The Progress in Medical Radiation Physics series presents in-depth reviews of many of the significant developments resulting from the application of physics to medicine. This series is intended to span the gap between research papers published in scientific journals, which tend to lack details, and complete textbooks or theses, which are usually far more detailed than necessary to provide a working knowledge of the subject. Each chapter in this series is designed to provide just enough information to enable readers to both fully understand the development described and apply the technique or...

SINCE THE EARLY DAYS OF MICROBIOLOGY IT HAS BEEN KNOWN THAT, during their life cycles, microorganisms exhibit developmental changes in common with other organisms. In the last decade interest in this aspect of microbiology has developed greatly, and research findings have provided an understanding of the genetic, molecular and biochemical bases of development. An important stimulus in this research has been the realis- ation that microbial development, in its various forms, provides interest- ing model systems that have relevance to a much wider understanding of the developmental processes in...

Writing a textbook on microbial genetics in about 200 pages was un- doubtedly a difficult task, but I have been encouraged by the response from both students and lecturers to the first edition. The requirement for a second edition is also a measure of the need for such a book. My experience as a lecturer has shown that what is needed first is an intelligible framework which can be read in a reasonable period of time. Armed with these principles, a student can then go to reviews and the original literature with a reasonable chance of understanding the jargon and the details. Molecular genetics...

There is currently great interest in the biology of soil, stimulated by an increased concern to conserve natural resources, not only in agriculture but also in natural ecosystems. Recent developments in molecular biology have increased the possibilities of manipulating soil organisms and the processes they carry out, to improve food production and the quality of the environment. But important environmental questions associated with the application ofthis new biotechnology to soils are still to be resolved. Issues such as the desirability of using genetically-engineered microorganisms in soil...

THIS BOOK HAS BEEN DEVELOPED FROM A SHORT LECTURE COURSE GIVEN to advanced undergraduate students as part of a general introduction to the subject of parasitology for zoologists.

Polar Ecology is one ecologist's attempt to sum up plant, animal and environmental relationships in the polar regions. Ecology grabs ecologists in different ways. I was grabbed in Antarctica by Adelie penguins, incubating contentedly at - 20C with unmelting snow on their backs, and by minute black insects basking at lOoC in tufts of moss, while winds at - 15C swept past unheeded. Some time later I saw snow buntings sheltering under Canadian eaves at - 30C, and wondered (as I still wonder) how so tiny an organism maintains body temperature against so sharp a gradient. The subtitle of this...

For the inhabitants of many of the world's major cities and towns, estuaries provide their nearest glimpse of a natural habitat; a habitat which, despite the attempts of man to pollute it or reclaim it, has remained a fascinating insight into a natural world where energy is transformed from sunlight into plant material, and then through the steps of a food chain is converted into a rich food supply for birds and fish. The biologist has become interested in estuaries as areas in which to study the responses of animals and plants to severe environmental gradients. Gradients of salinity for...

to the Second Edition RESEARCH INTO MEMBRANE-ASSOCIATED PHENOMENA HAS EXPANDED VERY greatly in the five years that have elapsed since the first edition of Biological Membranes was published. It is to take account of rapid advances in the field that we have written the present edition. There is now general acceptance of the fluid mosaic model of membrane structure and of the chemiosmotic interpretation of energetic processes, and our attention has shifted from justifying these ideas to explaining membrane functions in their terms. Much more information has become available concerning the role...