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| By: Jacqueline N., PhD Crawley ISBN: 0471471925 Publisher: Wiley-Liss Release Date: 23 March, 2007 Bioscience book rank: 172659 | "...this valuable book is currently the most complete overview of behavioral procedures available...it is a must have and a must read book..." (Genes, Brain, and Behavior, 2002) "I would recommend that every behavioral scientist has at least two copies, one for their own use and one that will be on permanent loan to their students, post-doctoral students and colleagues in molecular biology." -- TRENDS in Pharmacological Sciences (Gerard R. Dawson, Merck Sharp & Dohme Research Laboratories) "[T]his volume succeeds as a useful introduction to the realm of behavioral phenotyping for those interested in creating or using the large and increasing number of promising targeted mutant mice." -- TRENDS in Neurosciences (John K. Belknap, Oregon Health Sciences University) | |
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| By: Budd Hopkins, Carol Rainey ISBN: 0743412184 Publisher: Atria Release Date: 23 September, 2003 Bioscience book rank: 345485 | I've had a fascination with the concept of UFO's and related subject matter for much of my adult life. I'd come to the conclusion that people's overwhelming need for attention should be factored into the final analysis of many ostensible sightings and close encounters. Also, despite 50 years worth of tantalizing testimony and circumstantial evidence, "proof" remains elusive. Therefore, I began this book with a jaundiced eye, ready to chalk it up to mere new-age prattle, and I came away from it somewhat convinced. This book is well written and the "testimony," of people under hypnosis seems credible. Either Budd Hopkins and his wife are masters of deception or we need to seriously consider that a phenomena exists which is both terrifying and mysterious. By the way, I found this book in the New Age section of my local bookstore. It's a shame that well-written books such as this, which are no less scientific in their approach than more mainstream titles, need to be relegated to the "fringe" section. For science to be effective it has to be all-inclusive not the province of haughty purveyors of reason. In many respects, "science," is always the last to know. Sight Unseen presents some of the most fascinating information on the UFO phenomenon to date. This book is well-written and well-researched, and it offers several plausible theories with a genuine and passionate desire to uncover the truth. Not only do Hopkins and Rainey make good use of abductee testimony, but they also combine what the experiencers have seen, felt, and heard with real life scientific data. Simply remarkable. <br /> <br />As I read this study of UFOs and their passengers, I couldn't help but to ask myself why such wonderfully advanced creatures would traverse tremendous distances just to examine human beings. Why would they bother involving themselves with us when there are much more delightful and complex things in this universe? I suppose it does make sense after all, however. We, as humans, are the highest form of life on Earth and yet we expend vast resources to understand lower forms of life. And I believe all of us at one time or another have dreamed about encountering life from other worlds, even if it was mere bacteria. We are astounded by this amazing engine, this stunningly beautiful gift that is life. Who would not choose to reach out for it? <br /> <br />I believe the authors of this book did a superb job of expressing this confusing, contradictory subject. Although I remain skeptical of witness testimony and hypnotic regression, I certainly do admit that some convincing arguments are made here. Definitely, definitely worth a read if you can keep your mind open. Another book about alien abduction written by Budd Hopkins, this one with Carol Rainey, who also happens to be his wife. And I must say; Mrs. Hopkins is the one contributing the most, perhaps only, interesting sections in the book. The contributions from her husband, on the other hand, are mostly transcriptions of testimonies by alleged abductees under hypnosis, and unless you're a diehard believer in the extraterrestrial hypothesis and alien abductions you won't find many reasons to believe in these testimonies. Simply because hypnosis hasn't been proven to be one hundred percent accurate when it comes to finding the truth. So a skeptic will become even more skeptical when he learns that the testimony has been given under hypnosis, while a believer will ignore this fact and simply have his belief strengthened in how hundreds of thousands of people are taken each year by sinister aliens with large eyes and the ability to walk through solid walls. <br /> <br />The book is written in a very certain way. First Budd, in his role as an "expert" in abductions, deals with a special section of the story, for instance that alien spacecraft sometimes appear invisible or how people have started levitating during an abduction. Then Carol takes over, as a technology expert, and tries her best to remove some of the "magic" in these amazing stories. One of the purposes of the book is namely to, by using contemporary scientific breakthroughs and theories, rationalize those