Peter B. Kaufman

How do we create a universe of truthful and verifiable information, available to everyone? In The New Enlightenment and the Fight to Free Knowledge, MIT Open Learning’s Peter B. Kaufman describes the powerful forces that have purposely crippled our efforts to share knowledge widely and freely. Popes and their inquisitors, emperors and their hangmen, commissars and their secret police—throughout history, all have sought to stanch the free flow of information. Kaufman writes of times when the Bible could not be translated—you’d be burned for trying; when dictionaries and encyclopedias were forbidden; when literature and science and history books were trashed and pulped—sometimes along with their authors; and when efforts to develop public television and radio networks were quashed by private industry. In the 21st century, the enemies of free thought have taken on new and different guises—giant corporate behemoths, sprawling national security agencies, gutted regulatory commissions. Bereft of any real moral compass or sense of social responsibility, their work to surveil and control us are no less nefarious than their 16th- and 18th- and 20th- century predecessors. They are all part of what Kaufman calls the Monsterverse. The New Enlightenment and the Fight to Free Knowledge maps out the opportunities to mobilize for the fight ahead of us. With the Internet and other means of media production and distribution—video especially—at hand, knowledge institutions like universities, libraries, museums, and archives have a special responsibility now to counter misinformation, disinformation, and fake news—and especially efforts to control the free flow of information. A film and video producer and former book publisher, Kaufman begins to draft a new social contract for our networked video age. He draws his inspiration from those who fought tooth and nail against earlier incarnations of the Monsterverse—including William Tyndale in the 16th century; Denis Diderot in the 18th; untold numbers of Soviet and Central and East European dissidents in the 20th—many of whom paid the ultimate price. Their successors? Advocates of free knowledge like Aaron Swartz, of free software like Richard Stallman, of an enlightened public television and radio network like James Killian, of a freer Internet like Tim Berners-Lee, of fuller rights and freedoms like Edward Snowden. All have been striving to secure for us a better world, marked by the right balance between state, society, and private gain. The concluding section of the book, its largest piece, builds on their work, drawing up a progressive agenda for how today’s free thinkers can band together now to fight and win. With everything shut and everyone going online, The New Enlightenment and the Fight to Free Knowledge is a rousing call to action that expands the definition of what it means to be a citizen in the 21st century.

The New Enlightenment and the Fight to Free Knowledge

Leland J. Cseke

Ara Kirakosyan

Margaret V. Westfall

Several milestones in biology have been achieved since the first publication of the Handbook of Molecular and Cellular Methods in Biology and Medicine. This is true particularly with respect to genome-level sequencing of higher eukaryotes, the invention of DNA microarray technology, advances in bioinformatics, and the development of RNAi technology. Now in its third edition, this volume provides researchers with an updated tool kit that incorporates conventional as well as modern approaches to tackle biological and medicinal research in the post-genomics era. Significantly revised to address these recent changes, the editors have evaluated, revised, and sometimes replaced protocols with more efficient, more reliable, or simpler ones. The book has also been reorganized with section headings focusing on different biological levels connected to one another, taking into account the central dogma of biology (DNA → RNA → protein → metabolites). The book first explores traditional approaches and then moves to the modern "omics" approaches, including genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics. It also discusses the manipulation of biological systems (including RNAi) and macromolecular analyses, focusing on the use of microscopy. In each chapter, various notes and cautionary considerations are presented for potentially hazardous reagents. Filled with diagrams, tables, and figures to clarify methods, most chapters also contain Troubleshooting Guides indicating problems, possible causes, and solutions that may be incurred in carrying out the procedures. Researchers and scientists who master the techniques in this book are putting themselves at the cutting edge of biological and medicinal research.

Handbook of Molecular and Cellular Methods in Biology and Medicine, Third Edition

Practical Botany

James A. Duke

Sara Warber

Harry L. Brielmann

There has long been a need for an authoritative source on natural products and plants and how they are used. This new volume fills this need, bringing together relevant, practical information about the various types of natural products produced by plants, why they produce them, and their importance in today's world. Natural Products from Plants provides examples of how plant products are used to benefit humans through prevention and treatment of diseases, nutritional value, pest control, dyes, fibers, foods and beverages, flavorings and fragrances, and in creating many other novel compounds. Scientists from various disciplines-chemists, biologists, physicians, ethnobotanists, ecologists, nutritionists, and others-are interested in using natural products from plants, but must be aware of the potentially harmful effects of such compounds. Some plants are sources of poisons, addictive drugs, and hallucinogens. Anyone looking for a thorough understanding of the properties of natural plant products - both beneficial and harmful - will find the answers in Natural Products from Plants.

