Download or read book Insulin the Crooked Timber written by Kersten T. Hall and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2022 with total page 476 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Before the discovery of insulin, a diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes was a death sentence. To mark the centenary of this landmark in medicine, this book charts the journey of how insulin was transformed from what one clinician called 'thick brown muck' into the very first drug to be produced using genetic engineering, and which earned the founders of US biotech company Genentech a small fortune. Taking the reader on a fascinating journey, starting with the discovery of insulin in the 1920s through to the present day, Insulin - The Crooked Timber reveals a story of monstrous egos, toxic career rivalries, and a few unsung heroes and heroines. It discusses in detail the circumstances of Canadian scientist Frederick Banting whose award of the 1923 Nobel Prize for this life-saving discovery proved to be both a blessing and a curse for him and explores how the human story behind this discovery still remains one of ongoing political and scientific controversy. The book is the result of the author's own shocking diagnosis with Type 1 diabetes and its story reminds us all of what technology can - and cannot do - for us. As the world struggles to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic and face future challenges such as climate change, the lessons that we can learn from the story of insulin have never been more important.
Download or read book Insulin The Crooked Timber written by Kersten T. Hall and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021-12-20 with total page 476 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Before the discovery of insulin, a diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes was a death sentence. One hundred years after a milestone medical discovery, 'Insulin - The Crooked Timber' tells the story of how insulin was transformed from what one clinician called 'thick brown muck' into the very first drug to be produced using genetic engineering, one which would earn the founders of the US biotech company Genentech a small fortune. Yet when Canadian doctor Frederick Banting was told in 1923 that he had won the Nobel Prize for this life-saving discovery, he was furious. For the prize had not been awarded to him alone - but jointly with a man whom he felt had no right to this honour. The human story behind this discovery is one of ongoing political and scientific controversy. Taking the reader on a fascinating journey, starting with the discovery of insulin in the 1920s through to the present day, 'Insulin - The Crooked Timber' reveals a story of monstrous egos, toxic career rivalries, and a few unsung heroes such as two little known scientists whose work on wool fibres, carried out in a fume-filled former stable, not only proved to be crucial in unravelling the puzzle of insulin but ushered in a revolution in biology. It was the author's own shocking diagnosis with Type 1 diabetes that prompted him to sit down and write this book, but this story has lessons for us all about what technology can - and more importantly cannot - do for us. As the world pins its hopes on effective and lasting vaccines against Covid-19, these lessons from the story of insulin have never been more relevant.
Download or read book Freedom From the Market written by Mike Konczal and published by The New Press. This book was released on 2021-02-02 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The progressive economics writer redefines the national conversation about American freedom “Mike Konczal [is] one of our most powerful advocates of financial reform‚ [a] heroic critic of austerity‚ and a huge resource for progressives.”—Paul Krugman Health insurance, student loan debt, retirement security, child care, work-life balance, access to home ownership—these are the issues driving America’s current political debates. And they are all linked, as this brilliant and timely book reveals, by a single question: should we allow the free market to determine our lives? In the tradition of Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine, noted economic commentator Mike Konczal answers this question with a resounding no. Freedom from the Market blends passionate political argument and a bold new take on American history to reveal that, from the earliest days of the republic, Americans have defined freedom as what we keep free from the control of the market. With chapters on the history of the Homestead Act and land ownership, the eight-hour work day and free time, social insurance and Social Security, World War II day cares, Medicare and desegregation, free public colleges, intellectual property, and the public corporation, Konczal shows how citizens have fought to ensure that everyone has access to the conditions that make us free. At a time when millions of Americans—and more and more politicians—are questioning the unregulated free market, Freedom from the Market offers a new narrative, and new intellectual ammunition, for the fight that lies ahead.
Download or read book The Discovery of Insulin written by Michael Bliss and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 2017-06-22 with total page 524 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The discovery of insulin at the University of Toronto in 1921-22 was one of the most dramatic events in the history of the treatment of disease. Insulin was a wonder-drug with ability to bring patients back from the very brink of death, and it was no surprise that in 1923 the Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded to its discoverers, the Canadian research team of Banting, Best, Collip, and Macleod. In this engaging and award-winning account, historian Michael Bliss recounts the fascinating story behind the discovery of insulin – a story as much filled with fiery confrontation and intense competition as medical dedication and scientific genius. Originally published in 1982 and updated in 1996, The Discovery of Insulin has won the City of Toronto Book Award, the Jason Hannah Medal of the Royal Society of Canada, and the William H. Welch Medal of the American Association for the History of Medicine.
