Genetic All books
Michel Delseny
The Biology of Plants The genome of thale cress
A detailed account of a fascinating scientific adventure. Important food for thought: the genome of a plant is as complex as our own.
Jean-Louis Dessalles, Cédric Gaucherel, Pierre-Henri Gouyon
The Thread of Life The Immaterial Side of Existence
A true revolution in the understanding of life, the thesis put forward here is based on the scientific concept of information, the operation of detection and reading carried out by every living being.
Pierre Roubertoux
Existe-t-il des gènes du comportement ?
Recent advances in genetic research have had widespread and far-reaching influences in fields as varied as animal and plant biology and medicine. They have also upset some ethical rules. Genetics today is in a triumphant, seductive phase, but its limits are yet to be defined. In this book, the eminent French geneticist Pierre Roubertoux argues that genetics has strayed too far from its justifiable areas of application. Soon, genetics may even be applied to the mind and to consciousness, just as it is already being applied to behaviour by scientists who contend that each type of conduct has its corresponding gene (this is tantamount to saying a specific gene is responsible for each virtue and each vice). Scientists who defend this theory say that they have discovered genes linked to various degrees of activity in mice and flies. Thus, intemperance and gluttony would be linked to a genetic partiality to alcohol, sugar or fats. Pride could be explained by a gene for dominance which has allegedly been found in mice. Greed, too, could be explained by a gene. The supposed existence of an infidelity gene was much in the news three years ago. This is a sound scientific synthesis which will enable readers to grasp the contribution of genetics to our comprehension of who and what we are. It should also help them resist the temptation of reducing everything to genetics. Pierre Roubertoux is a professor at the University of Aix-Marseille and a research fellow at the Institute of Physiological and Cognitive Neuroscience at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS).
Alain Prochiantz
A Monkey, Yourself
Based on recent data in the sequencing of genomes, an explanation of the genetic and cellular mechanisms at the origin of the unique position of our species in the animal world.
Alexandre Moatti
The Roots of Transhumanism France 1930-1980
Transhumanism and “augmented man” were already controversial subjects in the Belle Époque… An invaluable history for an understanding of what is truly at play behind this technoscientific fantasy.
Jean-Paul Lévy
The Making of Man
Jean-Paul Lévy's book is marked by a resolutely materialistic reflexion, characteristic of biologists : the only thing that distinguishes man from all other living things is the capacity to reason. From this prospective, he explains how a human body is constructed, how and why it produces thoughts and why, one day, it finally ceases to function and dies. His thought process leads to a materialistic solution of the problem of the union of the body and soul. Jean-Paul Lévy is a hematologist and immunologist. He heads France's National Agency for AIDS Research
Lluis Quintana-Murci
The Human People On the genetic traces of migrations, crossbreeding and adaptations
A fascinating overview of what we have learned from genomics, after two decades of amazing progress: an unprecedented leap forward in our knowledge of human diversity and its history.
Pascale Cossart
The New Microbiology
New essential data about the life of bacteria, their resistance to antibiotics, inter-bacterial communication, etc.
Patrice Debré
Revolutions in Biology and the Human Condition
A reflection on the prowess and the promises of biotechnologies, this text also casts a critical light on the transhumanist project.
Luca Cavalli-Sforza
Genes, People and Languages (Work of the Collège de France)
How is culture passed on ? Is it possible to reconstruct the history of the evolution of the human species using genetic information from existing populations ?
Bernard Sablonnière
DNA, a History of Our Differences
A stimulating look at the current state of knowledge about the genetic determinants of differences between individuals, regarding both the body and character or behavior traits.
François Gros
From Penicillin to genomics
The life of a scientist, one of the discoverers of how genes function, and an explorer of the future of biology
Antoine Danchin
The Delphic Boat What Genomes Tell Us
What is it that constitutes the unity and identity of a living creature ? This is the fundmental question of biology. The recent sequencing techniques provide a completely new response to this question, notably thanks to the knowledge of whole genomes. Antoine Danchin establishes a clear picture of this important biological discovery. He shows in particular that, just like the boat of Delphi, life is beyond prediction, and at the same time has an infinite capacity to create the unexpected. Antoine Danchin is the director of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics at the Institut Pasteur.
