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Cells talk -- and scientists are listening.
One of the most intriguing topics in molecular biology,
biochemical communication is the cornerstone of modern medicine
and the mainstay of cutting-edge pharmaceutical research.
For nearly a century, researchers have been straining to
hear the whispered conversations among cells, hoping to
master the basics of their language. They know that if we
can decipher and translate this cellular chatter, we have
the potential for sending signals of our own that could
repair wounds, reduce cholesterol, control insulin levels,
or even block the reproduction of cancer cells. The possibilities
are extraordinary.
The Language of Life reveals the
private conversations of cells. In place of words, however,
cells use chemicals, linking molecule to molecule to construct
sentences that obey formal rules of grammar and syntax as
binding as those that govern our own spoken and written
language. Through the exchange and interpretation of chemical
signals, they report every newsworthy event, record every
memory, respond to every bodily injury.
If you ever wondered how your body copes
with stress and change, why you can't lose weight, or shake
unreasonable fears; if you've pondered the origins of cancer
or the epidemic of diabetes; or if a glimpse into the future
of medicine intrigues you, this is a book you must read.
Debra Niehoff examines the communication breakdowns that
underlie some of our most common and intractable disorders
and shows how intervening in these crises by sending signals
of our own not only gives us the drugs to cure what ails
us, but promises more effective and better targeted medications
in the future.
The Language of Life blends the vision
of science with the poetry of life itself. It is a fantastic
story of discovery that artfully conveys the epic of the
developing embryo, the miracle of the human brain, and the
stories of battles waged by cells on the front lines of
a never-ending war against disease.
Debra Niehoff, Ph.D., trained as a neurobiologist
at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and is
the author of numerous academic, educational, and general
interest publications in the life sciences. Reviewers called
her first book, The Biology of Violence: How Understanding
the Brain, Behavior, and Environment Can Break the Vicious
Circle of Aggression, "a fine contribution to a
debate often clouded by emotion," and "a reasoned
and intelligently argued position of the biology of violence."
She lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
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