Download or read book The Man in the Monkeynut Coat written by Kersten T. Hall and published by Oxford University Press (UK). This book was released on 2014 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tells the story of the English physicist and molecular biologist William T. Astbury and how his work forms a previously untold chapter in the story of the discovery of the structure of DNA.
Download or read book The Breast Cancer Wars written by Barron H. Lerner and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2001-05-31 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this riveting narrative, Barron H. Lerner offers a superb medical and cultural history of our century-long battle with breast cancer. Revisiting the past, Lerner argues, can illuminate and clarify the dilemmas confronted by women with--and at risk for--the disease. Writing with insight and compassion, Lerner tells a compelling story of influential surgeons, anxious patients and committed activists. There are colorful portraits of the leading figures, ranging from the acerbic Dr. William Halsted, who pioneered the disfiguring radical mastectomy at the turn of the century to George Crile, Jr., the Cleveland surgeon who shocked the medical establishment by "going public" with his doubts about mastectomy, to Rose Kushner, a brash journalist who relentlessly educated American women about breast cancer. Lerner offers a fascinating account of the breast cancer wars: the insistent efforts of physicians to vanquish the "enemy"; the fights waged by feminists and maverick doctors to combat a paternalistic legacy that discouraged decision-making by patients; and the struggles of statisticians and researchers to generate definitive data in the face of the great risks and uncertainties raised by the disease. As easy as it is to demonize male physicians, the persistence of the radical mastectomy and other invasive treatments has had as much to do with the complicated scientific understandings of breast cancer as with sexism. In Lerner's hands, the fight against breast cancer opens a window on American medical practice over the last century: the pursuit of dramatic cures with sophisticated technologies, the emergence of patients' rights, the ethical and legal challenges raised by informed consent, and the limited ability of scientific knowledge to provide quick solutions for serious illnesses. A searching and profound work on an emotionally charged issue, The Breast Cancer Wars tells a story that remains of vital importance to modern breast cancer patients, their families and the clinicians who strive to treat and prevent this dreaded disease.
Download or read book Last Best Gifts written by Kieran Healy and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2010-08-15 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than any other altruistic gesture, blood and organ donation exemplifies the true spirit of self-sacrifice. Donors literally give of themselves for no reward so that the life of an individual—often anonymous—may be spared. But as the demand for blood and organs has grown, the value of a system that depends solely on gifts has been called into question, and the possibility has surfaced that donors might be supplemented or replaced by paid suppliers. Last Best Gifts offers a fresh perspective on this ethical dilemma by examining the social organization of blood and organ donation in Europe and the United States. Gifts of blood and organs are not given everywhere in the same way or to the same extent—contrasts that allow Kieran Healy to uncover the pivotal role that institutions play in fashioning the contexts for donations. Procurement organizations, he shows, sustain altruism by providing opportunities to give and by producing public accounts of what giving means. In the end, Healy suggests, successful systems rest on the fairness of the exchange, rather than the purity of a donor’s altruism or the size of a financial incentive.
Download or read book Breakthrough written by Thea Cooper and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2010-09-14 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is 1919 and Elizabeth Hughes, the eleven-year-old daughter of America's most-distinguished jurist and politician, Charles Evans Hughes, has been diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. It is essentially a death sentence. The only accepted form of treatment – starvation – whittles her down to forty-five pounds skin and bones. Miles away, Canadian researchers Frederick Banting and Charles Best manage to identify and purify insulin from animal pancreases – a miracle soon marred by scientific jealousy, intense business competition and fistfights. In a race against time and a ravaging disease, Elizabeth becomes one of the first diabetics to receive insulin injections – all while its discoverers and a little known pharmaceutical company struggle to make it available to the rest of the world. Relive the heartwarming true story of the discovery of insulin as it's never been told before. Written with authentic detail and suspense, and featuring walk-ons by William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, and Eli Lilly himself, among many others.
Download or read book Hoosiers and the American Story written by Madison, James H. and published by Indiana Historical Society. This book was released on 2014-10 with total page 359 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A supplemental textbook for middle and high school students, Hoosiers and the American Story provides intimate views of individuals and places in Indiana set within themes from American history. During the frontier days when Americans battled with and exiled native peoples from the East, Indiana was on the leading edge of America’s westward expansion. As waves of immigrants swept across the Appalachians and eastern waterways, Indiana became established as both a crossroads and as a vital part of Middle America. Indiana’s stories illuminate the history of American agriculture, wars, industrialization, ethnic conflicts, technological improvements, political battles, transportation networks, economic shifts, social welfare initiatives, and more. In so doing, they elucidate large national issues so that students can relate personally to the ideas and events that comprise American history. At the same time, the stories shed light on what it means to be a Hoosier, today and in the past.
