Life Script: How the Human Genome Discoveries Will Transform Medicine - Couverture rigide

Wade, Nicholas

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0743206975 ISBN 13 : 9780743206976

Editeur : Simon & Schuster Ltd, 2002

Synopsis

In this work, author Nicholas Wade claims that medicine is still in the dark ages. This book explores how, with the discovery of the human genome, we will be affected by the possession of the genome knowledge, the power it has and whether we will choose to use it and if so how.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

With the recent biomedical discovery on the human genome, what lies in store for new medicine?
In LIFE SCRIPT, Nicholas Wade claims that medicine is still in its dark age. We think of our medicine as sophisticated but a few decades from now much of it may be regarded with the same horror as we view the barber-surgeons of the 18th century. But with the human genome now in hand, we can begin to lay the foundation for understanding the body. Decoding genomic information is leading to a revolution -- the genome and new cell biology will create the basis for a new medicine. Consider a new way of healing the body: instead of cutting the flesh with scalpels, poisoning it with chemical drugs or burning it with radiation, the physician would gently treat the body with nothing but cells and proteins, seeking to mend like with like; instead of depending only on his own knowledge, the physician would seek to tap the information in the genome, and to exploit the fact that the body's cells are designed to be a self-assembling system, when given the right signals.
LIFE SCRIPT will explore how we will be affected, from the benefits of cancer treatments and immunisation to the grey moral areas of genetic engineering and longevity. Possession of the genome, states Wade, is a loss of innocence, in that it puts an unprecedented kind of power into our hands; sooner or later we will have to choose whether to use it, and to what end.

Description

'Wade gets the science right and explains it without technical jargon. He is a reliable guide to a stunning vision of medicine, in which one need never get sick, never grow old, never die' NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
'Endlessly fascinating and provocative' GLASGOW EVENING TIMES
'In clean prose, an evenly paced narrative economy and a welter of carefully marshalled facts, Wade hits his mark admirably' PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY
'The book is clearly written, with the right amount of accessible science. It is an excellent introduction to the genetic code, to the future of medicine and to the ethical questions which have already surfaced, as science challenges evolution' BIRMINGHAM EVENING MAIL

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Simon & Schuster Ltd
• Date d'édition: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0743206975
• ISBN 13: 9780743206976
• Reliure: Relié
• Langue: anglais
• Nombre de pages: 256
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible