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Summary
Summary
When Phebe Hedges, a woman in East Hampton, New York, walked into the sea in 1806, she made visible the historical experience of a family affected by the dreaded disorder of movement, mind, and mood her neighbors called St.Vitus's dance. Doctors later spoke of Huntington's chorea, and today it is known as Huntington's disease. This book is the first history of Huntington's in America.
Starting with the life of Phebe Hedges, Alice Wexler uses Huntington's as a lens to explore the changing meanings of heredity, disability, stigma, and medical knowledge among ordinary people as well as scientists and physicians. She addresses these themes through three overlapping stories: the lives of a nineteenth-century family once said to Âbelong to the disease"; the emergence of Huntington's chorea as a clinical entity; and the early-twentieth-century transformation of this disorder into a cautionary eugenics tale. In our own era of expanding genetic technologies, this history offers insights into the social contexts of medical and scientific knowledge, as well as the legacy of eugenics in shaping both the knowledge and the lived experience of this disease.Author Notes
John R. Vacca is an information technology consultant and internationally known, best-selling author based in Pomeroy, Ohio. Since 1982, John has authored 42 books and more than 550 articles. John has a rich background in technology and science as a former configuration management specialist, computer specialist, and the computer security official (CSO) for NASA's space station program (Freedom) and the international space station program, from 1988 until his early retirement from NASA in 1995. John was also one of the security consultants for the MGM movie AntiTrust, which was released on January 12, 2001. In addition to his many writing projects, John is a freelance editorial reviewer for online retailers.
Reviews (1)
Choice Review
Vacca's daunting task, to identify and discuss the 20 greatest unsolved problems facing science in the 21st century, has, by almost any yardstick, been successful. Extensive talks with numerous practicing scientists identified both the problems to be included and the eminent practitioners in the field. Vacca consulted with 60 renowned scientists, many of them Nobel laureates, before writing the chapter on that particular topic. There are 20 chapters, one for each problem selected; they are grouped into seven broad areas of astronomy and cosmology, physics and astrophysics, biology and paleontology, neuroscience, geology, chemistry, and energy. Each chapter is crammed with facts, data, and quotes that are, for the most part, from scientists who have proposed the most current theories in the field. One example is Vacca's discussion with Alan Guth of MIT, who formulated the theory of inflationary universes. This is a very well-written text with useful references. Who would benefit from reading this book? Certainly science teachers and writers, students, and practitioners in the fields covered. But it may prove most valuable to that reader who, while not having a strong background in science, does possess a keen curiosity about the universe and its great diversity. A good read. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. General readers; upper-division undergraduates through professionals. C. G. Wood formerly, Eastern Maine Community College
Table of Contents
Foreword | p. xiii |
Preface | p. xv |
Acknowledgments | p. xxxi |
Part I Astronomy and Cosmology | p. 1 |
Chapter 1 Astronomy: The Mystery of Dark Matter | p. 3 |
What Really Is Dark Matter? | p. 5 |
Dark Matter Candidates | p. 6 |
The Invisible Universe: How Important Is It? | p. 13 |
Conclusion | p. 19 |
References | p. 22 |
Chapter 2 Cosmology: The Creation of the Universe | p. 23 |
How Did the Universe Begin? | p. 29 |
