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Basic InformationLatest NewsAHA News: Dr. Dre Recovering From a Brain Aneurysm. What Is That?Can 2 Nutrients Lower Your Risk for Parkinson's?New Clues to How Cancers Originate in the BrainBrain May Age Faster After Spinal Cord InjuryScans Reveal How COVID-19 Can Harm the BrainWhat Loneliness Looks Like in the BrainNeurologists Much Tougher to Find in Rural AmericaCOVID-19 Survival Declines When Brain Affected: StudyAs Testing Costs Rise, Neurology Patients May Skip ScreeningGene Therapy Shows No Long-Term Harm in Animals: StudyCould Gene Therapy Cure Sickle Cell Disease? Two New Studies Raise HopesCocoa Might Give Your Brain a Boost: StudyLockdown Loneliness Could Worsen Parkinson's SymptomsChildhood Lead Exposure Tied to Brain Changes in Middle AgeStaying Social Can Boost Healthy 'Gray Matter' in Aging BrainsDNA Analysis Might Reveal Melanoma RiskGenetics Might Explain Some Cases of Cerebral PalsyDiabetes Drug Metformin May Protect the Aging BrainNew Research Links Another Gene to Alzheimer's RiskYour Sex Affects Your Genes for Body Fat, Cancer, Birth WeightExperimental Drug Shows Promise Against ALSCould Gene Therapy Stem the Damage of Parkinson's?Genetic Research May Help Identify Causes of StillbirthBlood Test Heralds New Era in Alzheimer's DiagnosisMore Clues to the Genes Behind Hearing LossScientists Move Closer to Mapping Entire Human GenomeBlood Test May Reveal Concussion Severity With Accuracy of Spinal TapDeep Brain Stimulation May Slow Parkinson's, Study FindsStroke, Confusion: COVID-19 Often Impacts the Brain, Study ShowsYour Genes May Affect How You'll Heal If WoundedEven Without Concussion, Athletes' Brains Can Change After Head Jolts: StudyHealthDay In-Depth The AI Revolution: For Patients, Promise and Challenges Ahead">HealthDay In-Depth The AI Revolution: For Patients, Promise and Challenges AheadHealthDay In-Depth The AI Revolution: Giving Docs a Diagnostic Assist">HealthDay In-Depth The AI Revolution: Giving Docs a Diagnostic AssistBlood Test Might Predict Worsening MSKeto Diet Might Change Your Gut in More Ways Than OneParkinson's Patient Improving After First-Ever Stem Cell TherapyKey Areas of the Brain Triggered in Recent Heart Attack SurvivorsFirst Good Evidence That Brain Hits 'Replay' While You SleepSome NFL Players May Be Misdiagnosed With Brain Disease: StudyGreenhouse Gases Bad for Your BrainTransplanted Skin Stem Cells Help Blind Mice See LightBrain Plaques Signal Alzheimer's Even Before Other Symptoms Emerge: Study'It's Like You Have a Hand Again': New Prosthetic Gets Closer to the Real ThingLosing a Spouse Could Speed Brain's DeclinePaddles Against Parkinson's: Ping Pong Might Ease SymptomsIn a First, Doctors Use Robotics to Treat Brain AneurysmSkiers Study Suggests Fitness May Stave Off Parkinson'sCRISPR Gene Editing Creates 'Designer' Immune Cells That Fight CancerGene Variant Ups Dementia Risk in Parkinson's Patients: StudyGene Variation May Protect Against Alzheimer's: Study Questions and AnswersLinksBook Reviews |
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by Michael J. Reiss and Roger Straughan Cambridge University Press, 1996 Review by Christian Perring, Ph.D. on Mar 12th 2000 
Published in 1996, Improving Nature? is now a little out of date in the fast moving world of genetics. Nevertheless, it is still a useful and thorough resource for anyone wanting to learn about ethical issues in genetic engineering. It's a scholarly book with 35 pages of endnotes but it also features some photographs and cartoons. The authors divide it into three main sections, the first outlining the practicalities of genetic engineering and general moral concerns that the technology raises, the second discussing in much greater detail the genetic engineering of microorganisms, plants, animals, and humans, and the final section briefly raising the issue of the educating the public about genetics. I used this book in an undergraduate class on genetic ethics, and the students without a strong background in science found the book's initial explanation of genetics dauntingly technical. But very little of the rest of the book or the discussion of genetic ethics generally relies on the detailed scientific information, which is why it is possible to teach such a class to non-scientists. One can raise and discuss almost all the ethical issues in genetics in a sophisticated way without worrying too much about the scientific technicalities. For those who have the capacity understand the science but don't know much about genetics, Improving Nature? explains the details well, although I would not recommend using it as your only source of information about the science. The authors are British, and consequently their book contains as much detail about British reactions to genetic engineering as it does about the rest of the world. This turns out to be a slight advantage since it is in Europe and Britain in particular that the most protests have been made about genetically engineered food, an issue that has only recently gained the attention of the public in the US. Particularly notable about Improving Nature? is its systematic discussion of issues. While the argument often goes swiftly, it nearly always covers all the main points relevant to an issue. The authors are not afraid to express their own opinions and to argue for them, but they are conscientious in including a wide range of points of view in their survey of the debates. Readers may not always agree with the opinions of the authors, but they will be intellectually challenged to carefully reconsider the basis of their own personal views. |
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