About the Author

Jay Phelan teaches biology at UCLA, where he has taught introductory biology to more than 11,000 majors and non-majors students over the past seventeen years. He is the recipient of more than a dozen teaching awards, including UCLA’s highest teaching honor, the Distinguished Teaching Award, in 2011. He received his Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from Harvard in 1995, a master’s degree in environmental studies from Yale, and a bachelor’s degree from 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 other journals. His research has been featured on Nightline, CNN, the BBC, and National Public Radio; in Science Times and Elle; and in more than a hundred newspapers.

Jay lectures frequently on a variety of topics in education, including the nurturing of critical thinking skills in undergraduate students and the use and efficacy of online adaptive assessment systems. His research in these areas has been published in the International Encyclopedia of Education and numerous journals.

With economist Terry Burnham, Jay is co-author of the international bestseller 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.

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To Julia

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Q: HOW DOES WHAT IS LIFE? SO THOROUGHLY CAPTIVATE NON-MAJORS? IT WAS CREATED WITH THEM IN MIND.

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.

Brief Sections Make the Material Manageable

Each chapter is broken down into a series of short, accessible sections.

Clear and Consistent Illustrations

Fresh and easy-to-understand figures bring the concepts to life. Collaboratively developed by the author and the scientific illustrator, the text and illustrations are seamlessly integrated, effective learning tools.

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.

Intriguing, Often Surprising Q Questions Motivate Readers

Q Questions spark students’ interest and encourage critical thinking.

Q Animations (interactive versions of these questions) are available in LaunchPad.

Q

Mammals get bigger and bigger the more they eat. Why don’t insects?

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Take-Home Messages Provide a Quick Summary

Each section of the chapter includes a concise, memorable summary of key ideas.

StreetBIOs Make Biology Memorable

StreetBIO: KNOWLEDGE YOU CAN USE features are found in every chapter, and demonstrate the practicality and fun of biology.

End-of-Chapter Study Tools

Each chapter includes Key Terms, an R&R visual summary with embedded questions, and a Graphic Content feature that gives students practice in thinking critically about visual displays of data.

Q: WHAT’S NEW IN THE NEW EDITION?

INNOVATIVE NEW STUDY TOOLS

This Is How We Do It

In each chapter, Jay Phelan highlights an intriguing question—for example, Does sunscreen use reduce skin cancer risk?—and shows how scientists have approached the problem and thought it through. It’s an effective new way to guide students through the process of science and develop their science literacy skills.

R&R (Review and Rehearse)

Each chapter now concludes with a four-page visual summary that represents the key ideas, with a brief recap and central illustration from each section. R&R also includes short-answer and multiple-choice questions, making it ideal for chapter review, for exam preparation, or as assignments.

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NEW! FOR THE INSTRUCTOR AND FOR THE CLASSROOM

From the front of the classroom to the top of the bestseller list, award-winning educator Jay Phelan is a master at using biology as a springboard for developing the critical thinking skills and scientific literacy that are essential to students through college and throughout their lives.

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). The third edition also includes enhanced art and full integration with its own dedicated version of LaunchPad—W. H. Freeman’s breakthrough online course space. LaunchPad fully integrates an interactive e-Book, all student media, and a wide range of assessment and course management features, in a new interface in which power and simplicity go hand in hand.

LaunchPad

Developed with extensive feedback from instructors and students, W. H. Freeman’s new online course space offers:

  • Pre-built units for each chapter, curated by experienced educators, with media for that chapter organized and ready to assign or customize to suit your course.
  • All online resources for the text in one location, including an interactive e-Book, LearningCurve adaptive quizzing (see below), Bio 101 Tutorials, Q Animations, graph-reading and data analysis activities, assessment questions (written by the author), all instructor resources, and more.
  • Intuitive and useful analytics, with a Gradebook that lets you see how your class is doing individually and as a whole.
  • A streamlined interface that lets you build an entire course in minutes.

LearningCurve

In a game-like format, LearningCurve adaptive and formative quizzing provides an effective way to get students involved in the coursework. It offers:

  • A unique learning path for each student, with quizzes shaped by each individual’s correct and incorrect answers.
  • A Personalized Study Plan, to guide students’ preparation for class and for exams.
  • Feedback for each question with live links to relevant e-Book pages, guiding students to the reading they need to do to improve their areas of weakness.

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