| Description |
vii, 262 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm |
| Contents |
Machine derived contents note: Before We Begin . -- An introduction . i -- Chapter One: It's Who You Are 1 -- You need to understand some basic terms and ideas to make sense of the DNA sciences. -- Don't know a gene from a chromosome? This is the place to start. -- Chapter Two: How We Got Here 0 -- Fifty years after Watson and Crick discovered the DNA double helix, the Human -- Genome Project announced the final version of the human genome. How did we get here -- from there? Here's an inside look at how one of the biggest discoveries in the history of -- mankind came about. -- Chapter Three: Your Genome--An Owner's Manual 00 -- You are of the first generation in the history of the human race to understand what makes -- you . well, you. The fascinating discoveries scientists have made about DNA could -- change your life, your health, and society. -- Chapter Four: The DNA Files 000 -- The most important advance to come out of his work, says DNA double helix discoverer -- James Watson, is the exoneration of death row inmates. DNA fingerprinting has -- revolutionized crime solving, and is helping historians solve centuries-old mysteries. -- Chapter Five: Facing Destiny 000 -- It would've seemed like science fiction just a few decades ago, but today genetic testing -- can predict susceptibility for hundreds of disorders. Who are the players? What tests are -- out there? Will government permit insurance companies and employers to discriminate -- using the new knowledge? Genetic testing, in plain English . -- Chapter Six: The Fountain of Aging Well 000 -- It is one of DNA science's most exciting fields. Biogerontology. A San Francisco -- scientist has increased a worm's lifespan sixfold! Two gerontologists are betting a half- -- billion dollars that in 2150, at least one person alive today will still be alive! Meanwhile, -- companies vie to create a pill that will help tomorrow's baby-boomer senior citizens -- seem decades younger than their years. -- Chapter Seven: Closing in on Cancer 000 -- In the 1970s, Nixon declared war on cancer. This was back when doctors thought it was a -- single disease. By the mid-1990s, most scientists had lost hope, and cancer deaths were at -- an all-time high. Now, for the first time, the majority of cancer specialists have renewed -- faith that, thanks to the DNA sciences, most cancers will be cured--in the next twenty -- years. Here are the players and the technologies. -- Chapter Eight: Cloning and Stem Cells 000 -- It doesn't get more controversial than this. Despite calls for a global ban on cloning--both -- the kind that produces "mini me" humans and the kind that yields potentially life-saving -- stem cells the world's scientific community is pushing hard to keep stem cell work -- alive, saying it's our best hope of curing most of the degenerative diseases that kill people -- today. Here is an inside look at the players, and the arguments from both sides. -- Chapter Nine: Gene Therapy 000 -- Gene therapy--or actually modifying defective genes in patients to cure them--was once -- the holy grail of DNA medicine. Then came setbacks--a teenager dies in a gene therapy -- trial and several French children get leukemia--and everything changed. Now gene -- therapy experts are trying to fight their way back to the forefront with a long list of -- therapies and cutting-edge trials in labs around the country. -- Chapter Ten: DNA and Society 000 -- When most people hear the word eugenics, they think of the Nazis' attempt in the 1930s -- and 1940s to murder their way to an Aryan Germany. But few people know that -- eugenics--the pseudoscience of genetically improving humans--was first popularized -- decades earlier in America. Eugenics was the first societal effort to manipulate genetics. -- Should we fear that a new eugenics is in the offing? What are the ethical issues as the -- DNA sciences barrel into the future? -- Glossary 000 -- Every word you'll ever need to know to keep up with DNA researchers and companies in -- the news, for investing and making societal and personal choices . -- Index 000 |
| Summary |
"Since the advent of life, every creature has been beholden to its genetic blueprint. But mankind has never fully accepted the design, and human history is woven out of our perpetual attempts to redraw it. The latest manifestations of this quest are major developments in DNA technology. These advances have presented us with an almost inconceivable array of opportunities - and with them a daunting vortex of ethical and social issues." "The Genomics Age is your guide to this startling new reality, a very near future in which science will empower us to make decisions with profound biological, moral, economic, and societal implications. Gina Smith explains the history and technology behind these advances, and probes the fundamental questions they pose."--BOOK JACKET |
| Analysis |
Andre fag (naturvidenskab og teknik) Andre fag |
| Notes |
Includes index |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages [211]-224) and index |
| Notes |
Print version record |
| Subject |
Sociogenomics.
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DNA -- Popular works.
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Genetics -- Popular works.
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Genomics -- Popular works.
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Genetics -- Social aspects.
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Genomics -- Social aspects.
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Genomics -- trends.
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Genetics -- trends.
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| Genre/Form |
Popular Work.
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Popular works.
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| LC no. |
2004012595 |
| ISBN |
0814408435 |
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