Coming To Life Cl

by Nusslein-Volhard,Christiane

• ISBN13: 9780967007670
• ISBN10: 0967007674
• Edition: 00
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-04-17
• Publisher: Kales Press

Summary

Christiane Nusslein-Volhard, winner of The Nobel Prize in Medicine, gives a concise and illustrative overview of genetics, evolution, and cellular processes as well as a discussing of current ethical issues in human biology. Coming to Life is a remarkable journey through developmental biology that reveals miraculous processes in the microscopic world of cells. Through an accounting of groundbreaking discoveries, Christiane Nusslein-Volhard tells us many answers to historical and contemporary questions in science. For example, she brings us the newest knowledge about embryonic forms, explains the genetic mechanisms that influence adult development of all animals, and shares insights into the ethical standards society moist uphold in the face of new scientific discoveries. As the author leads us from laboratory research to its applications in human beings, we also come to understand why children look like their parents, how an embryonic cell knows to become an eye rather than an eyelash, and other incredible influences hat result in variety in life. Complete with her own hand-drawn illustrations, Coming to Life gives a rare opportunity to understand a Nobel Prize-winner's passion for science in concise, understandable language. 55 b/w illustrations.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
CHAPTER I: Origin and Heredity
1: The Natural System: Carl Linnaeus	2	(1)
2: The Theory of Evolution: Charles Darwin	3	(3)
3: The Laws of Heredity: Gregor Mendel	6	(6)
CHAPTER II: Cells and Chromosomes
1: Cells and Cell Division	12	(2)
2: Fertilization	14	(2)
3: Chromosomes and Genes	16	(2)
4: Germ and Line and Clones	18	(3)
5: The Influences of the Cytoplasm and the Environment	21	(5)
CHAPTER III: Genes and Proteins
1: The Genetics of Drosophila	26	(3)
2: Mutation	29	(2)
3: The Molecular Nature of Genes	31	(2)
4: Protein Synthesis and the Genetic Code	33	(2)
5: DNA A Replication	35	(1)
6: Gene Technology	36	(2)
7: Genes of Multicellular Organisms	38	(7)
CHAPTER IV: Development and Genetics
1: Model Organisms	45	(1)
2: The Development of Drosophila	45	(4)
3: The Search for Genes that Control Development	49	(3)
4: The Logic of Genes	52	(6)
CHAPTER V: Molecular Prepatterns
1: Gradients	58	(4)
2: Combinations	62	(6)
3: Induction and Signal Transduction	68	(7)
CHAPTER VI: Form and Form Charges
1: Cells and Tissues	75	(4)
2: Form Building Movements	79	(2)
3: Cell Division, Growth, and Death	81	(7)
CHAPTER VII: Vertebrates
1: Frogs, Fish, and Birds	88	(7)
2: Mammals: The Mouse	95	(6)
3: Gradients, Prepatterns and Induction in Vertebrates	101	(7)
CHAPTER VIII: Humans
1: The Development of Germ Cells	108	(2)
2: The Development of the Egg	110	(1)
3: The Development in the Uterus	111	(4)
4: Genes and Disease	115	(5)
CHAPTER IX: Evolution, Body Plans, and Genomes
1: Evolutionary History of Organisms	120	(2)
2: The Cambrian Explosion	122	(2)
3: New Construction Principles	124	(2)
4: Genomes	126	(3)
5: The Evolution of Humans	129	(6)
CHAPTER X: Current Topics
1: Utopias	135	(1)
2: Cloning	136	(2)
3: Human In Vitro Embryos	138	(2)
4: Designer Babies	140	(1)
5: Gene Therapy	141	(1)
6: Human Embryonic Stem Cells	142	(2)
7: The Moral Status of the Embryo	144	(3)
Appendix	147	(2)
Time Table	149	(4)
Glossary	153	(6)
Index	159