Inflation | p. 30 |
Doubling Up the Acceleration | p. 33 |
Tapioca and Disorder | p. 34 |
Gravity Waves Surfing | p. 39 |
Alternative Ways of Understanding Creation | p. 41 |
Conclusion | p. 52 |
References | p. 53 |
Chapter 3 Theoretical Cosmology and Particle Physics: The Cosmological Constant Problem | p. 55 |
The Matter and Energy Spread | p. 56 |
Stars: Engines of Change in an Evolving Universe | p. 58 |
Galaxies: Bringing It All Together | p. 62 |
The Difficulties of Theoretical Cosmology | p. 64 |
New Observational Developments | p. 66 |
The Cosmological Constant Problem | p. 67 |
Type Ia Supernovae and the Cosmological Constant | p. 67 |
Inconstant Constant | p. 72 |
Quintessence | p. 74 |
Conclusion | p. 78 |
References | p. 79 |
Part II Physics and Astrophysics | p. 81 |
Chapter 4 Gravity: The Construction of a Consistent Quantum Theory of Gravity | p. 83 |
What Is Gravity? | p. 83 |
What Is a Black Hole? | p. 84 |
Bridging Quantum Mechanics and Gravity | p. 103 |
Quantum Theory of Gravity | p. 103 |
How Gravity Is Produced by General Relativity | p. 107 |
Unusual Features of Quantum Mechanics | p. 108 |
The Uncanny Implications of Quantum Mechanics | p. 109 |
Conclusion | p. 130 |
References | p. 141 |
Chapter 5 Particle Physics: The Mechanism That Makes Fundamental Mass | p. 143 |
Standard Model | p. 144 |
How Breaking Destroys Electroweak Unification | p. 147 |
What Is the Unsolved Problem? | p. 148 |
The Possible Discovery of the "God Particle" | p. 149 |
Fundamental Forces | p. 151 |
Basic Particle Forces | p. 153 |
Conclusion | p. 156 |
References | p. 157 |
Chapter 6 Particle Physics and Astrophysics: The Solar Neutrino Problem | p. 159 |
Neutrinos: What Are They? | p. 159 |
Do Neutrinos Have Mass? | p. 162 |
Neutrinos Do Have Mass | p. 163 |
Conclusion | p. 172 |
References | p. 175 |
Chapter 7 Astrophysics: The Source of Gamma-Ray Bursts | p. 177 |
Why Scientists Study Gamma-Ray Bursts | p. 179 |
What Scientists Know and What They Don't Know | p. 179 |
Astrophysicists Know That They Come from Every Direction in the Sky | p. 181 |
Astrophysicists Don't Know What Kinds of Objects Emit the Radiation | p. 182 |
How the Mystery Will Be Solved | p. 185 |
Now All of That May Have Changed! | p. 185 |
Conclusion | p. 190 |
References | p. 193 |
Chapter 8 Theoretical High-Energy Physics: The Unification of the Basic Forces | p. 195 |
Examples of Unification | p. 195 |
Forces That Have Not Been Unified | p. 196 |
Unification of Other Forces | p. 196 |
The Best Candidate for Unification | p. 197 |
Hanging on a String | p. 202 |
Modifying the Concept of Space-Time | p. 207 |
Conclusion | p. 209 |
References | p. 212 |
Chapter 9 Solid State Physics: The Mechanism Behind High-Temperature Superconductors | p. 213 |
Superconductors | p. 213 |
High-Temperature Superconductors | p. 221 |
An Awaiting Audience | p. 223 |
Behind the Scenes | p. 229 |
Other HST Applications | p. 231 |
Conclusion | p. 246 |
References | p. 247 |
Part III Biology and Paleontology | p. 249 |
Chapter 10 Biology: How the Basic Processes of Life Are Carried Out by DNA and Proteins | p. 251 |
DNA! What Is It? | p. 251 |
An Enzyme DNA Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) | p. 255 |
Understanding DNA Typing | p. 258 |
Nuclear and Mitochondrial DNA | p. 260 |
Preservation and Collection of Biological Evidence | p. 265 |
Contamination Issues | p. 267 |
DNA and Proteins | p. 268 |
Protein Synthesis | p. 272 |
The Challenge | p. 273 |
The Genome Project | p. 274 |
The Importance of Understanding the Human Genome | p. 279 |
The Next Step in the Discovery Process | p. 280 |
How This Knowledge Will Affect Your Life | p. 282 |
Breaking Cancer's Genetic Activity | p. 285 |
Growing Your Own Spare Parts | p. 291 |
Cures from Clones | p. 295 |
Immortality | p. 300 |
Conclusion | p. 303 |
References | p. 306 |