things that at first sight appear fully "impossible". The marvelous technology of the extraterrestrials, a technology that sometimes come close to being magical, isn't really that marvelous at all. Actually, it's only a matter of time before we can do the very same things the aliens do. <br /> <br />Sights Unseen is marketed as non-fiction. But Budd is no scientist. Carol, on the other hand, has some interesting things to say about modern science and especially "transgenic beings", or beings half extraterrestrial and half Homo sapiens. But even Carol is very, very influenced by the belief in extraterrestrial visitors. <br /> <br />But Budd is even worse. For instance, he has no problem claiming that family photograph given to him by a patient, which actually doesn't show any family at all but only an empty beach, is good "evidence" for alien abduction, since he was told by the witness, while under hypnosis, that the entire family was abducted just when the picture was taken and thus became "invisible" and "disappeared". However, he fails to explain how something invisible can be considered good evidence. And furthermore, he apparently doesn't become suspicious when people contact him after having read his books and report more or less the same stories. <br /> <br />So if you're a believer you're very likely to appreciate this book immensely. But if you're a skeptic, or if you simply know how to use your common sense, then don't bother reading it. | |
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| By: Ian J. Jackson, Catherine M. Abbott ISBN: 0199637083 Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA Release Date: 15 February, 2000 Bioscience book rank: 584221 | ||
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| By: Jonathan Gressel ISBN: 0801887194 Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press Release Date: 12 February, 2008 Bioscience book rank: 627490 | ||
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| By: Anne Ploy ISBN: 1401206395 Publisher: Humanoids - Rebellion Release Date: 01 July, 2005 Bioscience book rank: 1008759 | ||
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| By: Rosa León, Aurora Galván, Emilio Fernández ISBN: 0387755314 Publisher: Springer Release Date: 26 November, 2007 Bioscience book rank: 920844 | ||
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| By: Steve Baker, Carol Becker, N. Katherine Hayles, Arlindo Machado, Gunalan Nadarajan, Alan Rawls, William Rawls, Jeanne Wilson-Rawls, Eduardo Kac, Edward Lucie-Smith ISBN: 0972429107 Publisher: The Institute for Studies in the Arts, Arizona State University Release Date: 02 June, 2003 Bioscience book rank: 801653 | ||
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| By: Marten H. Hofker, Jan van Deursen ISBN: 0896039153 Publisher: Humana Press Release Date: 20 August, 2002 Bioscience book rank: 856367 | ||
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| By: Committee on Environmental Impacts Associated with Commercialization of Transgenic Plants, Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources, National Research Council ISBN: 0309082633 Publisher: National Academies Press Release Date: 22 February, 2002 Bioscience book rank: 224017 | ||
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| By: Alfred M. Handler, Anthony A. James ISBN: 0849320283 Publisher: CRC Release Date: 28 June, 2000 Bioscience book rank: 910312 | This book gives a useful and fascinating overview of the status of transgenic strategies in insects as it was known in the year 2000. Written by experts in the field, it will introduce both biologists and non-biologists to many of the techniques used for the introduction of transgenes in insects. Readers are expected to have a fairly strong background in molecular genetics, but it could still be profitably read by anyone who is curious about this exciting technology. Due to space constraints, only a few of the articles will be reviewed here. <p>The first article gives a historical introduction to gene transfer in insects. The P-Element transformation was the first transposon-based system for transforming the germline in D. melanogaster efficiently and stably. This transposon is an example of the Class II short inverted terminal repeat transposons, and its high mobility made it a successful for Drosophila transformation. The P vector however was not successful in non-drosophilid insects, and therefore other choices for vector-mediated transfer were researched. Some of these are discussed in this article, such as the hobo transposon, Hermes, Minos (first to successfully transform a non-drosophilid, the medfly), piggyBac (second successful transformation agent in medflies), and the mariner element. Approaches to creating transient systems, employing viral and symbiont vectors, are also discussed. <p>In article 7, pantropic retroviral vectors for gene transfer in insects are discussed. These arose from the genetic modification of the Moloney murine leukemia virus in order that it contain the G envelope protein from the vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV-G). These vectors are considered to be stable once inserted into the genome and are incapable of self-propagation. Most importantly, these vectors are now extensively used for human gene