The Genomics Age
How DNA Technology Is Transforming the Way We Live and Who We Are
AMACOM
Available: 11/05/04
6.13 x 9.25 · 240 pages
Ages 17 years
9780814408438
CDN $31.50
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What happens when universal truth comes face-to-face with inexorable progress? Since the advent of life, every creature has been beholden to its genetic blueprint; drawn at conception, it is Article I of an immutable compact with the laws of nature.
But mankind has never fully bought into that covenant, and human history is woven out of our perpetual attempts to renegotiate. The latest manifestations of this timeless quest are major developments in DNA science and technology. These quantum leaps have positioned mankind before an almost inconceivable array of opportunities-and with them a daunting vortex of ethical and social issues - to influence or even determine our individual and collective destinies.
The Genomics Age is your guide to this startling new reality, a very near future in which science will empower us to make decisions with profound biological, moral, economic, and societal implications. Gina Smith, an internationally renowned, award-winning journalist whose work has given popular audiences insight into complex science issues for years, explains the history and technology behind these advances, and probes the fundamental questions they pose: Can we conquer cancer and other diseases once and for all? Learn why the majority of cancer specialists believe that most cancers will be cured - within the next twenty years.
Will we ever bridge the ideological, religious, and political divides in the stem cell debate? See how the two sides agree much more often than not.
Does the rush to develop anti-aging drugs mean we are on the verge of finding the fountain of youth? Learn how a scientist keeps lab worms fit and healthy - while sextupling their lifespans.
As we eliminate disease,pick and choose the attributes of our children, and discover yet-to-be-conceived applications of DNA science, will cracking the very code of life change what it means to be human? In the history of mankind, few scientific phenomena have so profoundly altered the human experience as will the DNA technology revolution. As we grapple with the promise and challenge of a truly new frontier, we must all educate ourselves about the what, even as we seek to answer the infinitely larger question of why? The Genomics Age is the perfect starting point." "
Gina Smith is one of America's best-known science and technology journalists. Formerly the technology correspondent for ABC News, she reported stories for World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, Nightline with Ted Koppel, 20/20, Good Morning America, and This Week with Sam Donaldson. Her award-winning column, Inside Silicon Valley,' chronicled the technology industry for the San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner for a dozen years. Her science and technology columns and stories have also appeared in such diverse publications as The Los Angeles Times, Wired, Popular Science, Upside, Glamour, and The Hollywood Reporter. Her weekly radio show, "On Computer with Gina Smith,' has reached millions of households in the U.S. and overseas via the Armed Forces Radio Network. Smith's far-reaching work translating science topics into plain English has earned her a number of awards, including a first place in investigative journalism from the Computer Press Association. She has been included in Upside's Technology Elite 100, the Top 25 Women on the Web, and in the San Jose Mercury News' Top Movers and Shakers in Silicon Valley. She is an in-demand public speaker at technology forums, conferences, and conventions, and currently serves on the Board of Councilors at the University of Southern California's School of Engineering. Ms. Smith lives in San Francisco with her attorney husband, Henry, and her young son, Eric. "
