Frankenstein's Cat: Cuddling Up to Biotech's Brave New Beasts (£1.19 UK), by Emily Anthes [Oneworld], is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $11.04). This was one of Barnes and Noble’s Best Books of March 2013, Amazon’s Best Nonfiction Books for March 2013 and Publishers Weekly’s Top Ten Spring 2013 Science Books.Book Description
Fluorescent fish that glow near pollution. Dolphins with prosthetic fins. Robot-armoured beetles that military handlers can send on spy missions. Beloved pets resurrected from DNA. Scientists have already begun to create these high-tech hybrids, mostly to serve human whims and needs. What if a cow could be engineered to no longer feel pain – should we design a herd that would assuage our guilt over eating meat? Shouldn’t we create it?
Popular science writer Emily Anthes travels around the globe to see how humans are inventing the fauna of the future, from the Roslin Institute, the Scottish birthplace of Dolly the Sheep, where scientists are trying to clone an endangered mountain lion to a ‘pharm’ where chickens are modified to lay eggs laced with cancer-fighting drugs. Frankenstein’s Cat is an eye-opening exploration of weird science – and how we are playing god in the animal world.
