Ann Reynolds

Lee M. Silver

Leroy E. Hood

Leland Hartwell

Ruth C. Veres

Michael L. Goldberg

From Genes to Genomes

Genetics

How Genetic Engineering and Cloning Will Transform the American Family

Remaking Eden

Biotechnology is the oldest and most widespread of inventions, providing sustenance for humankind since the beginning of civilization. Until recently, however, its tools were crude and its implementation was opaque. Today new understanding in the life sciences brings both precision and transparency to the process. Modern inventions could alleviate human suffering, feed the world, and, at the same time, stem the tide of earth's ecological degradation. Yet ironically, biotechnology becomes evermore contentious. On the left, New Age secularists rail against genetically modified crops. On the right, religious Americans want embryo stem-cell research to be a felony. While they share seemingly little beyond mutual contempt, Silver argues that both political camps are driven -- consciously or subconsciously -- by a fundamental fear of violating a higher spiritual authority, imagined either as the creator God of the Bible, who rules from above, or a vague Mother Nature goddess here on earth. In Challenging Nature, Silver offers a provocative look at the collision of science, religion, pseudoscience, and politics. A hands-on scientist who has actually manipulated genes, he leaves the laboratory, traveling the globe in what he calls “one scientist's journey from a cloistered community, in which life is assumed to be combinations of complex molecules and information flow between them, to a world of humanity dominated by soul and spirits, and to the intense chaos of Mother Nature at large.” The result is a fascinating book that could provide a wake-up call for the West, where the economic ramifications of pseudoscience may be enormous: a future in which Asia becomes dominant in biotechnological advances.

The Clash of Science and Spirituality at the New Frontiers of Life

Challenging Nature

Stem cell research, genetically modified crops, animals developed with personalized human organs for transplantation, and other previously inconceivable biotech applications could increase the quality of all human lives and maximize the health of the biosphere. But ironically, as the science becomes more precise and transparent, it also becomes more contentious. In Challenging Nature, Silver argues that although they seem to have little in common, Christian fundamentalists opposed to embryo research and New Age organic food devotees are both driven by a deeply rooted fear that biotechnology—in some guise—challenges the sovereignty of a higher or deeper transcendent authority. In the short term, Silver writes, Eastern spiritual traditions will give Asian countries a research advantage. But over the millennia, human nature may have the potential to remake Mother Nature in the image of an idealized world.

The Clash Between Biotechnology and Spirituality

Gail R. Martin

Sidney Strickland

Teratocarcinoma Stem Cells

A leading geneticist explores the "brave new world" of baby-making in an age that looks onward from IVF and surrogacy to human clones and genetic engineering. Lee Silver explains the science of embryology, explores what science can and will be able to do to affect the natural processes, and through a series of individual stories, both contemporary and imagined from the future, looks at the moral, ethical and legal implications.

Cloning and Beyond in a Brave New World

nowy wspaniały świat?.

Raj porawiony

Could a child have two genetic mothers? Will parents someday soon be able to choose not only the physical characteristics of their children-to-be, but their personalities and talents as well? Will genetic enhancement ultimately lead to a split in the human species?In this brilliant, provocative, and necessary book, Lee M. Silver takes a cautiously optimistic look at the scientific advances that will allow us to engineer life in ways that were unimaginable just a few short years ago--indeed, in ways that go far beyond cloning. In clear, engaging, and accessible prose, Silver demystifies the science behind a myriad of thrilling and frightening new possibilities, in a book that is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the hopes and dilemmas of the American family in the twenty-first century.

Cloning, Genetic Engineering and the Future of Humankind?

Lee M. Silver

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