WHAT IS LIFE? A GUIDE TO BIOLOGY. 4TH EDITION

Does the vaccine for measles, mumps, and rubella cause autism?
What is the most common reason that DNA analyses overturn incorrect criminal convictions?
What genetically modified foods do most people in the United States consume (usually without knowing it)?
In his popular classes and bestselling textbooks, Jay Phelan uses questions like these as a way of introducing both the practical impact and awe-inspiring wonder of biological research. Phelan knows how to captivate nonmajors with stories of how scientists investigate life. He is also a master at using the study of biology as a context for developing the critical thinking skills and scientific literacy students can draw on through college and beyond.
Phelan’s dynamic approach to teaching biology is the driving force behind What Is Life?—the most successful new non-majors biology textbook of the millennium. The rigorously updated new edition brings forward the features that made the book a classroom favorite (chapters anchored to intriguing questions about life, spectacular original illustrations, innovative learning tools) with a more focused and flexible presentation and enhanced art.
And more than ever, this edition is a seamless text/media source, with its dedicated version of LaunchPad, Macmillan’s breakthrough online course space which integrates an interactive e-Book, all student media, a wide range of assessment and course management features.

Features
Intriguing, Often Surprising Q Questions Motivate Readers
Q questions spark students’ interest and encourage critical thinking. These questions prompt students to consider how biology is a part of their life and the world around them. Corresponding Animations are available in LaunchPad.
Engaging Examples Showcase Biology in Everyday Life
What Is Life? A Guide to Biology threads fascinating, relevant, contemporary examples of the science throughout each chapter. Jay Phelan expertly uses analogies and interesting examples to get students to care about biology.
Recurring Chapter Features Develop Students’ Scientific Skills
The following chapter features are built around key learning goals from Vision & Change:
• StreetBio demonstrates the fun & practicality of biology, helping students apply the scientific knowledge they learn to improve their own lives.
• This Is How We Do It helps students develop the ability to apply the process of science by showing how scientists have approached an intriguing question.
• Graphic Content helps students learn to interpret visual displays of quantitative information and think critically about evidence
All of these features have corresponding assessment activities in LaunchPad. They can be assigned for a grade to ensure students spend the time they need on the content.
Brief Sections Make the Material Manageable
Each chapter is broken down into a series of short, accessible sections. This gives instructors flexibility in what they cover and makes the content easier for students to absorb.
Vivid Photos Capture the Story of Biology
Striking images appear as unit openers and are combined with illustrations of biological processes, concepts, and experimental techniques to engage the imagination of the student.
Clear and Consistent Illustrations
Fresh and easy-to-understand figures bring the concepts to life. Collaboratively developed by the author and scientific illustrators, the text and illustrations are seamlessly integrated, effective learning tools.
New to this Edition
The Fourth Edition of What is Life? A Guide to Biology takes student interest and skill development to the next level, offering a more tightly focused text filled with competency-based features that gives students the opportunity to not just show what they know, but also prove and practice what they can do.
To help students maintain their focus on the key concepts, the text narrative has been carefully and thoughtfully trimmed throughout, while still maintaining Jay Phelan’s signature conversational style and engaging examples.
To improve the flexibility of the book, two of the longest chapters in the previous edition have been split into separate chapters:
• Chemistry (3e Ch 2) is now Chemistry of Biology (4e Ch 2) and Molecules of Life (4e Ch 3)
• DNA, Gene Expression, and Biotechnology (3e Ch 5) is now DNA & Gene Expression (4e Ch 6) + Biotechnology & Genomics (4e Ch 7)
New in LaunchPad
The new media program makes three of the hallmark features of the book, each of which are designed to develop student competencies, assignable:
• This is How We Do It: Developing the ability to apply the process of science
• Graphic Content: Learning to interpret visual displays of quantitative information and think critically about evidence
• StreetBio: Applying the scientific knowledge we learn to improve our own lives
Also new
LaunchPad features now searchable by Bloom’s Taxonomy levels
LaunchPad features reorganized for easy of use
New Mobile-friendly e-Book Option from VitalSource
What is Life? Is now available in a mobile-friendly e-book format that includes animations.

Authors
Jay Phelan teaches biology at UCLA, where he has taught introductory biology in large lectures for majors and nonmajors for fifteen years. He received his PhD in evolutionary biology from Harvard in 1995, and his master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Yale and UCLA. His primary area of research is evolutionary genetics, and his original research has been published in Evolution, Experimental Gerontology, and the Journal of Integrative and Comparative Biology, among others. His research has been featured on Nightline, CNN, the BBC, and NPR; in Science Times and Elle; and in more than a hundred newspapers. He is the recipient of more than a dozen teaching awards. With Terry Burnham, Jay is the coauthor of the international best-seller Mean Genes: From Sex to Money to Food—Taming Our Primal Instincts. Written for the general reader, Mean Genes explains in simple terms how knowledge of the genetic basis of human nature can empower individuals to lead more satisfying lives. Writing for a nonscientific audience has honed Phelan’s writing style to one that is casual and inviting to students but also scientifically precise.