The research physician and essayist comments on the groundbreaking biomedical issues of the year, including RU 486, stem cell research, and the return of malaria.
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For over a year, beginning in early 2000, the celebrated essayist and research physician Gerald Weissmann carefully documented the modern age of enlightenment in biology, charting its scientific marvels and new plagues. In this illuminating journal, he takes us on a literary exploration of laboratories and beyond to see the impact on human life and culture of such headline-making developments as RU 486, AIDS drugs, stem cells, and the decoding of the human genome.The Year of the Genome: A Diary of the Biological Revolution is an assessment of the state of the art by a colleague of many of today's most celebrated scientists. Weissmann, present at the First International Congress of Cell Biology in 1976 when the term biological revolution was coined, has seen the promise of a new era in science coming to fruition. As he chronicles the interplay between science and contemporary society, he draws us deeply into the historical context of the great innovations and deftly demystifies the controversies surrounding them.
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