Author(s): Jim Endersby

Popular Science

Over the last century, we have gone from ignorance as to why some diseases run in families to the availability of simple genetic tests that can be bought on the internet. And, from announcements of the death of Darwinism to the triumph of the modern theory of evolution. All this is thanks to the fruit fly, the guinea pig, the zebra fish and a handful of other organisms, which have helped us unravel one of life's greatest mysteries - inheritance. Jim Endersby's strikingly original book tells the history of modern biology through the stories of the animals and plants that made it possible, showing how the guinea-pig and its colleagues have played a pivotal role in our gradual understanding of what genes are and what they do. By spending years laboriously breeding these animals and plants, observing the consequences and extrapolating - sometimes quite wildly - from these observations, scientists have gradually come to understand how inheritance shapes generations to come. In telling their stories, Endersby reveals the development of perhaps the most significant science of our times.