Bring Back the King: The New Science of De-extinction - Softcover

Pilcher, Helen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1472912268 ISBN 13: 9781472912268

Publisher: Bloomsbury Sigma, 2016

Synopsis

If you could bring back one living being from the whole of the history of time, what would you choose? Comedian and former stem-cell biologist Helen Pilcher has thought about this problem, a lot. In Bring back the King, Helen explains the cutting-edge science that makes the resurrection of extinct animals a very real possibility, and highlights her choices from eras gone by, from the King of the Dinosaurs, Tyrannosaurus rex, to the King of Rock 'n' Roll, Elvis Presley, From dinosaurs to Dodos, Neanderthals to rock legends, Bring Back the King explains how the burgeoning field of DNA science is being used to help resurrect not just individual animals but entire species from their stony graves. Funny, intriguing and informative, Bring Back the King describes current initiatives and future plans to restore deceased animals, and uses both science and willful irreverence to assess how these genetic Lazarus's might fare in their brave new world. Could a pet dinosaur be trained to roll over? Would Neanderthals enjoy opera? Could a returning Dodo seek vengeance upon humanity? Blending the very latest de-extinction technology with cloning, dinosaurs with rock legends, and hard-core popular science with plenty of gags, Bring Back the King is a book that you will simply have to read.

About this title

Review:

Pilcher's wit shines through ... You will be left with a newfound respect for conservationists' hands-on methods of preserving genetic material. (Sunday Times)

A friendly tour of genetics and cloning, with a bit of history thrown in. (Wall Street Journal)

Science at its funniest! (Sara Pascoe, writer and comedian)

Is likely to make you think and chuckle in equal measure. (How it Works)

Leaping off the page are insights into many charismatic and neglected species, and the amazing humans who fight to preserve our future. This revolution will inspire our generation the way that voyages of the Beagle and Apollo have before it. (George Church, Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and Director of PersonalGenomes.org)

A fluid and witty writer; up there with Bill Bryson. (Dr Karl Kruszelnicki, science commentator, author and presenter)

With humour and accuracy, Helen Pilcher surveys the wondrous array of wildlife de-extinction and preservation projects that employ current breakthroughs in genomic technology. (Plus Elvis, who was a different kind of wild.) (Stewart Brand, author of Whole Earth Discipline and co-founder of Revive & Restore)

Pilcher asks provocative questions about both the nature of science and what it means to be human. (Publisher's Weekly)

From the Author:

Helen Pilcher was a stand-up comedian for more than ten years, before the arrival of children meant she couldn't physically stay awake beyond 9pm. During this time, she performed at the Edinburgh comedy festival, at London's Comedy Store, and at various smoky pubs and clubs across Britain. She was a finalist for Jongleurs New Act of the Year (1998, 1999), the BBC New Stand Up Competition (1999) and Channel 4's So You Think You're Funny (1999). In 2002, she teamed up with fellow comedian Timandra Harkness to write and perform 'The Comedy Research Project' a stand-up comedy show commissioned for the very first Cheltenham Science Festival. Unusually, Helen is also a professional science writer, with a PhD in stem-cell biology. She was formerly a journalist for Nature online, specialising in genetics; before that, she ran the Science in Society programme at the Royal Society, and before that, she worked as a senior scientist for a biotechnology company, engineering a series of human stem cell lines for transplantation into damaged human brains, this following on from her doctoral research into stem-cell therapy for Alzheimer's disease.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Sigma
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1472912268
• ISBN 13: 9781472912268
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304