Download or read book A Male Hysteria written by Edward Beasley and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2024-07-30 with total page 457 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This book explores the history and treatment of diabetes. It focuses on the nineteenth-century understanding of the disease and medicine's attempts to grapple with the disorder for the past two centuries"--
Download or read book The Genetic Age written by Matthew Cobb and published by Profile Books. This book was released on 2022-09-01 with total page 403 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A TIMES ENVIRONMENT AND SCIENCE BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022 'The ideal guide to what is not just a fiendishly complex area of science but also an ethical minefield' Mail on Sunday A new gene editing technology, invented just seven years ago, has turned humanity into gods. Enabling us to manipulate the genes in virtually any organism with exquisite precision, CRISPR has given scientists a degree of control that was undreamt of even in science fiction. But CRISPR is just the latest, giant leap in a long journey to master genetics. The Genetic Age shows the astonishing, world-changing potential of the new genetics and the possible threats it poses, sifting between fantasy and the reality when it comes to both benefits and dangers. By placing each phase of discovery, anticipation and fear in the context of over fifty years of attempts to master the natural world, Matthew Cobb, the Baillie-Gifford-shortlisted author of The Idea of the Brain, weaves the stories of science, history and culture to shed new light on our future. With the powers now at our disposal, it is a future that is almost impossible to imagine - but it is one we will create ourselves.
Download or read book As Gods written by Matthew Cobb and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2022-11-15 with total page 502 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The thrilling and terrifying history of genetic engineering In 2018, scientists manipulated the DNA of human babies for the first time. As biologist and historian Matthew Cobb shows in As Gods, this achievement was one many scientists have feared from the start of the genetic age. Four times in the last fifty years, geneticists, frightened by their own technology, have called a temporary halt to their experiments. They ought to be frightened: Now we have powers that can target the extinction of pests, change our own genes, or create dangerous new versions of diseases in an attempt to prevent future pandemics. Both awe-inspiring and chilling, As Gods traces the history of genetic engineering, showing that this revolutionary technology is far too important to be left to the scientists. They have the power to change life itself, but should we trust them to keep their ingenuity from producing a hellish reality?
Download or read book No Time to be Brief written by Charles P. Enz and published by . This book was released on 2010-05-06 with total page 582 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book retraces the life of the physicist Wolfgang Pauli, analyses his scientific work, and describes the evolution of his thinking. Includes extended account of Pauli'scorrespondence with figures such as Einstein, Bohr, Heisenberg and C.G.Jung.
Download or read book Forestry Economics written by John E. Wagner and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2011-07-26 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Forestry Economics introduces students and practitioners to all aspects of the management and economics of forestry. The book adopts the approach of managerial economics textbooks and applies this to the unique processes and problems faced by managers of forests. While most forestry economics books are written by economists for future economists, what many future forest and natural resource managers need is to understand what economic information is and how to use it to make better business and management decisions. John E. Wagner draws on his twenty years of experience teaching and working in the field of forest resource economics to present students with an accessible understanding of the unique production processes and problems faced by forest and other natural resource managers. There are three unique features of this book: The first is its organization. The material is organized around two common economic models used in forest and natural resources management decision making. The second is the use of case studies from various disciplines: Outdoor and Commercial Recreation, Wood Products Engineering, Forest Products, and Forestry. The purpose of these case studies is to provide students with applications of the concepts being discussed within the text. The third is revisiting the question of how to use economic information to make better business decisions at the end of each chapter. This ties each chapter to the preceding ones and reinforces the hypothesis that a solid working knowledge of these economic models and the information they contain are necessary for making better business decisions. This textbook is an invaluable source of clear and accessible information on forestry economics and management for not only economics students, but for students of other disciplines and those already working in forestry and natural resources.
Download or read book A Darwinian Left written by Peter Singer and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2000-03-11 with total page 82 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A renowned bioethicist argues that the political left must radically revise its outdated view of human nature and shows how the insights of modern evolutionary theory can help the left attain its social and political goals.
Download or read book The Medical War written by Mark Harrison and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2010-10-28 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Medical War describes the role of medicine in the British Army during the First World War. It argues that medicine played a vital part in the war, helping to sustain the morale of troops and their families, and reducing the wastage of manpower.
Download or read book The Artistry of the Homeric Simile written by William C. Scott and published by UPNE. This book was released on 2012-01-15 with total page 441 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An examination of the aesthetic qualities of the Homeric simile
