The Spark of Life: Electricity in the Human Body - Hardcover

Ashcroft, Frances

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1846143012 ISBN 13: 9781846143014

Publisher: Allen Lane, 2012

Synopsis

We are all familiar with the idea that machines are powered by electricity, but perhaps not so aware that this is also true for ourselves. The Spark of Life is a spectacular account of the body electric, showing how, from before conception to the last breath we draw, electrical signals in our cells are essential to everything we think and do. These signals are produced by some amazing proteins that sit at the forefront of current scientific research - the ion channels. They are found in every cell in Earth and they govern every aspect of our lives, from consciousness to sexual attraction, fighting infection, our ability to see and hear, and the beating of our hearts. Ion channels are truly the 'spark of life'.

Award-winning physiologist Frances Ashcroft weaves real-life stories with the latest scientific findings to explain the fundamental role of ion channels in our bodies. What happens when you have a heart attack? Why does an electric eel not shock itself? Can someone really die of fright? Why does Viagra turn the world blue? How do cocaine, LSD and morphine work? Why do chilli peppers taste hot? How do vampire bats sense their prey? Was Mary Shelley right when she inferred that electricity is the 'Spark of Life?

Frances Ashcroft explains all this and more with wit and clarity. She introduces a cast of extraordinary personalities whose work has charted the links between molecule and mind over the centuries. She recounts the scientific detective stories involved in the development of our ideas about animal electricity, and shows how these are intimately entwined with our understanding of electricity itself. And she describes how the latest advances have led to the identification, and in some cases the cure, of a new class of disease. Anyone who has ever wondered about what makes us human will find this book a revelation.

About this title

Review:

This is a wonderful book. Frances Ashcroft has a rare gift for making difficult subjects accessible and fascinating (Bill Bryson)

Selected as one of the Ten Books to look out for in 2012 (New Scientist)

The more incredible the process, the more elegant Ashcroft's explanation...achieves the sort of rich simplicity most science writers can only dream about (Simon Ings Seven magazine, Daily Telegraph)

Lively, conversational prose - refreshingly accessible (Daily Telegraph)

Fascinating (Nature)

Compelling and very readable ... Do read this excellent book (Literary Review)

About the Author:

Frances Ashcroft is Professor of Physiology at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Trinity College Oxford. She is also Director of OXION, a consortium of scientists studying ion channels, the heroes of this book. Her scientific research focuses on how a rise in your blood sugar level stimulates the release of insulin and what why this process goes wrong in diabetes. She has won many prizes for her research, most recently the L'Oreal/UNESCO 2012 Women in Science award. Her first book for the general reader was Life at the Extremes: The Science of Survival.

About this edition

• Publisher: Allen Lane
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1846143012
• ISBN 13: 9781846143014
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352