
Pandora's Lab
Seven Stories of Science Gone Wrong
Paul A. Offit(Author)
National Geographic Society (Publisher)
Will be published approx. on 3. May 2018
Book
Paperback/Softback
288 pages
978-1-4262-1884-2 (ISBN)
Description
In this eye-opening narrative, now in paperback, mediagenic doctor and research scientist Paul Offit presents seven scientific breakthroughs that backfired--with catastrophic consequences to our health and environment.
History is filled with brilliant ideas that gave rise to disaster, and this book explores its most fascinating--and significant--missteps. Acclaimed physician and author Paul Offit offers a bouquet of riveting scientific misadventures: from opium's heyday to today's realization that it is devastatingly addictive; from the rise of trans fats to the heart disease epidemic that followed; from the cries to ban DDT to protect the environment to an epidemic-level rise in world malaria. These unwitting errors and more add up to seven lessons both cautionary and profound. In this riveting book, Offit uses these lessons to investigate how we can tell sin from science, using some of today's most controversial creations--e-cigarettes,GMOs, drug treatments for ADHD as case studies. For every "aha!" moment that should have been an "oh no," Pandora's Lab is an engrossing account of how science has been misused--and how we can learn to use its power for good.
History is filled with brilliant ideas that gave rise to disaster, and this book explores its most fascinating--and significant--missteps. Acclaimed physician and author Paul Offit offers a bouquet of riveting scientific misadventures: from opium's heyday to today's realization that it is devastatingly addictive; from the rise of trans fats to the heart disease epidemic that followed; from the cries to ban DDT to protect the environment to an epidemic-level rise in world malaria. These unwitting errors and more add up to seven lessons both cautionary and profound. In this riveting book, Offit uses these lessons to investigate how we can tell sin from science, using some of today's most controversial creations--e-cigarettes,GMOs, drug treatments for ADHD as case studies. For every "aha!" moment that should have been an "oh no," Pandora's Lab is an engrossing account of how science has been misused--and how we can learn to use its power for good.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Product notice
Paperback (UK-trade)
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-4262-1884-2 (9781426218842)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
PAUL A. OFFIT is a pediatrician specializing in infectious diseases and an expert on vaccines, immunology, and virology. He is the co-inventor of a rotavirus vaccine that has been credited with saving hundreds of lives every day. Offit is the Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology, professor of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, and the director of the Vaccine Education Center at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He has been a member of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Offit is a board member of Every Child By Two and a founding board member of the Autism Science Foundation (ASF).