Start here · Essential guide
The Biology of the Immune System: A Scientific Exploration
A primer on the immune system: how innate and adaptive defenses work, how the body tells friend from foe, and why the response sometimes goes too far.
Health and Medicine
How the immune system, brain and body processes work, in plain language.
Start here · Essential guide
A primer on the immune system: how innate and adaptive defenses work, how the body tells friend from foe, and why the response sometimes goes too far.
See how the body's organ systems cooperate, from climbing a flight of stairs to digesting a meal, and why no system works alone.
An overview of hominin evolution, from early upright walkers to modern humans, and how fossils and genetics shape the picture, with dates given as ranges.
How the brain reward system works, and how repeated exposure to rewarding substances or behaviors can change tolerance, craving and control, explained in general terms.
What happens inside cells and tissues as we age, the main scientific theories of aging, and which questions researchers still consider open.
A general primer on how normal cell growth control breaks down, how accumulated genetic changes lead to cancer, and why it is many diseases rather than one.
Which brain regions and body signals take part in emotion, and how scientists describe and debate what an emotion actually is.
A general look at reproductive biology: the organs and hormones involved, how eggs and sperm meet, and the biological factors that influence conception.
How the brain encodes, stores and retrieves memories, the role of the hippocampus and synapses, and the biological reasons we forget.
Follow the body's levels of organization from cells to tissues, organs and systems, and learn how homeostasis keeps internal conditions steady.
A guide to the eye's anatomy, the retina's rods, cones and other cells, and how common vision conditions relate to its structure, in general terms.
A look at the heart's four chambers, valves, wall structure and blood supply, and how blood flows through it, with a brief note on how the beat is controlled.
Meet the trillions of microbes living in and on the human body, what they seem to do for us, and the questions researchers have not yet answered.
A mechanical look at how bones and muscles act as levers, how loads and forces are handled, and a worked example of the force in the biceps.
How the body balances heat production and heat loss through conduction, convection, radiation and evaporation, and why core temperature is held in a narrow range.
Treat the eye as an optical system: how refraction at the cornea and lens focuses light onto the retina, and why focus errors occur.
A newcomer's guide to human anatomy: the standard body position, planes and directional terms, body cavities, and how anatomy differs from physiology.
Follow blood through arteries, capillaries and veins to see how circulation delivers oxygen and nutrients and carries away waste.
Walk the digestive tract from mouth to colon, with a clear account of how food is broken down, absorbed and processed at each stage.
How rods, cones and the brain turn wavelengths of light into the colors we perceive, and why color vision differs between people.
The electrical signal and pumping cycle behind every heartbeat, what causes the sounds, and what your pulse and resting heart rate reflect.
Meet the main immune cell types, from neutrophils to T and B cells, and see how antibodies and immune memory fit into innate and adaptive defense.
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