| Foreword | xiii | |
| Introduction | xix | |
| Section 1 | Where Are We From? | |
| 1. | Are We the Aliens? | 3 |
| Your Biological Inheritance | ||
| What Is Life? The Origin of Life | ||
| Where Did Life Come From? | ||
| 2. | Your Evolution into Present Standard Operational Equipment | 19 |
| A Teenager's Cosmic Calendar | ||
| What Is Evolution? Natural Selection | ||
| Earth's Timescale | ||
| Human Evolution | ||
| 3. | Your Physical Universe: All the Matter There Is | 33 |
| The Visible Macroworld | ||
| Theory of Relativity | ||
| The Invisible Microworld | ||
| Quantum Theory | ||
| 4. | The Universe Gave Birth to the Earth, and a Creature that Can't Mind Its Own Business | 53 |
| Births of the Universe, Galaxies, Milky Way, Earth | ||
| Conditions for Life | ||
| Section 2 | Where Are We Now? | |
| 5. | Your Brain and Its Body | 75 |
| Human Beings, Teenagers, and the Inexorable Laws of Nature | ||
| The Physical Brain | ||
| Information | ||
| Consciousness | ||
| Mind | ||
| Electronic Thinking | ||
| Mental Illness | ||
| The Body, Its Parts and Organs | ||
| 6. | Genes, Sex, and Mistakes | 99 |
| DNA | ||
| Genomics | ||
| 7. | Intelligence and Consciousness: Us, Robots, and Cosmic | 115 |
| 8. | Ethology and Environment: Wild Animals, Lost People | 137 |
| Leaky's Angels | ||
| Goodall, Fossey, Galdikas, Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Hale, the Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa | ||
| Section 3 | Where Are We Going? | |
| 9. | Medical Ethics: Big Thinkers, Small Thinking | 147 |
| The Death of a Teenager | ||
| Extreme Bodies | ||
| Who Owns Your Body | ||
| Sterilization | ||
| Teenage Marriage, Violence, in Prison | ||
| 10. | Science Ethics: What Are They Doing, in the Name of Science, to Whom? | 161 |
| Gene Therapy | ||
| Frankenstein Clones himself | ||
| Good Doctors Make Mistakes | ||
| 11. | Biosphere Ethics, or Why Are We Such Environmental Jerks? | 177 |
| "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" | ||
| Ecological Jerks | ||
| Revolution | ||
| Bibliography and Suggested Reading | 189 | |
| Science Web Sites with Links and Internet Safety Guidelines | 195 | |
| Glossary of Science Terms | 197 | |
| Index | 205 |
Overview