The present threat of biological terrorism makes this scientific page-turner especially timely.
Truly alarming report on the growing resistance of bacteria to once-effective antibiotics and the struggle of scientists to find new weapons against them.
Vanity Fair staff writer Shnayerson (The Car That Could, 1996, etc.) and ethnobotanist Plotkin (Medicine Quest, 2000, etc.) document the consternation of doctors as they face a dismaying fact: drugs that once banished infectious diseases are now becoming ineffective. The principal causes, the authors report, are overuse and misuse of antibiotics. As millions of unnecessary prescriptions are written by physicians and as millions of pounds of antibiotics are fed to chickens and livestock to promote growth, chance mutations enable some bacteria to survive, creating new generations of antibiotic-resistant strains. In 1997, a promising new antibiotic called Synercid encountered bacterial resistance even before it reached the market because an analogue, virginiamycin, had long been used in agriculture. While Europe has been successful at keeping antibiotics out of animal feed, the US has not, despite the efforts of the CDC and other groups to persuade the FDA to act. Shnayerson and Plotkin tell a dramatic story, bringing to life a full cast of researchers, clinicians, patients, and deadly superbugs. Although microbes are the enemy, the fight seems like a battle of wits, and humans appear to be losing this round. In the continuing search for new strategies, researchers look for peptides in Komodo dragon saliva, among other places, reexamine the long-abandoned use of bacteria-eating viruses, focus on the use of vaccines, and hope that at some future time genomics will provide answers. An annotated list of relevant Web sites provides access to current information on the problem of antibiotic resistance.
The present threat of biological terrorism makes this scientific page-turner especially timely.Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2002
ISBN: 0-316-71331-7
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2002
An intriguing meditation on the nature of the universe and our attempts to understand it that should appeal to both...
Italian theoretical physicist Rovelli (General Relativity: The Most Beautiful of Theories, 2015, etc.) shares his thoughts on the broader scientific and philosophical implications of the great revolution that has taken place over the past century.
These seven lessons, which first appeared as articles in the Sunday supplement of the Italian newspaper Sole 24 Ore, are addressed to readers with little knowledge of physics. In less than 100 pages, the author, who teaches physics in both France and the United States, cogently covers the great accomplishments of the past and the open questions still baffling physicists today. In the first lesson, he focuses on Einstein's theory of general relativity. He describes Einstein's recognition that gravity "is not diffused through space [but] is that space itself" as "a stroke of pure genius." In the second lesson, Rovelli deals with the puzzling features of quantum physics that challenge our picture of reality. In the remaining sections, the author introduces the constant fluctuations of atoms, the granular nature of space, and more. "It is hardly surprising that there are more things in heaven and earth, dear reader, than have been dreamed of in our philosophy—or in our physics,” he writes. Rovelli also discusses the issues raised in loop quantum gravity, a theory that he co-developed. These issues lead to his extraordinary claim that the passage of time is not fundamental but rather derived from the granular nature of space. The author suggests that there have been two separate pathways throughout human history: mythology and the accumulation of knowledge through observation. He believes that scientists today share the same curiosity about nature exhibited by early man.
An intriguing meditation on the nature of the universe and our attempts to understand it that should appeal to both scientists and general readers.Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-18441-3
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Riverhead
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A magnificent account of a central reality of our times, incorporating deep scientific expertise, broad political and social knowledge, and ethical insight, and Idled with beautifully written biographical sketches of the men and women who created nuclear physics. Rhodes describes in detail the great scientific achievements that led up to the invention of the atomic bomb. Everything of importance is examined, from the discovery of the atomic nucleus and of nuclear fission to the emergence of quantum physics, the invention of the mass-spectroscope and of the cyclotron, the creation of such man-made elements as plutonium and tritium, and implementation of the nuclear chain reaction in uranium. Even more important, Rhodes shows how these achievements were thrust into the arms of the state, which culminated in the unfolding of the nuclear arms race. Often brilliantly, he records the rise of fascism and of anti-Semitism, and the intensification of nationalist ambitions. He traces the outbreak of WW II, which provoked a hysterical rivalry among nations to devise the bomb. This book contains a grim description of Japanese resistance, and of the horrible psychological numbing that caused an unparalleled tolerance for human suffering and destruction. Rhodes depicts the Faustian scale of the Manhattan Project. His account of the dropping of the bomb itself, and of the awful firebombing that prepared its way, is unforgettable. Although Rhodes' gallery of names and events is sometimes dizzying, his scientific discussions often daunting, he has written a book of great drama and sweep. A superb accomplishment.
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1986
ISBN: 0684813785
Page Count: 932
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1986
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