Book

Inside science : revolution in biology and its impact

Lewin, Benjamin, author

Overview

Looking behind widely held beliefs about the myth of the scientific enterprise, this book is a rare examination of how science really functions. Drawing on his 25 years of experience as the founding editor of Cell, the world's leading journal in biology, the author questions the dogma that scientific papers describe how research was actually done, describes the distortions caused by pressure to publish, and considers the effects of changes in the way science is communicated as we move ever further into the digital era. The view that science protects itself by identifying and excluding work that is not reproducible is rigorously examined, as is the prevalence of fraud in science. The author argues that the move from research done in small teams to the much larger scale of \"big science\" has the potential to change the nature of science itself. He asks if science can continue in its present form or if new methods of evaluation will be needed for science to function in the future. The author brings these general principles to life by considering the history of the genetics revolution, from the discovery of the double helical structure of DNA to the sequencing of the human genome and the possibilities of gene editing. History shows us that each period of progress in science relied on dogmas that often advanced but sometimes hindered progress, and that views of reality often changed suddenly and dramatically. One example is the critical reassessment of epigenetics that is raising the possibility that there may be factors in inheritance extraneous to DNA. The book concludes by asking if the reductionist manifesto that has dominated biology for the past half century can continue to hold, and revisits the much-debated question: What is science? -- Adapted from publisher's website.

• Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
• Subject: Biology Methodology. / Genomics. / Molecular biology. / Science History. / Biologie Méthodologie. / Génomique. / Biologie moléculaire. / Sciences Histoire. / molecular biology. / Biology Methodology
• ISBN: 9781621825012, 1621825019

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Call Number	Copies	Material	Location
QH324 LEW	1	BOOK	AUTOSTORE