Now on ScienceBlogs: The Galaxy's Biggest Valentine
Welcome to The ScienceBlogs Book Club, Seed's virtual venue for hosting discussions on stimulating new titles in science, featuring reviews from across the ScienceBlogs network.
In June, 2010:
Inside the Outbreaks: The Elite Medical Detectives of the Epidemic Intelligence Service, by Mark Pendergrast
Buy a copy at Amazon.
In October, 2008:
Autism's False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure, by Paul Offit
Buy a copy at Amazon.
In June, 2008:
Microcosm: E. Coli and the New Science of Life, by Carl Zimmer
Buy a copy at Amazon.
June 16, 2008
Hard to believe it's already been two weeks, but the Microcosm edition of the ScienceBlogs Book Club has come to an end. Please stay tuned in this spot for news about future installments of the Club. If you have any...
Posted by Book Club at 2:58 PM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
June 13, 2008
I think Carl gets right to the heart of the issue both in this online conversation and in his book. "Are we really just getting started thinking about this stuff?" he asks. In some cases, it seems that regulators are...
Posted by Jessica Snyder Sachs at 12:16 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
June 12, 2008
It is a little weird to think of engineered bacteria living in your mouth or your gut, fighting cavities or Crohn's disease. I'll admit I feel a twinge just thinking about it. But is that because I have some intuition...
Posted by Carl Zimmer at 10:26 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Back in the 1970s, a scientist named Ananda Chakrabarty received the first patent for a genetically modified lifeform, an oil eating "Superbug" from the bacterial strain Pseudomonas putida. The feat was doubly hailed as a major step in bioremediation and...
Posted by John Dennehy at 10:17 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
June 10, 2008
Yikes. Carl, how am I ever going to get that "parahuman" image out of my head! I get your point. This image evokes the abhorrent reaction that early critics had against the idea of tinkering with any life, even "mere"...
Posted by Jessica Snyder Sachs at 10:52 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
June 9, 2008
Imagine that mad scientists defied nature and violated the barriers between species. They injected human DNA into non-human creatures, altering their genomes into chimeras--unnatural fusions of man and beast. The goal of the scientists was to enslave these creatures,...
Posted by Carl Zimmer at 5:25 AM • 34 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
June 6, 2008
Carl, of course, is right in that it wasn't long ago that biologists scoffed at the idea of bacteria being more than bags of chemistry. Carl's thoughtful reply to my question included what, for me, is the best distillation of...
Posted by Jessica Snyder Sachs at 4:14 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
June 4, 2008
Jessica asked if I think viruses are alive. John has given his opinion. I will waffle, but I hope in an interesting way. The hard thing about answering that question is that we'd have to agree on what it means...
Posted by Carl Zimmer at 9:48 PM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
It has been suggested that the first posts of this book club be devoted to the Universal Rules of Life. So... What is life? Jessica asks, Carl, twice in the book you refer to viruses as "creatures." Perhaps you used...
Posted by John Dennehy at 11:24 AM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
June 3, 2008
Everything you need to know about biology is in E. coli. Sure, there are some apparent differences between us and a bacterium, but it's all details … lots and lots of details. That sweet humming core of life — metabolism,...
Posted by PZ Myers at 3:05 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
