Books published by publisher Portland Pr

Written for 12-16 year-olds, this book aims to teach about drugs, their history, use and abuse and their impact on daily life, particularly focussing on those drugs with which children will have come in contact. It sets out to show that science has good stories to tell, including the ethics and importance of animal experimentation, and teach about disease and the body's response to it. Fran Balkiwill and Mic Rolph have published five other full colour childrens' books, including two which won "Science book of the Year" prizes: "Cells Are Us", "Cell Wars", "DNA Is Here to Stay", "Amazing Schemes Within Your Genes" and "The Egg and Sperm Race".

What happens when you read? Your eyes do the seeing, your mind does the thinking and your fingers turn the pages. These parts of your body are co-ordinated by your brain. What does your brain look like and what is it made of? There are a hundred times more nerve cells inside your head than there are people alive in the world! These nerve cells carry electrical messages, not just within the brain, but to each and every part of your body. Your brain has to do much more than receive messages and send them out again: making and storing memories, for instance, and controlling feelings and behaviour. What is so special about your brain? Find out how to keep it fit and busy. Play some games that will really boggle your brain.

Orbiting around the Earth, out of sight and out of mind, are hundreds of man-made satellites. You are safer and healthier because of satellites and so is the planet. Satellites let you talk to your friends across the continents. You watch live world-wide television with their help. They guide you when you travel and show you most interesting images of deep space. But how do you make a satellite that will work outside Earth's atmosphere, where it is 150°C in the sun and -273°C in the shade? How do you get a satellite into space without it falling to bits on the way? Some day soon satellites will be off to explore Saturn, the Sun and the comet 'Wirtanen'. They might even be delivered into orbit by space planes that would cross the world in under two hours.