A cutting-edge examination of what it means to be human and to have a 'self' in the face of new scientific developments in cloning, gene-splicing and neural downloading.After seeing his own cells used to grow clumps of new neurons – essentially mini-brains – Philip Ball begins to examine the concepts of identity and consciousness. Delving into humanity's deep evolutionary past to look at how complex creatures like us emerged from single-celled life, he offers a new perspective on how humans think about ourselves. In an age when we are increasingly encouraged to regard the 'self' as an abstract sequence of genetic information, or as a pattern of neural activity that might be 'downloaded' to a computer, I return us to the body – to flesh and blood – and anchor a conception of personhood in this unique and ephemeral mortal coil. How to Build a Human brings us back to ourselves – but in doing so, it challenges old preconceptions and values. It asks us to rethink how we exist in the world.
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Philip Ball. How to Build a Human: Adventures in How We Are Made and Who We Are
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PROLOGUE
INTRODUCTION. MY BRAIN IN A DISH
CHAPTER 1. PIECES OF LIFE. CELLS PAST AND PRESENT
CHAPTER 2. BODY BUILDING. GROWING HUMANS THE OLD-FASHIONED WAY
FIRST INTERLUDE. THE HUMAN SUPERORGANISM. HOW CELLS BECAME COMMUNITIES
CHAPTER 3. IMMORTAL FLESH. HOW TISSUES WERE GROWN OUTSIDE THE BODY
SECOND INTERLUDE. HEROES AND VILLAINS. CANCER, IMMUNITY AND OUR CELLULAR ECOSYSTEM
CHAPTER 4. TWISTS OF FATE. HOW TO REPROGRAMME A CELL
CHAPTER 5. THE SPARE PARTS FACTORY. MAKING TISSUES AND ORGANS FROM REPROGRAMMED CELLS
CHAPTER 6. FLESH OF MY FLESH. QUESTIONING THE FUTURE OF SEX AND REPRODUCTION
CHAPTER 7. HIDEOUS PROGENY? THE FUTURES OF GROWING HUMANS
THIRD INTERLUDE. PHILOSOPHY OF THE LONELY MIND. CAN A BRAIN EXIST IN A DISH?
CHAPTER 8. RETURN OF THE MEATWARE. COMING TO TERMS WITH OUR FLESHY SELVES
FOOTNOTES. Introduction
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
First Interlude
Chapter 3
Second Interlude
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Third Interlude
Chapter 8
ENDNOTES. Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
First Interlude
Chapter 3
Second Interlude
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Third Interlude
Chapter 8
BIBLIOGRAPHY
PICTURE CREDITS
INDEX
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
About the Book
About the Author
About the Publisher
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COVER
TITLE PAGE
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No one knew what this stuff did until the mid-1940s, when the Canadian-American physician Oswald Avery and his co-workers at the Rockefeller University Hospital in New York reported rather conclusive evidence that genes in fact reside on DNA. That idea was not universally accepted, however, until James Watson, Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins, Rosalind Franklin and their co-workers revealed the molecular structure of DNA – how its atoms are arranged along the chain-like molecule. This structure, first reported in 1953 by Watson and Crick, who relied partly on Franklin’s studies of DNA crystals, showed how genetic information could be encoded in the DNA molecule. It is a deeply elegant structure, composed of two chain-strands entwined in a double helix.
The double helix of DNA. This iconic image creates a somewhat misleading picture, since for most of the time DNA in a cell’s chromosomes is packaged up quite densely in chromatin, in which it is wrapped around proteins called histones like thread on a bobbin. The “rungs” of the double-helical ladder consist of pairs of so-called nucleotide bases (denoted A, T, C and G) with shapes that complement each other and fit together well.
