"America's most interesting and important essayist." —Eric Kandel, Nobel Prize–winning author of The Age of Insight"[Gerald Weissmann] bridges the space between science and the humanities, and particularly between medicine and the muses, with wit, erudition, and, most important, wisdom." —Adam GopnikEmbryonic stem cell research. Evolution vs. intelligent design. The transformation of medicine into "health care." Climate change. Nev...

Basic biological research is not in trouble, but support for this cultural product is perhaps more fragile than it should be. We have developed, in this country, in Europe, and in Japan a triumphant record of research accomplishment that has rev olutionized our vision of the cell, the body, and the environ ment. The genetic code has been unraveled, the means of neuromuscular transmission have been elucidated, we know the fine detail of the cell's small geography, and we can de scribe the g...

"America's most interesting and important essayist." —Eric Kandel, Nobel Prize–winning author of The Age of Insight"[Gerald Weissmann] bridges the space between science and the humanities, and particularly between medicine and the muses, with wit, erudition, and, most important, wisdom." —Adam GopnikIn this diverting collection of essays, Gerald Weissmann looks back on decades of a career spent working at the intersection of the ar...

"America's most interesting and important essayist." —Eric Kandel, Nobel Prize–winning author of The Age of Insight"[Gerald Weissmann] bridges the space between science and the humanities, and particularly between medicine and the muses, with wit, erudition, and, most important, wisdom." —Adam GopnikEpigenetics, which attempts to explain how our genes respond to our environment, is the latest twist on the historic nature vs. nurtur...

The eureka moments behind discoveries from penicillin to Pap smears: “A character-rich account of the role of chance in scientific research . . . Illuminating.” —Kirkus ReviewsWhat do penicillin, chemotherapy drugs, X-rays, Valium, the Pap smear, and Viagra have in common? They were each discovered accidentally, stumbled upon in the search for something else.In the 1990s, Pfizer had high hopes for a new drug that would boost blood flow to the heart...

**Fifty-two inspiring and insightful profiles of history’s brightest female scientists.“Rachel Swaby’s no-nonsense and needed Headstrong dynamically profiles historically overlooked female visionaries in science, technology, engineering, and math.”—Elle**In 2013, the New York Times published an obituary for Yvonne Brill. It began: “She made a mean beef stroganoff, followed her husband from job to job, and took eight years off from work to raise th...

As a technology pioneer at MIT and as the leader of three successful start-ups, Kevin Ashton experienced firsthand the all-consuming challenge of creating something new. Now, in a tour-de-force narrative twenty years in the making, Ashton leads us on a journey through humanity’s greatest creations to uncover the surprising truth behind who creates and how they do it. From the crystallographer’s laboratory where the secrets of DNA were first revealed by a long forgotten woman, to the electr...

When the woman he loved was diagnosed with a metastatic cancer, science writer George Johnson embarked on a journey to learn everything he could about the disease and the people who dedicate their lives to understanding and combating it. What he discovered is a revolution under way—an explosion of new ideas about what cancer really is and where it comes from. In a provocative and intellectually vibrant exploration, he takes us on an adventure through the history and recent advances of canc...

“Venter instills awe for biology as it is, and as it might become in our hands.” —Publishers WeeklyOn May 20, 2010, headlines around the world announced one of the most extraordinary accomplishments in modern science: the creation of the world’s first synthetic lifeform. In Life at the Speed of Light, scientist J. Craig Venter, best known for sequencing the human genome, shares the dramatic account of how he led a team of researchers in this pione...

Why has the "War on Cancer" languished, focusing mainly on finding and treating the disease and downplaying the need to control and combat cancer's basic causes -- tobacco, the workplace, radiation, and the general environment? This war has targeted the wrong enemies with the wrong weapons, failing to address well-known cancer causes.As epidemiologist Devra Davis shows in this superbly researched expose, this is no accident. The War on Cancer has followed the commercial in...

A highly regarded scientist’s examination of the battle between evolution and intelligent design, and its implications for how science is practiced in America.

**NATIONAL BESTSELLERA powerfully engaging, scrupulously researched, and deeply empathetic narrative of the history of Alzheimer’s disease, how it affects us, and the search for a cure.**Afflicting nearly half of all people over the age of 85, Alzheimer’s disease kills nearly 100,000 Americans a year as it insidiously robs them of their memory and wreaks havoc on the lives of their loved ones. It was once minimized and misunderstood as forgetfulness in the elderly, but Alzh...