Medical Biology

"Eyeopening... Fascinating... may presage a paradigm shift in medicine.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "Teeming with information and big ideas... Outstanding.” —Booklist (starred review) The origin of asthma, autism, Alzheimer's, allergies, cancer, heart disease, obesity, and...

How did a deadly genetic disease help our ancestors survive the bubonic plagues of Europe? Was diabetes evolution's response to the last Ice Age? Will a visit to the tanning salon help bring down your cholesterol? Why do we age? Why are some people immune to HIV? Can your genes be turned on—or...

Unpacks and pulls the curtain back on what happens to our brains and our behaviors each time we addictively engage social media and the influencers we encounter there. Individuals seeking to widen their tribes of friends, fans, and followers have an abundance of resources for building their...

From the former editor of Slate and CEO of Atlas Obscura comes the unbelievable story of “the Nobel Prize sperm bank” and the children it produced—“a superb book about the quest for genius and, ultimately, family” (Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point and Talking to...

“A prescient, human and hopeful portrait of medical experts on a pandemic’s frontlines.”—People Hannah, Compton, and Kira have been close friends since medical school, reuniting once a year for a much-needed vacation. Just as they gather to travel in Spain, an outbreak of a...

Now in paperback, an empowering, soul-baring personal account and guide from a two-time cancer survivor and healthcare disrupter that shows anyone how to deal with a frightening medical diagnosis in America today, providing the knowledge necessary to take ownership of personal wellbeing and...

How a mysterious, super-powerful—yet long-neglected—microbe rules our world and can rescue our health in the age of antibiotic resistance. At every moment, within our bodies and all around us, trillions of microscopic combatants are waging a war that shapes our health and life on Earth...

A thrilling tale of encounters with nature’s masters of biochemistry In Venomous, the molecular biologist Christie Wilcox investigates venoms and the animals that use them, revealing how they work, what they do to the human body, and how they can revolutionize biochemistry and medicine today...

College sophomore Felicia Monroe has just made the biggest mistake of her life. While babysitting her neighbors' three-year-old son, she let her guard down...and he ran out of the house and down the street! Well, the boy's parents went ballistic on Felicia for her irresponsibility. One week later, the father tells Felicia that he has found a way for her to make it up to him. He needs a medical model for a biology class at the college she attends, and his regular model is unavailable. That means getting her clothes off to be posed and examined in front of a bunch of medical students!

A young queer millennial physicist unveils some of the most mind-bending physics concepts in the universe—and uses them to illuminate their own fascinating life story “I see physics everywhere,” Karmela Padavic-Callaghan writes. “It offers itself to me when I try to make sense of all the...

From the former editor of Slate and CEO of Atlas Obscura comes the unbelievable story of “the Nobel Prize sperm bank” and the children it produced—“a superb book about the quest for genius and, ultimately, family” (Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point and Talking to...

A groundbreaking book about the past, present, and future of pandemics, and a behind-the-scenes portrait of the intrepid and innovative community of scientists working tirelessly to stop the next one before it starts In 1955, the vaccine that eliminated polio was celebrated as a “planned...

Viruses are the world's most abundant life form, and now, when humanity is in the midst of a close encounter with their immense power, perhaps the most feared. But do we understand viruses? Possibly the most enigmatic of living things, they are sometimes not considered a life form at all...

A Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter’s moving narrative of a group of patient advocates who are revolutionizing the way medical research is conducted. For more than half a century, medical advances have been driven by investigators launching experiments inside labs. Science is often conducted...

The field of biotechnology has evolved over the past four decades, developing medicines which are curing diseases. But this journey of success has been tough and arduous, built upon the shoulders of major failures. Good Genes Gone Bad highlights seven such colossal failures in drug...

Will climate change force a massive human migration to the Northern Rim? How does our sense of morality arise from the structure of the brain? What does the latest research in language acquisition tells us about the role of culture in the way we think? What does current neurological research...

A gripping narrative about the Zika virus from the New York Times science reporter covering the outbreak. Until recently, Zika virus—once considered a mild disease—was hardly a cause for global panic. But as early as August of 2015, doctors in Brazil’s northeast region began to notice a...

Why do so many beginners, both children and adults, fail to master chosen skills? The Elements of Skill was inspired by—and addresses—that question with a program based on proven techniques. The book, written by a renowned practitioner of the Alexander Technique, outlines an educational...

Scientists and genetic engineers are becoming increasingly adept at editing the human genome. How far can—and should—they go in editing future generations? In The Promise and Peril of CRISPR, editor Neal Baer brings together a timely collection of essays by influential bioethicists, philosophers, and geneticists to explore the moral, ethical, and policy challenges posed by CRISPR technology.

Carte Blanche is the alarming tale of how the right of Americans to say "no" to risky medical research is eroding at a time when we are racing to produce a vaccine and treatments for Covid-19 This medical right that we have long taken for granted was first sacrificed on the altar of military...