Helen Plum Library

When the body of social worker Gloria Montoya, seven weeks pregnant with her first child, shows up on Chief New York City Medical Examiner Laurie Montgomery's autopsy table, she's baffled to find no apparent causes of death. Laurie enlists the help of Dr. Tricia Albanese, a forensic pathology resident with a background in genetic science, to help her trace the identity of the unborn baby's father using DNA from the mother and child. When Tricia is...

"You swab your cheek or spit in a vial, then send it away to a lab somewhere. Weeks later you get a report that might tell you where your ancestors came from or if you carry certain genetic risks. Or the report could reveal long-buried family secrets and upend your entire sense of identity. Soon a lark becomes an obsession, a relentless drive to find answers to questions at the core of your being, like "Who am I?" and "Where did I come from?" Welcome...

A National Geographic Best Book of the Year In our unique genomes, every one of us carries the story of our species-births, deaths, disease, war, famine, migration, and a lot of sex. But those stories have always been locked away-until now. Who are our ancestors? Where did they come from? Geneticists have suddenly become historians, and the hard evidence in our DNA has completely upended what we thought we knew about ourselves. Acclaimed science...

Provides an introduction to the field of genetics, including how DNA is structured, how genetic inheritance works, and how new discoveries in genetics have helped to cure or prevent diseases

An introduction to genetic code combines simple, engaging language and expressive, child-friendly illustrations to explain how biological life grows and changes and how DNA combines to make humans both unique and connected to all life on the planet

"It's inside every living plant and animal, from the tiniest seed to the person standing next to you, but how much do you know about DNA? This book gives children an in-depth look at DNA and its role in all living things -- from why we have different-colored eyes to why we age. Discover what DNA is, what it does, and how it shapes our lives, including inheritance and why we look like our parents; forensic science and how DNA evidence helps catch criminals;...

How a journey of self-discovery unearthed the scandalous evolution of artificial insemination

"Rosalind Franklin knows if she just takes one more X-ray picture--one more after thousands--she can unlock the building blocks of life. Never again will she have to listen to her colleagues complain about her, especially Maurice Wilkins who'd rather conspire about genetics with James Watson and Francis Crick than work alongside her. Then it finally happens--the double helix structure of DNA reveals itself to her with perfect clarity. But what happens...

"From celebrated genetic anthropologist Jennifer Raff comes the untold story-and fascinating mystery-of how humans migrated to the Americas"-- 20,000 years ago, people crossed a great land bridge from Siberia into Western Alaska and then dispersed southward into what is now called the Americas. Until we venture out to other worlds, this remains the last time our species has populated an entirely new place, and this event has been a subject of deep...