Natural Products from Plants

Several milestones in biology have been achieved since the first publication of the Handbook of Molecular and Cellular Methods in Biology and Medicine. This is true particularly with respect to genome-level sequencing of higher eukaryotes, the invention of DNA microarray technology, advances in bioinformatics, and the development of RNAi technology

Handbook of Molecular and Cellular Methods in Biology and Medicine

Gopi K. Podila

Chung-Jui Tsai

Since the publication of the best-selling Handbook of Molecular and Cellular Methods in Biology and Medicine, the field of biology has experienced several milestones. Genome sequencing of higher eukaryotes has progressed at an unprecedented speed. Starting with baker's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), organisms sequenced now include human (Homo sapiens), model crucifer (Arabidopsis thaliana), and rice (Oryza sativa). The invention of DNA microarray technology and advances in bioinformatics have generated vast amounts of genomic data. Reflecting these revolutionary advances Handbook of Molecular and Cellular Methods in Biology and Medicine, Second Edition documents conventional and modern approaches to tackle scientific research in the post-genomics era. Maintaining the step-by-step format that popularized the first edition, each chapter provides the principles behind the featured method, a detailed description of each protocol, applications of the protocol to different systems, and references for further study. Handbook of Molecular and Cellular Methods in Biology and Medicine, Second Edition now includes: New protocols in all chapters, including alternative protocols In vitro transcription methods Analysis of DNA sequences New bioseparation techniques New chapters covering: mRNA differential display Inhibition of gene expression In situ hybridization (Localization of gene expression) Combinatorial techniques Computational data mining methods applied to combinatorial chemistry libraries With this book at hand, researchers, teachers, and students can understand and utilize the major techniques and methods currently employed in cellular and molecular biology.

Handbook of Molecular and Cellular Methods in Biology and Medicine, Second Edition

William Wu

Helen H. Zhang

Michael J. Welsh

Many scientists find themselves working in the laboratory without sufficient background in current biotechnology methods. Others want to keep up with the revolution in biotechnology and the flood of new methodologies. This book provides a solution for both: a multidisciplinary approach to the methods essential to biotechnical development. C

Gene Biotechnology

2008 NOMINEE The Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries Annual Award for a Significant Work in Botanical or Horticultural Literature From medicinal, industrial, and culinary uses to cutting-edge laboratory techniques in modern research and plant conservation strategies, Natural Products from Plants, Second Edition reveals a vastly expanded understanding of the natural products that plants produce. In a single volume, this bookoffers a thorough inventory of the various types of plant-derived compounds. It covers their chemical composition, structure, and properties alongside the most effective ways to identify, extract, analyze, and characterize new plant-derived compounds. The authors examine new information on the chemical mechanisms plants use to deter predators and pathogens, attract symbiotic organisms, and defend themselves against environmental stress—insights which are key for adapting such mechanisms to human health. Along with updated and revised information from the highly acclaimed first edition, the second edition presents seven new chapters and features more than 50% new material relating to plant constituents, natural product biochemistry, and molecular biology. The book incorporates in-depth treatment of natural product biosynthesis with new collection and extraction protocols, advanced separation and analytical techniques, up-to-date bioassays, as well as modern molecular biology and plant biotechnology for the production of natural products. Unique in its breadth and coverage, Natural Products from Plants, Second Edition belongs on the shelf of interested researchers, policymakers, and consumers— particularly those involved in disease prevention, treatment, and pharmaceutical applications—who need a complete guide to the properties, uses, and study of plant natural products.

Natural Products from Plants, Second Edition

Janice Glimn-Lacy

This is a discovery book about plants. It is for students In the first section, introduction to plants, there are sev of botany and botanical illustration and everyone inter eral sources for various types of drawings. Hypotheti ested in plants. Here is an opportunity to browse and cal diagrams show cells, organelles, chromosomes, the choose subjects of personal inter. est, to see and learn plant body indicating tissue systems and experiments about plants as they are described. By adding color to with plants, and flower placentation and reproductive the drawings, plant structures become more apparent structures. For example, there is no average or stan and show how they function in life. The color code dard-looking flower; so to clearly show the parts of a clues tell how to color for definition and an illusion of flower (see 27), a diagram shows a stretched out and depth. For more information, the text explains the illus exaggerated version of a pink (Dianthus) flower (see trations. The size of the drawings in relation to the true 87). A basswood (Tifia) flower is the basis for diagrams size of the structures is indicated by X 1 (the same size) of flower types and ovary positions (see 28). Another to X 3000 (enlargement from true size) and X n/n source for drawings is the use of prepared microscope (reduction from true size). slides of actual plant tissues.

Peter B. Kaufman

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