"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."
