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A Contagious Cause
Is cancer a contagious disease? In the late nineteenth century this idea, and attending efforts to identify a cancer “germ,” inspired fear and ignited controversy. Yet speculation that cancer might be contagious also contained a kernel of hope that the strategies used against infectious diseases, especially vaccination, might be able to subdue this dread disease. Today, nearly one in six cancers are thought to have an infectious cause, but the path to that understanding was twisting and turbulent. A Contagious Cause is the first book to trace the century-long hunt for a human cancer virus in America, an effort whose scale exceeded that of the Human Genome Project. The government’s ...
Cancer on Trial
There were no medical oncologists until a few decades ago. In the early 1960s, not only were there no such specialists, many practitioners regarded the treatment of terminally-ill cancer patients with heroic courses of chemotherapy as highly questionable. Physicians loath to assign patients randomly to competing treatments also expressed their outright opposition to the randomized clinical trials that were then relatively rare. And yet today these trials form the basis of medical oncology. How did such a spectacular change occur? How did medical oncology move from a non-entity and in some regards a reviled practice to the central position it now occupies in modern medicine? Cancer on Trial answers these questions by exploring how practitioners established a new style of practice, at the center of which lies the cancer clinical trial.
Wolfe's Army
The British victory at Quebec in 1759 was a landmark in the history of North America. In this "year of miracles," according to Horace Walpole, one could "never afford to miss a single copy of a newspaper for fear of missing a British victory somewhere." Of all the pivotal figures in the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), a cast which included George Washington, Sir William Johnson, Lord Howe and Montcalm, Major-General Wolfe remains etched most deeply in Americans' memories for his heroic leadership at Quebec. Enhanced by illustrations and photographs, this book focuses on the British forces throughout their disastrous and triumphant wilderness campaigns which ultimately ensured the birth of the English-speaking United States of America.
Biomedical Computing
Winner of the Computer History Museum Prize of the Special Interest Group: Computers, Information, and Society Imagine biology and medicine today without computers. What would laboratory work be like if electronic databases and statistical software did not exist? Would disciplines like genomics even be feasible if we lacked the means to manage and manipulate huge volumes of digital data? How would patients fare in a world absent CT scans, programmable pacemakers, and computerized medical records? Today, computers are a critical component of almost all research in biology and medicine. Yet, just fifty years ago, the study of life was by far the least digitized field of science, its living sub...
Rabbits with Horns and Other Astounding Viruses
Viruses are the smallest living things known to science, yet they hold the entire planet in their sway. Rabbits with Horns and Other Astounding Viruses explores the bizarre places viruses dwell, and considers the often unexpected ways they influence our world. From agricultural production and crystal caves to rabbits with horns and cervical cancer, viruses are behind many of the wonders—some fascinating, some frightening—of the natural world, as well as some of our greatest medical challenges. Through his engaging considerations of the tobacco mosaic virus, viruses in ocean algae, and the human papillomavirus, award-winning science writer Carl Zimmer brings us up to speed on the nuances and depth of today's cutting-edge scientific research on virology.
The Life of a Virus
We normally think of viruses in terms of the devastating diseases they cause, from smallpox to AIDS. But in The Life of a Virus, Angela N. H. Creager introduces us to a plant virus that has taught us much of what we know about all viruses, including the lethal ones, and that also played a crucial role in the development of molecular biology. Focusing on the tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) research conducted in Nobel laureate Wendell Stanley's lab, Creager argues that TMV served as a model system for virology and molecular biology, much as the fruit fly and laboratory mouse have for genetics and cancer research. She examines how the experimental techniques and instruments Stanley and his colleagues developed for studying TMV were generalized not just to other labs working on TMV, but also to research on other diseases such as poliomyelitis and influenza and to studies of genes and cell organelles. The great success of research on TMV also helped justify increased spending on biomedical research in the postwar years (partly through the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis's March of Dimes)—a funding priority that has continued to this day.
Between Making and Knowing: Tools in the History of Materials Research
This volume offers a comprehensive sketch of the tools used in material research and the rich and diverse stories of how those tools came to be. We aim to give readers a sense of what tools materials researchers required in the late 20th century, and how those tools were developed and became accessible. The volume is in a sense a collective biography of the components of what the philosopher of science, Ian Hacking, calls the "instrumentarium" of materials research. Readers should gain an appreciation of the work materials researchers put into developing and using such tools, and of the tremendous variety of such tools. They should also gain some insight into the material (and hence financial) prerequisites for materials research. Materials research requires funding for the availability and maintenance of its tools; and the category of tools encompasses a broad range of substances, apparatus, institutions, and infrastructure.
The Arts of the Microbial World
"The Arts of the Microbial World explores how Japanese scientists and skilled workers sought to use the microbe's natural processes to create new products, from soy-sauce mold starters to MSG and from vitamins to statins. In traditional brewing houses as well as in the food, fine chemical, and pharmaceutical industries across Japan, they showcased their ability to deal with the enormous sensitivity and variety of the microbial world. Victoria Lee's careful study offers a lush historical example of a society where scientists asked microbes for what they termed "gifts." Lee's story ranges from the microbe's integration into Japan as an imported concept to its precise application in recombinant...
A Planet of Viruses
The past year has been one of viral panic--panic about viruses, that is. Through headlines, public health warnings, and at least one homemade hazmat suit, we were reminded of the powerful force of viruses. They are the smallest living things known to science, yet they can hold the entire planet in their sway. A Planet of Viruses is Carl Zimmer's eye-opening look at the hidden world of viruses. Zimmer, the popular science writer and author of National Geographic's award-winning blog The Loom, has updated this edition to include the stories of new outbreaks, such as Ebola, MERS, and chikungunya virus; new scientific discoveries, such as a hundred-million-year-old virus that infected the common...
Planet of Microbes
This book takes readers into the latest discoveries about early microbial life, where findings from the earth's furthest extremes are seeking to reshape the future of our planet and ourselves. As scientists take the next step in applying the lessons of popular and controversial research, the world's tiniest, and sometimes most dangerous, microorganisms are being tapped as allies in achieving better health and sustainable energy, while revealing fundamental clues to the mystery of where we came from.--Provided by publisher.
