San Antonio College Library

They mastermind our lives, shaping our features, our health, and our behavior, even in the sacrosanct realms of love and sex, religion, aging, and death. Yet we are the ones who house, perpetuate, and give the promise of immortality to these biological agents, our genetic gods. The link between genes and gods is hardly arbitrary, as the distinguished evolutionary geneticist John Avise reveals in this book. In clear, straight-forward terms, Avise reviews...

"Genetic doctors and testing have become relatively common. But what is genetics? How do these doctors and their tests work, and what, if anything, can they change? Dr. Scheuerle walks us through this new field and explains the basics detailing diseases and disorders that can present in each life stage in infancy and childhood, in puberty and adolescence, and in adulthood as well as old age"--Jacket.

"Wrestling with Behavioral Genetics brings together an interdisciplinary group of contributors - geneticists, humanists, social scientists, lawyers, and journalists - to discuss the ethical and social implications of behavioral genetics research. The essays give readers the necessary tools to critically analyze the findings of behavioral geneticists, explore competing interpretations of the ethical and social implications of those findings, and engage...

"Each of Reilly's five fascinating tales about genetic disorders raises ethical questions that loom in our future. Many children born deaf have two copies of a particular gene mutation, and it is now possible to identify couples at risk for bearing deaf children even if they have no family history. But is deafness a disease? On that question, hearing parents of deaf children often sharply disagree with deaf adults. As the science progresses, will...

The book examines how sophisticated tools of genetic analysis and manipulation are being developed in laboratories all over the world and considers the impact they will have on issues that scientists consider, including the causes of aging and death, the nature of the brain, and quality of life. Drawing from many research streams-such as advances in molecular and cell biology, imaging, and informatics-genetics is shown to encompass a view of nature...

In the fall of 2005, leading scientists from the National Cancer Institute announced the beginning of the cancer genome atlas project, a large-scale endeavor to map every gene implicated in cancer and the first step toward development of new therapies for treating this still baffling disease. This spin-off of the human genome project is only the latest exciting research advance in a decades-long quest to fully understand the biochemistry of the human...

Crisscrossing the continent, a renowned geneticist provides a groundbreaking examination of America through its DNA.

"Since the advent of life, every creature has been beholden to its genetic blueprint. But mankind has never fully accepted the design, and human history is woven out of our perpetual attempts to redraw it. The latest manifestations of this quest are major developments in DNA technology. These advances have presented us with an almost inconceivable array of opportunities - and with them a daunting vortex of ethical and social issues." "The Genomics...

A medical revolution is upon us, and leading geneticist Collins explains its dimensions here. Our knowledge of the genetic basis for disease has increased exponentially in recent years, and we are now able to understand and treat diseases at the molecular level with personalized medicine--care based on an individual's genetic makeup. Collins presents cutting-edge science for lay readers who want to take control of their medical lives. He discusses...

"James D. Watson, the Nobel laureate whose pioneering work helped unlock the mystery of DNA's structure, charts the greatest scientific journey of our time, from the discovery of the double helix to today's controversies to what the future may hold. Updated to include new findings in gene editing, epigenetics, agricultural chemistry, as well as two entirely new chapters on personal genomics and cancer research. This is the most comprehensive and authoritative...