A feast of genes

摘要

Biology and genetics are the new physics, regularly making the headlines with stories of cloning and gene technology, and attracting large tranches of public money for projects such as the sequencing of the human genome. And genes, the protagonists of these science dramas, are at centre stage in genomics, biotechnology, conservation and research into how organisms develop and age. Dazzle your friends with your knowledge of genes by reading the Encyclopedia of Genetics (Academic Press, $995). This four-volume work contains about 1500 brief entries from the world's leading geneticists and is edited by the renowned and beguiling biologist Sydney Brenner along with fellow-biologist Jeffrey Miller.