therapy protocols. The somatic infection of larvae using these vectors has been accomplished in D. melanogaster, Aedes triseriatus, Culex tarsalis (the western encephalitis mosquito), Anopholes gambiae (the malaria mosquito), and Manduca sexta (the tobacco hawkmoth). <p>Article 8 overviews densonucleosis viruses as transducing systems for insects. These viruses are linear single-stranded DNA molecules between 4000 and 6000 nucleotides in length that it seems are restricted to arthropods. The primary application of these vectors has been to deliver genes into mosquitoes for the laboratory study of gene expression. It is hoped that they will be instrumental in control programs against mosquitoes. These viruses have a limited host range however, being restricted to the Aedes, Culex, and Culiseta mosquitoes. They are also considered to be limited in scope as gene-transfer vectors due to their small genome size and due to their (icosahedral) shape. <p>In the ninth article, RNA virus expression systems based on the Sindbis virus for efficiently transducing mosquito cells and allowing stable gene expression in various species of mosquitos, such as the yellow fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti), the eastern treehole mosquito (Aedes triseriatus), the northern house mosquito (Culex pipiens), and Anopholes gambiae, are discsussed. The Sindbis virus is an alphavirus, with a single-stranded RNA genome. The article discusses the protein expression in the saliva of Culex pipiens, in the midgut of Aedes aegypti, and the expression of antiviral RNAs in Aedes aegypti and Aedes triseriatus. <p>In article 11, the role of polydnaviruses in insect transgenic strategies is discussed. These viruses are multisegmented DNA viruses that are found exclusively in the female reproductive tracts of some wasps. Segmentation in the polydnavirus genomes is thought to have evolved in order to increase the copy number of essential viral genes. They are known to integrate stably into the chromosomal DNA of the cell line of a gypsy moth, and to infect and integrate in lepidopteran and coleopteran cell cultures. They are apparently difficult to engineer however, and but the author of the article believes that their impact may lie in pointing the way to other methods for performing transgenesis. <p>Article 12 discusses the Hermes vector for transforming insects other than D. melanogaster. First discovered in M. domestica (the common housefly), cell lines of Anopheles gambiae were stably transformed by Hermes, and Hermes has been transposed in the embryos of Aedes aegypti. It is described in the article as having a wide host range, with accurate transposition occurring in twelve species of insects. <p>In article 13, the genetic engineering of insects with mariner transposons is discussed, The mariner element was first isolated from Drosophila mauritiana, and the mariner family of transposons is known to be widespread in animal genomes. This has caused some to be concerned about the risks involved for active mariners released in insect control programs could invade other genomes, such as human genomes. The article describes the evidence of recent and ancient horizontal gene transfers between animal hosts as being "overwhelming." The authors of the article though believe that one should not be concerned about releasing transgenic insects created with mariners into the environment. They give several reasons for not being concerned, one being that when nonautonomous mariners are used using a transient transposase, the resultant transformants are stable. In addition, the timescales involved are too long for horizontal gene transfer to be a significant risk, with over 100, 000 years being quoted as the most recent event for its occurrence. Only two mariner elements have invaded the human genome in the last 100 million years. <p>In the fourteenth article, the tagalong (TFP3) and piggyBac elements, both transposable elements of the TTAA-specific family, are reviewed in regards to their utility in the transformation of insects. The piggyBac element was first isolated from a nucleopolyhedrosis virus which infects cell cultures of the cabbage looper moth (Trichoplusia ni). The authors discusses several successful piggyBac transformations, such as in D. melanogaster, Aedes aegypti, Anopholes Gambiae, Bombyx mori (the domestic silk moth), Pectinophora gossypiella (the pink bollworm), and Tribolium castaneum (the red flour beetle). The horizontal transmission of piggyBac among species is considered to be a viable possibility for the authors, and they therefore devote a section to the safety concerns involved with the release of transgenic insects. | |
Related books in this category:
methods in molecular biology, PCR, RT-PCR and real-time quantitative PCR, Differential Display, recombinant DNA, gene therapy, virus protocols, lentivirus methods, gene targeting, mouse knock-out and knock-in, transgenic technology, phenotyping, gene delivery and transfer, transcriptional regulation, RNA methods, RNA Polymerase, gene expression, protein translation regulation, protein kinase, protein phosphorylation, genomics, genomics methods, epigenetics, DNA methylation, DNA sequencing, RNA interference, microarray
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