Chapter 11 Biology: Protein Folding | p. 309 |
The Importance of Protein Folding | p. 313 |
Protein Deposits in Tissues | p. 314 |
Continued Research | p. 315 |
Temperature-Sensitive Mutations | p. 316 |
Hereditary Diseases | p. 317 |
Familial Amyloidotic Polyneuropathy (FAP) | p. 317 |
Alzheimer's | p. 318 |
Mad Cow and Creutzfeldt-Jacob Diseases | p. 320 |
Miniscule Protein | p. 322 |
Protein Misfolding Treatment | p. 323 |
Understanding the Mechanism of Computational Protein Folding | p. 324 |
Twisting Proteins | p. 325 |
Fundamental Biophysics | p. 326 |
Programming Potentials | p. 327 |
Molecule Modeling | p. 327 |
Computational Protein Folding | p. 328 |
Conclusion | p. 343 |
References | p. 345 |
Chapter 12 Paleontology: How Present-Day Microbiological Information Can Be Used to Reconstruct "The Ancient Tree of Life" | p. 347 |
The Three Domains of the Ancient Tree of Life | p. 349 |
Climbing the Branches of the Ancient Tree of Life | p. 360 |
Unified Ancient Tree of Life | p. 363 |
Conclusion | p. 364 |
References | p. 365 |
Part IV Neuroscience | p. 367 |
Chapter 13 Free Will | p. 369 |
Freedom to Decide and Act | p. 370 |
What Actually Plays a Role in Free Will | p. 376 |
The Skeptics | p. 376 |
Is Free Will or Is It Not a Necessary Fiction? | p. 379 |
Believers | p. 391 |
Conclusion | p. 397 |
References | p. 398 |
Chapter 14 Consciousness | p. 399 |
The Problems | p. 400 |
Cognitive Abilities And Functions | p. 404 |
The Conscious Experience | p. 408 |
The Unconscious Consciousness Experience | p. 419 |
Consciousness Theory | p. 423 |
Structural Coherence | p. 425 |
Organizational Invariance | p. 429 |
Theory of Double-Aspect of Information | p. 432 |
Conclusion | p. 436 |
References | p. 437 |
Part V Geology | p. 439 |
Chapter 15 The Dynamics of the Inner Earth | p. 441 |
Revealing Earth's Deepest Secrets | p. 446 |
Crust | p. 448 |
The Mantle | p. 449 |
Core | p. 451 |
Conclusion | p. 452 |
References | p. 453 |
Chapter 16 Earthquake Predicting | p. 455 |
Shake, Rattle, and Roll Watch | p. 455 |
Tectonic Plates on the Move | p. 463 |
Divergent Boundaries | p. 464 |
Convergent Boundaries | p. 471 |
Transform Boundaries | p. 476 |
Plate-Boundary Zones | p. 477 |
Rates of Motion | p. 477 |
The Future: Using Satellites to Detect Ground Movement | p. 479 |
Lubricating the Cracks in the Earth's Crust | p. 480 |
Conclusion | p. 480 |
References | p. 482 |
Part VI Chemistry | p. 483 |
Chapter 17 How Microscopic Atomic Forces Produce Various Macroscopic Behaviors | p. 485 |
Universal Natural Laws | p. 485 |
Universal Natural Law Scope | p. 486 |
Supreme Administration | p. 492 |
Universal Natural Law Application | p. 496 |
The Source of All Problems | p. 497 |
The Meaning of Violating Universal Natural Law | p. 498 |
Violation of Universal Natural Law Problems | p. 499 |
Problems Caused by Violation of Universal Natural Law | p. 500 |
How Microscopic Atomic Forces Produce Various Macroscopic Behaviors | p. 501 |
Conclusion | p. 506 |
References | p. 507 |
Chapter 18 The Fabrication and Manipulation of Carbon-Based Structures (Fullerenes) | p. 509 |
Fabrication and Manipulation of Simulations of Carbon Nanotube-Based Gears | p. 517 |
Bonded Interactions Simulation Details | p. 523 |
The Results | p. 525 |
Conclusion | p. 533 |
References | p. 537 |
Part VII Energy | p. 539 |
Chapter 19 Free Energy | p. 541 |
The Ultimate Survivors: Have Advanced Civilizations Harnessed Free Energy? | p. 542 |
Free Energy | p. 556 |
Current Free Energy Technology | p. 556 |
Conclusion | p. 613 |
References | p. 615 |
Chapter 20 Nuclear Fusion and Waste | p. 617 |
Fusion Reaction | p. 619 |
The Current Research | p. 622 |
Fusion Power Plants | p. 627 |
Fusion-Powered Spacecraft | p. 632 |
The Compact Model | p. 633 |
A Bottled Star | p. 634 |
Advantages and Disadvantages of Fusion | p. 635 |
Conclusion | p. 650 |
References | p. 651 |
Index | p. 653 |