a psychological level of analysis--to show how it changes common assumptions about classification, etiology, diagnosis, and intervention. He first offers an overview of contemporary behavioral genetics, dispels common misconceptions, responds to the criticisms that have been leveled at this new field, and describes in basic terms how genetic and environmental effects are estimated and how susceptibility genes are pinpointed. He then points to new directions in which standard nosological systems are likely to evolve as new information about vulnerabilities and covariances emerges. Finally, he synthesizes and evaluates the consistency of the last decade's findings for the most common categories of psychopathology that have been studied by behavior geneticists: mood, personality, and anxiety disorders, substance abuse; and schizophrenia and the psychotic disorders. Clinicians and researchers alike need to understand the genetic influences on the feelings and behaviors they are seeking to change or study if they are to be effective in their work. The Behavioral Genetics of Psychopathology: A Clinical Guide empowers them with this understanding.

Invertebrates have proven to be extremely useful model systems for gaining insights into the neural and molecular mechanisms of sensory processing, motor control and higher functions such as feeding behavior, learning and memory, navigation, and social behavior. A major factor in their enormous contributions to neuroscience is the relative simplicity of invertebrate nervous systems. In addition, some invertebrates, primarily the molluscs, have large cells, which allow analyses to take place at the level of individually identified neurons. Individual neurons can be surgically removed and assayed for expression of membrane channels, levels of second messengers, protein phosphorylation, and RNA and protein synthesis. Moreover, peptides and nucleotides can be injected into individual neurons. Other invertebrate model systems such as Drosophila and Caenorhabditis elegans offer tremendous advantages for obtaining insights into the neuronal bases of behavior through the application of genetic approaches. The Oxford Handbook of Invertebrate Neurobiology reviews the many neurobiological principles that have emerged from invertebrate analyses, such as motor pattern generation, mechanisms of synaptic transmission, and learning and memory. It also covers general features of the neurobiology of invertebrate circadian rhythms, development, and regeneration and reproduction. Some neurobiological phenomena are species-specific and diverse, especially in the domain of the neuronal control of locomotion and camouflage. Thus, separate chapters are provided on the control of swimming in annelids, crustaea and molluscs, locomotion in hexapods, and camouflage in cephalopods. Unique features of the handbook include chapters that review social behavior and intentionality in invertebrates. A chapter is devoted to summarizing past contributions of invertebrates to the understanding of nervous systems and identifying areas for future studies that will continue to advance that understanding.

A comprehensive review of the current state of our knowledge on the inheritance of normal behaviour in the laboratory mouse.