
Life Script
How the Human Genome Discoveries Will Transform Medicine
Nicholas Wade(Author)
The Free Press
Published on 5. December 2002
Book
Paperback/Softback
208 pages
978-0-7432-3103-9 (ISBN)
Description
With the recent biomedical discovery on the human genome, what lies in store for new medicine? In LIFE SCRIPT, Nicholas Wade claims that medicine is still in its dark age. We think of our medicine as sophisticated but a few decades from now much of it may be regarded with the same horror as we view the barber-surgeons of the 18th century. But with the human genome now in hand, we can begin to lay the foundation for understanding the body. Decoding genomic information is leading to a revolution -- the genome and new cell biology will create the basis for a new medicine. Consider a new way of healing the body: instead of cutting the flesh with scalpels, poisoning it with chemical drugs or burning it with radiation, the physician would gently treat the body with nothing but cells and proteins, seeking to mend like with like; instead of depending only on his own knowledge, the physician would seek to tap the information in the genome, and to exploit the fact that the body's cells are designed to be a self-assembling system, when given the right signals.
LIFE SCRIPT will explore how we will be affected, from the benefits of cancer treatments and immunisation to the grey moral areas of genetic engineering and longevity. Possession of the genome, states Wade, is a loss of innocence, in that it puts an unprecedented kind of power into our hands; sooner or later we will have to choose whether to use it, and to what end.
LIFE SCRIPT will explore how we will be affected, from the benefits of cancer treatments and immunisation to the grey moral areas of genetic engineering and longevity. Possession of the genome, states Wade, is a loss of innocence, in that it puts an unprecedented kind of power into our hands; sooner or later we will have to choose whether to use it, and to what end.
More details
Edition
New edition
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Publishing group
Simon & Schuster
Edition type
New edition
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 126 mm
Weight
156 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7432-3103-9 (9780743231039)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Previous edition

WADE NICHOLAS
Life Script Us Edition
How the Human Genome Discoveries Will Transform Medicine and Enhance Your Health
Book
09/2002
Simon & Schuster
€15.20
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Person
Nicholas Wade was born in Aylesbury and studied at King's College, Cambridge. He has written for NATURE and SCIENCE magazines and currently writes for the NEW YORK TIMES. He is the author of A WORLD BEYOND HEALING and is the Editor of THE SCIENCE TIMES series.