EPIGENETICS REVOLUTION Nessa Carey

Great progress was being made in genetics when the Human Genome Project finished sequencing human DNA. It seemed only a matter of time until we had all the answers to the secrets of life. Cutting-edge biology shows we still don't even know all the questions. How is it that, despite each cell in your body carrying exactly the same DNA, you don't have teeth growing out of your eyeballs or toenails on your liver? It turns out that cells read the genetic code in DNA more like a script to be interpreted than a mould that replicates the same result each time. This is epigenetics - the fastest-moving field in biology. Biologist Nessa Carey explains how queen bees and ants control their colonies, why tortoiseshell cats are always female, why some plants need cold weather before they flower, why we age and disease; and reveals the amazing possibilities that epigenetics offers us all.
320pp, 128mm x 196mm, paperback, 2012