Human Biology (12th edition)

Book Preface

One of the easiest ways to engage today’s students in the sciences is to make the content relevant to their lives. From the latest developments in health and medicine, to environmental issues, students have a fundamental interest in the world around them. Human Biology was designed to integrate the topics of health, wellness, and the environment in a way that perfectly suits the nonmajors’ course.

With this purpose in mind, the authors identifi ed several goals that guided them through the revision of Human Biology, Twelfth Edition.

• Homeostasis and Evolution coverage increased
• Genetics of human disease coverage expanded
• Case Studies revised to include discussions of medical procedures and the genetics of human disease
• Applications added to enhance the relevancy of content for students
• Media assets integrated in textbook and in ConnectTM Biology

Increased Coverage of Homeostasis and Evolution

Many of the Connecting the Concepts features at the end of each section address homeostasis and direct students to other sections of the textbook to emphasize how the body systems interact to make homeostasis possible. Throughout the textbook, new evolutionary diagrams have been added to indicate the importance of evolution in the study of human biology. In addition, many of the Connections and Misconceptions boxes now relate to evolutionary themes.

Improved Coverage of the Genetics of Human Disease

Throughout the book, the genetic basis of human diseases (such as Down syndrome, cystic fi brosis, and Huntington disease) is identifi ed and discussed. Many of these conditions are now the focus of the chapter openers, in which the relationship between genetics and some of the more common human diseases is presented.

Revised Chapter-Opening Case Studies

One of the major features of this new edition of Human Biology is a complete reworking of the chapter-opening case studies. As with the chapter-opening material in previous editions, all case studies have a human focus and lead the students into the chapter in an engaging way. For the twelfth edition, many of the case studies include discussions of medical procedures and the genetic basis of human disease. Also, several questions have been added to each case study to integrate the topic of the case study with the material in the chapter. These questions may be assigned by the instructor to assess student understanding of the topic or to facilitate classroom discussions. Each case study is concluded at the end of the chapter to further integrate the chapter concepts, and many of the Thinking Critically About the Concepts questions at the end of the chapter combine case study concepts with chapter content. Students are challenged to thoughtfully integrate these ideas, and the answers to the questions are given in Appendix B.