Book

Seeds of life : from Aristotle to Da Vinci, from shark's teeth to frog's pants, the long and strange quest to discover where babies come from

Dolnick, Edward, 1952- author

Overview

\"Why cracking the code of human conception took centuries of wild theories, misogynist blunders, and ludicrous mistakes. Throughout most of human history, babies were surprises. People knew the basics: men and women had sex, and sometimes babies followed. But beyond that the origins of life were a colossal mystery. The Seeds of Life is the remarkable and rollicking story of how a series of blundering geniuses and brilliant amateurs struggled for two centuries to discover where, exactly, babies come from. Taking a page from investigative thrillers, acclaimed science writer Edward Dolnick looks to these early scientists as if they were detectives hot on the trail of a bedeviling and urgent mystery. These strange searchers included an Italian surgeon using shark teeth to prove that female reproductive organs were not 'failed' male genitalia, and a Catholic priest who designed ingenious miniature pants to prove that frogs required semen to fertilize their eggs. A witty and rousing history of science, The Seeds of Life presents our greatest scientists struggling-against their perceptions, their religious beliefs, and their deep-seated prejudices-to uncover how and where we come from\"-- Provided by publisher.

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Subject: Human reproduction History. / Human reproduction Mythology. / Human reproduction Social aspects. / SCIENCE / History. / HISTORY / Social History. / SCIENCE / Life Sciences / General.
• ISBN: 9780465082957, 0465082955

Item info:

1 item available

1 item total in all locations

Holdings :

Call Number	Copies	Material	Location
QP251.D59 2017	1	BOOK	AUTOSTORE